Harry Martinson

Birth Name: Harry Frederick Martinson
Birth Date: May 6, 1904 (Died: February 11, 1978)
Birth Place: Jämshög, Sweden

 

Harry Martinson (1904-1978) was a Swedish author, poet, and translator.

He was born in Jämshög, a small village in southern Sweden, and grew up in poverty.

Martinson was orphaned at a young age and spent much of his childhood living with foster families.

As a young man, he worked as a sailor and traveled extensively.

In the 1930s, Martinson fell on hard times and began living homeless as a vagabond on country roads, eventually arrested for vagrancy.

These experiences had a profound impact on Martinson and his work, and he often wrote about themes of isolation, poverty, and the human condition.

Despite his difficult circumstances, Martinson was a prolific and highly regarded writer.

He published numerous collections of poetry, as well as several novels and plays. In 1956, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature for his “writing that through its union of poetic depth and breadth of insight gives life to the contemporary history of the human spirit.”

Martinson continued to write and publish until his death in 1978.

 

References

• Nobel winner Harry Martinson were homeless as children
• found himself a homeless vagrant when he returned to Sweden
• IMDb.com
• NobelPrize.org
• Wikipedia.org