Karl Stig-Erland “Stieg” Larsson was a Swedish Journalist and author who held the world in suspense with his Millenium trilogy of crime novels which were published posthumously in 2005 and exploded onto the world’s bestseller lists in 2008 after being translated into English. Stieg was born on 15 August 1954 Umeå, Västerbottens län, Sweden and would live with his grandparents until the age of 9 when his parents moved back to his hometown after his father recovered from arsenic poisoning caused by his work at a smelting plant.
Upon receiving a typewriter for his twelfth birthday Stieg discovered a love of writing and he began writing science fiction stories publishing them in an SF Fanzine he produced and upon leaving education he would become a journalist engaged in far-left political activism and becoming a member of Kommunistiska Arbetareförbundet(Communist Workers’ League). Instrumental in documenting and exposing Swedish extreme right and racist organizations Larsson was an influential debater and lecturer on the subject. His fiction writing was a hobby, something he did for pleasure and his own entertainment and he had never intended to publish his work. In fact it was not until after his death that the manuscripts for his Millenium novels were found on his computer and subsequently published.
With three novels completed in manuscript form and the bones for up to ten novels in total, Stieg left behind an amazing legacy of crime fiction beginning with the novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo US
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo UK
“Everyone has secrets. It’s just a matter of finding out what they are.”
“There are no innocents. There are, however, different degrees of responsibility.”
“Nobody can avoid falling in love. They might want to deny it, but friendship is probably the most common form of love.”
“Armageddon was yesterday, today we have a serious problem.”
“Dear Government… I’m going to have a serious talk with you if I ever find anyone to talk to.”
“No, I don’t believe in God, but I respect the fact that you do. Everyone has to have something to believe in.”
“… a bastard is always a bastard and if I can hurt a bastard by digging up shit about him, then he deserves it.”
“But if you want to win, you’re going to have to fight.”
Stieg Larsson died on the 9th November 2004 at the age of 50 after suffering a massive heart attack due to climbing 7 flights of stairs at his workplace because the lift was out of order. He is buried at the Högalid Church cemetery in the district of Södermalm in Stockholm.
Birmingham Poet, Benjamin Zephaniah dies, aged 65
Top Authors Join Legal Battle Against OpenAI for Mass Copyright Infringement
Literary Icon, Cormac McCarthy has died
The Literary World Mourns Martin Amis
Anne Perry, Murderer turned Crime Writer dies, aged 84