Henning Mankell | |
|---|---|
 Henning Mankell in New York City in April 2011 | |
| Born | Henning Georg Mankell (1948-02-03)3 February 1948 Stockholm, Sweden |
| Died | 5 October 2015(2015-10-05) (aged 67) Gothenburg, Sweden |
| Occupation | Novelist, playwright, publisher |
| Period | 1991–2009 (Kurt Wallander series) |
| Genre | Crime fiction Thriller |
| Notable works | TheKurt Wallander novels |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
| Relatives | Ingmar Bergman(father-in-law) |
Henning Georg Mankell (Swedish pronunciation:[ˈhɛ̂nːɪŋˈmǎŋːkɛl]; 3 February 1948 – 5 October 2015) was a Swedishcrime writer,children's author, anddramatist, best known for a series ofmystery novels starring his most noted creation, InspectorKurt Wallander. He also wrote a number of plays and screenplays for television.
He was a left-wingsocial critic and activist. In his books and plays he constantly highlighted social inequality issues and injustices in Sweden and abroad. In 2010, Mankell was on board one of the ships in theGaza Freedom Flotilla that was boarded by Israeli commandos. He was below deck on theMV Mavi Marmara when nine civilians were killed in international waters.
Mankell shared his time between Sweden and countries in Africa, mostly Mozambique where he started a theatre. He made considerable donations to charity organizations, mostly connected to Africa.
Mankell's grandfather, also namedHenning Mankell, lived from 1868 to 1930 and was a composer.[1] Mankell was born inStockholm, Sweden in 1948. His father Ivar was a lawyer who divorced his mother when Mankell was one year old. He and an older sister lived with his father for most of their childhood. The family first lived inSveg,Härjedalen in northern Sweden, where Mankell's father was a district judge. In the biography on Mankell's website, he describes this time when they lived in a flat above the court as one of the happiest in his life.[2] InSveg, a museum was built in his honour during his lifetime.[3]
Later, when Mankell was thirteen, the family moved toBorås,Västergötland on the Swedish west coast nearGothenburg.[2] After three years he dropped out of school and went to Paris when he was 16. Shortly afterwards he joined the merchant marine, working on acargo ship and he "loved the ship's decent hard-working community".[2] In 1966, he returned to Paris to become a writer. He took part in thestudent uprising of 1968. He later returned to work as a stagehand in Stockholm.[3] At the age of 20, he had already started as author at theNational Swedish Touring Theatre in Stockholm.[4] In the following years he collaborated with several theatres in Sweden. His first play,The Amusement Park dealt withSwedish colonialism in South America.[2] In 1973, he publishedThe Stone Blaster, a novel about theSwedish labour movement. He used the proceeds from the novel to travel to Guinea-Bissau. Africa would later become a second home to him, and he spent a big part of his life there. When his success as a writer made it possible, he founded and ran a theatre in Mozambique.[2]
From 1991 to 2013, Mankell wrote the books which made him famous worldwide, the Kurt Wallander mystery novels. Wallander was a fictional detective living in Ystad in southern Sweden, who supervised a squad of detectives in solving murders, some of which were bizarre. As they worked to catch a killer who had to be stopped before he could kill again, the team often worked late into the nights in a heightened atmosphere of tension and crisis. Wallander's thoughts and worries about his daughter, his health, his lack of friends and a social life, his worries about Swedish society, shared his mental life with his many concerns and worries about the case he was working. There were ten books in the series. They were translated into many languages and sold millions of copies worldwide. The series gave Mankell the freedom and wherewithal to pursue other projects which interested him.
After living in Zambia and other African countries, Mankell was invited from 1986 onward to become the artistic director of Teatro Avenida inMaputo, Mozambique. He subsequently spent extended periods in Maputo working with the theatre and as a writer. He built his own publishing house,Leopard Förlag, in order to support young talented writers from Africa and Sweden.[5] His novelChronicler of the Winds, published in Sweden asComédie infantil in 1995, reflects African problems and is based on Africanstorytelling.[6] On 12 June 2008, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate from theUniversity of St Andrews in Scotland "in recognition of his major contribution to literature and to the practical exercise of conscience".[7]
Around 2008, Mankell developed two original stories for the German police seriesTatort. ActorAxel Milberg, who portrays InspectorKlaus Borowski, had asked Mankell to contribute to the show when they were promotingThe Man from Beijing audiobook, a project that Milberg had worked on. The episodes were scheduled to broadcast in Germany in 2010.[8][9] In 2010, Mankell was set to work on a screenplay forSveriges Television about his father-in-law, movie and theatre directorIngmar Bergman, on a series produced in four one-hour episodes. Mankell pitched the project to Sveriges Television and production was planned for 2011.[10]At the time of his death, Mankell had written over 40 novels that had sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.[11]
Mankell was married four times and had four sons, Thomas, Marius, Morten and Jon, by different relationships. In 1998 he marriedEva Bergman, daughter of film directorIngmar Bergman. They remained married until his death in 2015.[3]
In January 2014, Mankell announced that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer and throat cancer.[12] In May 2014, he reported that treatments had worked well and he was getting better.[13][14]
He wrote a series of articles inspired by his wife Eva, describing his situation, how it felt to be diagnosed,[15] how it felt to be supported,[16] how it felt to wait,[17] and after his first chemotherapy atSahlgrenska University Hospital about the importance of cancer research.[18] Three weeks before his death he wrote about what happens to people's identity when they are stricken by a serious illness.[19] His last post was published posthumously 6 October.[20]
On 5 October 2015, Mankell died at the age of 67, almost two years after having been diagnosed.[21]
We refuse to understand the significance of Islamic culture in Europe's history. We are characterized by intense ignorance. What would Europe have been without Islamic culture? Nothing.
In his youth Mankell was a left-wing political activist and participated in theProtests of 1968 in Sweden, protesting against, among other things, theVietnam War, thePortuguese Colonial War, and theapartheid regime in South Africa. Furthermore, he got involved withFolket i Bild/Kulturfront which focused on cultural policy studies.[23] In the 1970s, Mankell moved from Sweden to Norway and lived with a Norwegian woman who was a member of theMaoistWorkers' Communist Party. He took an active part in their activities but did not join the party.[24]
In 2002, Mankell gave financial support by buying stocks for 50,000NOK in the Norwegian left-wing newspaperKlassekampen.[25] In 2009, Mankell was a guest at thePalestine Festival of Literature. He said he had seen "repetition of the despicable apartheid system that once treated Africans and coloured as second-class citizens in their own country". He found a resemblance between theIsraeli West Bank barrier and theBerlin Wall: "The wall that is currently dividing the country will prevent future attacks, in short term. In the end, it will face the same destiny as the wall that once divided Berlin did."[26] Considering the environment the Palestinian people live in, he continued: "Is it strange that some of them in pure desperation, when they cannot see any other way out, decide to become suicide bombers? Not really? Maybe it is strange that there are not more of them."[26]
Mankell stated in an interview withHaaretz that he did not supportHezbollah.[27] In Mankell's opinion the state of Israel should not have a future as atwo-state solution and this "will not be the end of the historical occupation". He said he did not encounter antisemitism during his journey, just "hatred against the occupants that is completely normal and understandable", and said that "to keep these two things separate is crucial".[26]
In 2010, Henning Mankell was on board theMS Sofia, one of the boats which took part inthe flotilla which tried to break theIsraeli embargo of the Gaza Strip.[28] Following theIsrael Defense Forces'boarding of the flotilla on the morning of 31 May 2010, Mankell was deported to Sweden. He subsequently called for global sanctions against Israel.[29] In 2010 it was reported that he was considering haltingHebrew translations of his books.[30] In June 2011, Mankell stated in an article in the Israeli newspaperHaaretz that he had never considered preventing his books from being translated into Hebrew, and that unidentified persons had stolen his identity to make this false claim.[27]
Mankell was supposed to be one of twenty Swedish participants in "Freedom Flotilla II" which never took place.[31] It was originally scheduled to sail to Gaza in June 2011.[32]
There are too many people in the world who just sit and watch their money pile up, that is very hard for me to understand.
In 2007, Henning Mankell donated 15 million Swedish crowns (about 1.5 millioneuros) toSOS Children's Villages for a children's village inChimoio in western Mozambique.[34] Mankell donated vast amounts of money to charitable organizations such as SOS Children's Villages and Hand in Hand,[35] a collection of independent organizations.[36]
In the 1980s, Mankell visited United Nations refugee camps in Mozambique and later accompanied UN High CommissionerSadako Ogata to refugee camps in South Africa. In 2013, he visited Congolese refugees in Uganda. He wrote on the plight of refugees and after his death his website asked for donations in his name to theUN Commission on Refugees.[37]
The theme for short stories submitted to the inaugural Festival Fim do Caminho Literary Prize, "Crime in Mozambique", was chosen in homage to Mankell.[38][39]
Kurt Wallander is a fictional policeinspector living and working inYstad,[40] Sweden. In the novels, he solves shocking murders with his colleagues. The novels have an underlying question: "What went wrong with Swedish society?"[41]
The series has won many awards, including the German Crime Prize and the British 2001CWAGold Dagger forSidetracked (1995).[42]
The ninth book,The Pyramid (1999), is a prequel about Wallander's past, covering the time until just before the start ofFaceless Killers (1991). It includes a collection of five novellas:[42]
Ten years afterThe Pyramid, Mankell published another Wallander novel,The Troubled Man (2009), which he said would definitely be the last in the series.[42]
Linda is the daughter of Kurt Wallander, who follows in his footsteps as a police officer. Mankell began an intended trilogy of novels with her as the protagonist. However, following the suicide ofJohanna Sällström, the actress playing the character at the time in the Swedish TV series, Mankell was so distraught that he decided to abandon the series after only the first novel.[43]
Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell will take part in the next international flotilla that will attempt to bring aid to Gaza at the end of June, organisers said Wednesday.
The international steering committee of Freedom Flotilla 2, a planned convoy of ships aiming to bring material and moral support to the besieged people of Gaza, announced on Tuesday that the flotilla's intended launch date is to be postponed until June.
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