Fredrik Backman | |
---|---|
Born | Brännkyrka in Söderort, Sweden | 2 June 1981
Occupation | Columnist, blogger, and novelist |
Period | 2012–present |
Genre | |
Notable works | |
Spouse | Neda Shafti Backman |
Signature | |
Website | |
fredrikbackmanbooks |
Fredrik Backman (born 2 June 1981) is a Swedish author, blogger, and columnist. He wrote A Man Called Ove (2012), Things My Son Needs to Know about the World (2012), My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry (2013), Britt-Marie Was Here (2014), Beartown (2017), Us Against You (2018), Anxious People (2020), and The Winners (2022). The books were number one bestsellers in his home country of Sweden. Backman's books have been published in more than twenty-five languages. [1]
Backman grew up in Helsingborg, Scania, Sweden. He has been writing for the Swedish newspaper Helsingborgs Dagblad and for the Swedish men's magazine, Moore Magazine. Backman debuted as a novelist in 2012 with A Man Called Ove. The novel was adapted as a film which premiered on December 25, 2015, and again in 2023. [2] The rights to his book Beartown were bought by Swedish production company, Filmlance. It was adapted for television in 2020. [3] Many of his books have been translated into English. After his debut novel, A Man Called Ove, was translated into English, it remained on the best seller list for 42 weeks[ clarification needed ]. Following the success of his first book, Atria bought the rights to his other novels and had them translated into English. [4]
Fredrik Backman married Neda Shafti Backman in 2009. [5] They have two children. His second book, Things My Son Needs to Know about the World (2012), was based on his own experiences with parenting. He labeled it a "dysfunctional parenting guide" and made a deal that his publisher had to publish the book in order to publish A Man Called Ove. [6]
Helsingør, classically known in English as Elsinore, is a coastal city in northeastern Denmark. Helsingør Municipality had a population of 63,399 on 1 January 2023, making it the 23rd most populated municipality in Denmark. Helsingør is located at the narrowest part of the Øresund strait and together with Helsingborg in Sweden, forms the northern reaches of the Øresund Region, centered on Copenhagen and Malmö. Helsingør is a ferry city with frequent departures with the HH Ferry route which connects Helsingør with Helsingborg, 4 km across the Øresund.
The Old Man and the Sea is a 1952 novella written by the American author Ernest Hemingway. Written between December 1950 and February 1951, it was the last major fictional work Hemingway published during his lifetime. It tells the story of Santiago, an aging fisherman, and his long struggle to catch a giant marlin. The novella was highly anticipated and was released to record sales; the initial critical reception was equally positive, but attitudes have varied significantly since then.
Britt Ekland is a Swedish actress, model, and singer. She appeared in numerous films in her heyday throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including roles in The Double Man (1967), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968), Machine Gun McCain (1969), Stiletto (1969), and the British crime film Get Carter (1971), which established her as a sex symbol. She also starred in several horror films, including The Wicker Man (1973), and appeared as a Bond girl in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).
May Britt is a Swedish actress who had a brief career in the 1950s in Italy and later in the United States. She was married to American entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. from 1960 to 1968.
Karl Ove Knausgård is a Norwegian author. He became known worldwide for six autobiographical novels, titled My Struggle. The Wall Street Journal has described him as "one of the 21st century's greatest literary sensations".
Filip Niclas Berg is a Swedish actor who became known to international audiences for his roles Sebbe in the movies The Ketchup Effect and A Man Called Ove, which was nominated for best foreign-language film at the Academy Awards. He also had a leading role in both series of the TV drama, Black Lake.
Frans Jeppsson Wall, also known mononymously as Frans, is a Swedish singer-songwriter. He represented host nation Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm with the song "If I Were Sorry", finishing in fifth place.
Ken Liu is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. Liu has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards for his novel translations and original short fiction, which has appeared in F&SF, Asimov's, Analog, Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, and multiple "Year's Best" anthologies.
Adolf Fredrik's Music School is a general municipal junior high school in Stockholm, Sweden with a focus on choral music, and highly competitive admission based on audition in singing and musical ability. The school has two campuses and three youth choirs of high international standard. Many professional musicians are alumni.
My Struggle is a series of six autobiographical novels written by Karl Ove Knausgård and published between 2009 and 2011. The books cover his private life and thoughts, and unleashed a media frenzy upon their release, with journalists attempting to track down the mentioned members of his family. The series has sold half a million copies in Norway alone and has been published in 35 languages.
A Man Called Ove is a 2015 Swedish comedy-drama film written and directed by Hannes Holm and based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Fredrik Backman. It stars Rolf Lassgård in the title role.
A Man Called Ove is a debut novel by Swedish writer Fredrik Backman published in Swedish by Forum in 2012. The novel was published in English in 2013 and reached the New York Times Best Seller list 18 months after its publication and stayed on the list for 42 weeks.
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry is a novel written by the Swedish columnist, blogger, and writer Fredrik Backman. The book was first published in Swedish in 2013. The English translation was later published in 2015. The rights for translation have been sold in more than 40 countries. In 2017, the novel was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award.
Britt-Marie Was Here is the fourth book by the Swedish columnist, blogger, and writer Fredrik Backman. The novel was originally published in 2014, and was later translated to English and published on May 3, 2016. The main character, Britt-Marie, was featured in Backman's third book, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry. The novel was also made into a film of the same title, featuring Pernilla August in the title role and directed by Tuva Novotny.
Atria Publishing Group is a general interest publisher and a division of Simon & Schuster. The publishing group launched as Atria Books in 2002. The Atria Publishing Group was later created internally at Simon & Schuster to house a number of imprints including Atria Books, Atria Trade Paperbacks, Atria Books Espanol, Atria Unbound, Washington Square Press, Emily Bestler Books, Atria/Beyond Words, Cash Money Content, Howard Books, Marble Arch Press, Strebor Books, 37 Ink, Keywords Press and Enliven Books. Atria is also known for creating innovative imprints and co-publishing deals with African-American writers as well as known for experimenting with digital or non-traditional print formats and authors.
Simon Stålenhag is a Swedish artist, musician, and designer specialising in retro-futuristic digital images focused on nostalgic Swedish countryside alternate history environments. The settings of his artwork have formed the basis for the 2020 Amazon television drama series Tales from the Loop as well as the upcoming film The Electric State.
Bokförlaget Forum is a Swedish publishing company and a member of Bonnierförlagen, a publishing house within Bonnier Books Nordic. Other publishing companies in the collective publishing house are Albert Bonniers Förlag, Bokförlaget Max Ström, Bonnier Audio, Bonnier Carlsen, Bonnier Fakta, Bonnier Pocket, Månpocket, Kartago, Reseförlaget and Wahlström & Widstrand. Forum publishes around seventy titles annually.
Beartown is a novel by Swedish writer Fredrik Backman. The novel, noted as "hockey literature", centers on a declining youth hockey team in a small town. The story follows the events leading up to a violent incident involving two teenagers and the consequences that they face, the hockey players, their families, friends, and the community which has a long-standing reputation as a hockey town. It is the first book in the Beartown series, followed by Us Against You and The Winners.
Britt-Marie Was Here is a 2019 Swedish comedy-drama film directed by Tuva Novotny based on Fredrik Backman's 2014 novel of the same name. Produced by Gustav Oldén and Nicklas Wikström Nicastro, the film stars Pernilla August, Peter Haber, Anders Mossling, Malin Levanon, and Vera Vitali. The plot follows the titular protagonist Britt-Marie, a 63-year-old homemaker played by August, who leaves her cheating husband of 40 years and reluctantly takes on a job as a youth soccer coach in the remote town of Borg.
Anxious People is a novel by Swedish writer Fredrik Backman published by Månpocket in 2019. The novel was published in English in 2021.