About Stieg Larsson

Stieg Larsson (15 August 1954 – 9 November 2004) was a Swedish investigative journalist and writer, born in Skelleftehamn  outside Skellefteå. His Millennium trilogy of novels were published after he died in Stockholm at the age of 50 of a massive heart attack and he was the no 2 best-selling author in the world in 2008, behind Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini.

The Millennium Trilogy

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl Who Played with Fire

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

Current news articles state that different editions of this Millennium trilogy had sold between 27 – 40 million copies worldwide by April 2010.

It is reported that Stieg Larsson was influenced by both British and US detective novel authors. By writing his characters as reading these books he has inserted some of his favourites within the text of his own books. At the top of his favourite book list are Sara Paretsky, Agatha Christie, Val McDermid, Dorothy Sayers and Peter O’Donnell (Modesty Blaise).

But perhaps his strongest influence comes from Sweden, his own country – Astrid Lindgren’s childrens book Pippi Longstocking. The girl with the dragon tattoo, Lisbeth Salander, is  based on Pippi Longstocking, how Larsson imagined her to be if she was all grown up.

Stieg Larrson wrote both for fun and money. As a science fiction fan, he was editor or co-editor of several SF fanzines. He was a political activist for the Kommunistiska Arbetareförbundet (Communist Workers League) and the editor of the Swedish Trotskyist journal Fjärde internationalen. He wrote regularly for the weekly Internationalen, but Larsson was also a photographer and worked as a graphic designer at the largest Swedish news agency, Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå (TT) between 1977 and 1999.

Due in June 2010, is a  biography of Stieg Larsson called The Man Who Left Too Soon. It’s author, Barry Forshaw, said that the outrage that runs through Larsson’s trilogy – anger at men who beat and abuse women, contempt for corrupt industrialists and hate groups was because he was “a man who thought the world could be better.” Apparently Larsson had a tough old grandfather, a communist who risked his life during the 1930s speaking out against Hitler and Nazism, who had a strong influence on Larsson.

Larsson’s political ideals and journalism experience led him to found the Swedish Expo Foundation in 1995. Similar to the British Searchlight Foundation, this foundation was established to “counteract the growth of the extreme right and the white power-culture in schools and among young people.” He was an influential debater and lecturer on the subject and became such a formidable foe of  “hate groups” that for years he suffered death threats as editor of the Expo Foundation magazine. Some of his fans even wonder if he was murdered but rumours that his death was suspicious, because of death threats received as editor of Expo, have been denied.

At his death, Larrson left an unfinished manuscript of a fourth novel, and synopses of the fifth and sixth in the Millennium books, which was intended to be a series of ten novels. Rumors say these are stored on a laptop and hidden somewhere in a safe, while Larsson’s long time partner Eva Gabrielsson, struggles with Swedish inheritance law and Larsson’s family over control of Larssons estate.

The Swedish film version of Stig Larsson “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo“, released in Scandinavia in 2009, was recently released in America. The Swedish versions of the next two films are expected in U.S. theatres later this year. According to the U.S. publisher, Knopf,  Sony Pictures plan to make an English-language film adaptation of Larssons Millennium trilogy.

Sources for Information:
Man behind Girl with Dragon Tattoo from CNN
Wikipedia contributors, ‘Stieg Larsson‘, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 25 April 2010, 16:01 UTC,   [accessed 27 April 2010]

Complete List of John Grisham Novels

Legal Thrillers – fiction

Books Movies

* A Time to Kill (1989)                    A Time to Kill (1996)
* The Firm (1991)                             The Firm (1993)
* The Pelican Brief (1992)             The Pelican Brief (1993)
* The Client (1993)                          The Client (1994)
*  The Chamber (1996)                  The Chamber (1994)
* The Rainmaker (1995)               The Rainmaker (1997)
* The Runaway Jury (1996)        Runaway Jury (2003)
* The Partner (1997)                      The Partner (2010)
* The Street Lawyer (1998)
* The Testament (1999)                The Testament (2012)
* The Brethren (2000)
* The Summons (2002)
* The King of Torts (2003)
* The Last Juror (2004)
* The Broker (2005)
* The Appeal (2008)
* The Associate (2009)                    The Associate (2012)
* Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer (May 25, 2010)
* The Confession (October 26, 2010)

Non-fiction

* The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town (2006)
This account won Grisham the Justice in Arts Award from Death Penalty Focus in 2008.

Non-Legal Fiction -
Topics: The American South and Baseball

Books Movies
Based on an unpublished short story      The Gingerbread Man (1998)
* A Painted House (2001)                            A Painted House (2003)
* Skipping Christmas (2001)                  Christmas with the Kranks (2004)
* Bleachers (2003)
* Playing for Pizza (2007)
* Ford County (2009)

See also

Who writes like John Grisham?
About John Grisham

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About John Grisham

John Grisham writes fiction novels, legal thrillers in the crime genre. Always an avid reader, Grisham has cited John Steinbeck as an influence and John le Carre as a favourite author.

John Grisham is a best selling author whose books, as of 2008, have sold over 250 million copies worldwide. Grisham writes at least one novel a year, and seven of his books, and bestselling novels reached no 1. His ingenious action plots are perfect for movies many of which are now available on dvd. Thirteen of his books have now been filmed.

Before becoming a fiction writer, John Grisham was a successful lawyer and politician. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. During law school he switched from tax law to criminal and general civil litigation and upon graduation he entered a small-town general law practice. For nearly a decade in Southaven, he focused on criminal law and civil law. As a young attorney he spent much of his time in court proceedings representing a broad spectrum of clients.

Encouraged to start writing by his mother, he began to work on his first novel after witnessing the harrowing testimony of a 12-year-old rape victim in 1984, and it “explored what would have happened if the girl’s father had murdered her assailants.” A Time to Kill, finished in 1987, was initially rejected by many publishers but was eventually published in June 1989 by Wynwood Press. A Time to Kill was filmed in 1996 with Morgan Freeman and is shortly to hit Broadway.

John Grisham began work on his second novel, The Firm, the story of a young attorney fresh out of law school, enticed to join what appeared to be the perfect law firm, and forced to find an ingenious “out” from his contract when he discovers that it is not what it appeared.” The Firm was filmed in 1993, with Tom Cruise & Gene Hackman.

Other movies that followed included The Pelican Brief (1993) with Sandra Bullock, The Client (1994) with Susan Sarandon and Runaway Jury (2003) with Demi Moore.

Around 1991 Grisham took a hiatus from practising law to concentrate on writing but returned briefly in 1996 to represent the family of a railroad brakeman killed when he was pinned between two cars. He continues to hold his seat on the Board of Directors for the Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to exonerating the innocent through DNA testing after they have been convicted.

John Grishams  latest book, due out in May 2010, is for kids, and is called Theodore Boon – Kid Lawyer

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