Biography

Henning Mankell is a Swedish author who gained bestseller stardom with his series of crime novels featuring inspector Kurt Wallander.

Internationally acclaimed author Henning Mankell has written numerous Kurt Wallander mysteries. The books have been published in 33 countries and consistently top the bestseller lists in Europe, receiving major literary prizes and generating numerous international film and television adaptations.

Henning Mankell was born in Stockholm in 1948, raised in a village in northern Sweden and now divides his time between Sweden and Maputo, Mozambique, where he works as the director of Teatro Avenida.

The 1970's

Henning Mankell was 20 years old in 1968. He wrote and directed plays in collage form in order to »unmask society«. The spirit of the seventies has much characterized his deeds and view of life since. During this era the author Henning Mankell was born. In 1973 his debut novel, Bergsprängaren (The Rock Blaster), was published. This is a book about the workers movement in Sweden.

A year later he wrote the novel Sandmålaren (the Sand Painter), a book for young readers. The story is the first of his books where the scene is laid in Africa. It is a novel about imperialism and class barriers seen from the point of view of young people. That same year, 1974, he wrote his first short story published by Ordfront Publishing House. The story was called Anton och det Gripenstedtska sommarnöjet (Anton and the Summerhouse of Gripenstedt).

His first novel for Ordfront Publishing House was Fångvårdskolonin som försvann (The Prison Colony that Disappeared) in 1979. It is a story about a chief of police who looks at the way law enforcement is working (or not working) in Sweden. The big crooks get away with anything, without being interrupted, while the police spend their time chasing petty criminals. When he realizes an entire prison camp has vanished, he decides to do the same. If someone like him disappears, he thinks, the society must wake up and face the facts.

Before his debut for Ordfront Publishing House, Henning Mankell wrote a novel called Vettvillingen (the Mad Man) in 1978, concerning the fact that Sweden placed communists in detention during the Second World War. After the war the government refused to give them redress for the suffering.

The 1980's

During the first half of the eighties, Ordfront Publishing House published one novel a year by Henning Mankell. In Dödsbrickan (The Death Badge) we meet First Harold, one of the characters from Fångvårdskolonin som försvann. First Harold makes his living betting on horses. After a night at the race track he is robbed by a young girl. This leads him to a journey in two dimensions. Why did she rob and almost killed him? Who is First Harold himself, really?

In 1981 the thriller En seglares död (the Death of a Sailor) was issued. It is a novel about crooked buisness men who runs companies to their ruin and loots them for money, thus cheating the staff, leaving them without means.

Henning Mankell always takes the less fortunate peoples' part, like Eivor in his novel Daisy Sisters, released in 1982. This novel has meant a great deal for Mankell. It is a story about two generations of working women in the era after the Second World War. The origin of the novel was a meeting with a group of female overhead crane drivers at a factory in Borlänge, Sweden. They met to discuss the difficult questions of today and Mankell took part. He was very impressed by the women and decided that he wanted to know and understand more about them and their situation.

In his novel of 1984, Sagan om Isidor (The Tale of Isidor), Mankell takes the reader back to the nineteenth century in a story about the breaking point between »the old time« and the new. Isidor is a part of the old, and he fights for his right to live the life he is used to.

During the 1980's Henning Mankell devoted his time to the theatre as a writer, director and theatre manager. He was the head of the Kronobergsteatern in Växjö, Sweden in which he introduced a new view of what to perform. He wanted to produce only Swedish plays, which turned out to be a success — with an increased audience.

The 1990's

It wasn't until 1990 that Henning Mankell was published again. This time his novels Hunden som sprang mot en stjärna (The Dog That Ran Towards a Star) and Skuggorna växer i skymningen (The Shadows Grows in the Dawn) was intended mainly for youth and children. The novels are about Joel and Ture and their relationship on their way to adulthood.

At the same time, Mankell published a book about Joel as an adult, Leopardens öga (The Eye of the Leopard). This novel takes place in Africa and tells the story about Joel's first traumatic meeting with the continent. The third book about Joel, Skuggorna växer i skymningen was published in 1991.

That same year marks the big breakthrough for Henning Mankell as a writer, with the publication of the novel Mördare utan ansikte (Faceless Killers). This is a story about crime; with the now so well known police superintendent Kurt Wallander. This novel was written in Mozambique, where Mankell had settled.

– My publishing houses have never lost any money on my books. I have always known that I sooner or later would reach the readers I deserve; otherwise I would never have become a writer. But I am a bit surprised that it occurred with this book, said Mankell in an interview.

In 1991 Mankell was awarded The Academy of Swedish Crime Writers' Prize for Faceless Killers. The book was also awarded the Scandinavian Crime Society's price The Glass Key for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel the same year.

Mankell continued his path by releasing more novels with the character Kurt Wallander. In 1992 Hundarna i Riga (The Dogs of Riga) was published and one year later Den vita lejoninnan (The White Lioness). In 1994 the fourth novel in the series, Mannen som log (The Man Who Smiled), was published.

In 1995 he focused again on children in his novels. Comédia Infantil is a story about children living in the streets of Maputo, Eldens hemlighet (Secrets in the Fire) focuses on the situation of the children in the war-torn Mozambique, and especially on Sofia, a young girl and victim of a land mine. Sofia exists in real life.

Henning Mankell's fifth novel with Kurt Wallander tells the story about a child's twisted view of the world and revenge in Villospår (Sidetracked).

In 1996, another book about Joel was published. Pojken som sov med snö i sin säng (The Boy Who Slept With Snow in His Bed) was awarded the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Prize. In the novel Den femte kvinnan (The Fifth Woman) Kurt Wallander faces a series of murders executed by a meticulous prepared killer, looking for revenge.

In the seventh novel in the Wallander series, a colleague of Wallander is found dead in his apartment. Three young people have told their parents that they are on a trip around Europe, but the parents think that they are missing. In the home of the dead police man, Wallander finds a photo showing the three missing youths, and a photo showing a mysterious woman. Wallander is forced to dig through his colleague's deepest secrets and finds something he would never have imagined. The novel is called Steget efter (One Step Behind), first published in 1997.

A Bridge to the Stars, the fourth and last book about Joel, is published in 1998. Joel is now 15 and is on the verge of adulthood.

In the summer of 1998, a new Kurt Wallander novel hit the bookshelves — Brandvägg (Firewall). A taxi driver is murdered by two young girls. A few days later a dead man is found lying by a cash machine. Shortly thereafter there is a power cut, which darkens large parts of Skåne. When the repairman arrives to the scene he discovers something terrible. Wallander suspects a connection between the dead man and the power cut. He starts to realize how vulnerable our society is.

Pyramiden (The Pyramid) is the last book in the Kurt Wallander series and was released in 1999. It is a collection of short stories where we meet the young inspector Wallander — during the time before Faceless Killers.

In the books of Henning Mankell you will not find any perfect heroes. Henning Mankell again:

– What makes a character trustworthy? It is his changeableness. Kurt Wallander is influenced and changes as a person. Thru the different novels he is not the same person; therefore he is himself, thus trustworthy. This makes me interested in the person. The true human being is the unfinished human being who is open, under development and fragile. That means being alive.

What drives Henning Mankell as an author?
– The fundamental driving force for me is to, with poor ability; create a changing of the world we live in. It becomes worse and worse on every level. It is about exploitation, plundering and degrading. I have a small possibility to participate in the resistance. Most of the things that I do are part of a resistance, a form of solidarity work. I wish that I could do more of value and that the world changes to a place of decency.

In June 2001 Mankell together with Dan Israel, former publisher at both Ordfront Publishing House and Norstedts Publishing House, started the new publishing house Leopard. Their device is:

Sweden is a country in dramatic change. We want to mirror that social change through our publication. Thus we will publish books on history, social debate and popular science. Novels are also an unsurpassed form to understand people, here in Sweden as well as around the world. Publishing of novels will hence be an important part of the publishing.

Since then, Leopard is Henning Mankell's Swedish publishing house.

Updated: July 11, 2005.