Biography of Stieg Larsson | Journalist and writer.

(Karl Stig-Erland Larsson;) Skellefteå, Västerbotten, 1954 - Stockholm, 2004) Swedish journalist and writer. Specializing in extreme right wing groups, he rose to fame after his death as a result of the publication of his trilogy of novels Millennium, one of the biggest publishing phenomena of recent decades. Starting from 2009 the Larsson effect became also cinema screens with the release and success of the film version of his novels.

Stieg Larsson

Born in Skellefteå, in the administrative province of Västerbotten, the small Stieg was son of teenage parents with limited resources, which brought him therefore to live with his grandparents in the small town of Norsjb. His grandfather, an anti-fascist Communist, deeply involved in the struggle for the rights of workers who had been detained in a labour camp, would be a determining influence for him. They have people who knew Larsson that when in 1962, following the death of the old man, he was forced to return with their parents (who at the time already had another son), failed to adapt; I didn't want to live with them, they were no longer partners in the world. He left home at age sixteen.

They were at the first years of the 1970s when it was involved in politics and began his militancy in the Kommunistiska Arbetareförbundet (Communist Workers League). It was at that time when, after two years of compulsory military service, traveled frequently to Africa and, as a war correspondent, witnessed first-hand the civil war in Eritrea. Also by then, at a demonstration against the war in Viet Nam, he met who would be his companion for the rest of his days, Eva Gabrielsson.

Although he did not pursue the career in journalism, between 1977 and 1999 Larsson worked as a journalist and graphic designer for the Agency Tidningarnas Telegrambyra (TT). At the same time, its commitment to the fight against racism and right-wing movements led him to found the anti-violence project Stop the Racism in the mid-1980's to promote years later, in 1995, the Expo Foundation, whose magazine, Expo, would be director. While he published several books of investigative journalism about the Nazi groups in Sweden and the dark connections between the extreme right and the politics and finance, becoming as expert in the matter that was required by Scotland Yard and by the OSCE.

Expo, research journal dedicated to monitoring the rise of racism in Sweden, became a benchmark in Scandinavia, comparable to the British Searchlight. It's uncomfortable publications for certain small groups, so that their authors are forced to remain anonymous to reprisals. Larsson received so many threats that had to opt for underground: not contained in the official records or in telephone directories; even could marry his partner for fear that any paper could reveal their whereabouts.

Amid this semi-clandestine life and persecutions, Larsson took refuge in his great passion: the books. Great reader, fond of science fiction (was President of the society which brings together fans of the genre in Scandinavia and directed a couple of specialized fanzines) and the detective novel enthusiast, began to write in the evenings for fun.

Be dynamic as well one of the most famous sagas of recent decades, the Millenniumtrilogy. Every day, after work, and until 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning, taking exorbitant amounts of coffee and smoking cigarettes compulsively, Larsson would create one of the most memorable couples given criminal literature: Lisbeth Salander, the hacker complex and rebellious, socially maladjusted, tattooed and full of piercings, and its counterpoint, Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist who clearly is an alter ego of the own Larsson.

Thus wrote, in three years, the more than 2,200 pages of the saga. However, the author would never see his published books: November 9, 2004, days after having delivered to his publisher the third volume of the series, and shortly before the publication of the first, Stieg Larsson died victim of a heart attack, without to be witness of their own success. His partner for more than 30 years could not enjoy it properly, since, not being married, Swedish legislation not allowed him to inherit; copyright law passed to the father and the brother of Larsson, whom the journalist had not seen for many years.

Men who hate women (2009)

The first installment of Millennium, entitled Man som hatar kvinnor (literally, men who hate women, 2005) was published in Sweden a few months after the death of the author and was a true publishing phenomenon that soon spread to other countries such as United Kingdom and France. In Spanish, it appeared in 2008 under the title men who hate women. The success was also immediate and triggered such larssonmania that same year hit bookstores the second volume, the girl who played with fire and a can of gasoline (Flickan som lekte med elden; literally, the girl who played with fire, 2006). Did not stay behind the third volume, Luftslottet som sprangdes (the castle in the air that blew, 2007), published in Spanish in 2009 as the Queen at the Palace of air currents, which in a single day were sold more than 200,000 copies.

The addiction that generated the adventures of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander seemed to have no end. In mid-2009, the three books had been translated into more than forty languages and had exceeded the figure of ten million copies sold. Only in Sweden three million volumes, i.e., a book had been sold for every three inhabitants. In Spain, the trilogy surpassed more than one million sales, and in October 2009 the first published volume was 65 uninterrupted weeks in our list of the ten most sold books.

If the success of the paper was blunt, less was not that of the film adaptation of the three novels in the series. Directed by Niels Arden Oplev and starring Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace Swedish actors, they were filmed in 2009 and broke records of box office throughout Europe. The success of these European productions immediately caught the attention of Hollywood, which already produced in 2011 the "American version" of the first installment of the series. Entitled The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, it was directed by David Fincher, and featured in the cast with star Daniel Craig, star of the latest Bond, and Rooney Mara to the role of Lisbeth. He is expected that the second and third reach the screening rooms during 2012 and 2013.

Extracted from the website: Biografías y Vidas