Henning Mankell (3 February 1948 – 5 October 2015) was a Swedish crime writer, children's author and dramatist, best known for a series of mystery novels starring his most noted creation, Inspector Kurt Wallander.

Life and career

Mankell was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1948. His parents divorced when he was one year old, and for a majority of his childhood lived with his father, Ivar, and an older sister. The three lived first in Sveg (Härjedalen), where his father was a district judge, and later, Borås (Västergötland). Mankell's grandfather, also named Henning Mankell (1868–1930), was a composer. At the age of 20 he had already started a career as author and assistant director at the Riksteater in Stockholm. In the following years he collaborated with several theatres in Sweden.

After living in Zambia and other African countries, Mankell was invited to become the artistic director of Teatro Avenida in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. He subsequently spent extended periods in Maputo working with the theatre and writing, and built up his own publishing house (Leopard Förlag) in order to support young talents from Africa and Sweden.

He was married to Eva Bergman, daughter of Ingmar Bergman. On 12 June 2008, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate from the University of St Andrews in Scotland.

Mankell developed two original stories for the German police series Tatort. Actor Axel Milberg, who portrays Inspector Klaus Borowski, had asked Mankell to contribute to the show as the two were promoting The Chinaman audiobook, a project that Milberg had worked on. The episodes were scheduled to broadcast in Germany in 2010.

Mankell was set to work on a screenplay for Sveriges Television about his father-in-law, the famous movie and theatre director Ingmar Bergman, during 2010, on a series produced in four one-hour episodes. Production was planned for 2011. Mankell pitched the project to Sveriges Television.

In January 2014 Mankell announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer. In May he reported that treatments had worked well and he was getting better. On 5 October 2015, however, he succumbed to the disease.

Political views

In his youth Mankell was a left-wing political activist and participated in the Protests of 1968 in Sweden, protesting against, among other things, the Vietnam War, the Portuguese Colonial War, and the Apartheid regime in South Africa. Furthermore, he got involved with the society Folket i Bild/Kulturfront which focused on cultural policy studies.

In the 1970s, Mankell moved from Sweden to Norway and lived with a Norwegian woman who was a member of the Maoist Workers' Communist Party. He took an active part in their actions but did not join the party.

In 2002 Mankell gave financial support by buying stocks for 50,000 NOK in the Norwegian left-wing newspaper Klassekampen.

In 2009, Mankell was a guest at a Palestinian literary conference. Thereafter, he claimed to have seen "repetition of the despicable Apartheid system that once treated Africans and coloured as second-class citizens in their own country". He also found a resemblance between the Israeli West Bank barrier and the Berlin 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."

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." Mankell has also stated that he does not support Hezbollah.

In Mankell's opinion the state of Israel should not to have a future in its current form, as a two-state solution "will not be the end of the historical occupation". He claimed not to have encountered antisemitism during his journey, just "hatred against the occupants that is completely normal and understandable", and he pointed out that "to keep these two things separate is crucial".

Henning Mankell was on board the MS Sofia, one of the boats which took part in the flotilla which tried to break the Israeli embargo of the Gaza strip. Following the Israel Defense Forces' boarding of the flotilla on the morning of May 31, 2010, Mankell was deported to Sweden. He subsequently called for global sanctions against Israel. In 2010 he was reported to be considering halting Hebrew translations of his books. However in June 2011, Mankell stated in an article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that he was in fact not considering preventing his books from being translated into Hebrew, and that anonymous persons had stolen his identity to make this false claim.

Mankell was supposed to be one of twenty Swedish participants in "Freedom Flotilla II" which never took place. It was originally scheduled to sail to Gaza in June 2011.

Charity

In 2007, Henning Mankell donated 15 million Swedish Crowns (about 1,5 million euros) to SOS Children's Villages for a village in Chimoio in western Mozambique. Mankell has donated vast amounts of money to charitable organizations like SOS Children's Villages and Hand in Hand, (a collection of independent organizations).

Bibliography

Kurt Wallander is a fictional police inspector living and working in Ystad, Sweden. In the novels, he solves shocking murders with his colleagues. The novels have an underlying question: "What went wrong with Swedish society?" The series has won many awards, including the German Crime Prize and the British 2001 CWA Gold Dagger for Sidetracked. The ninth book, The Pyramid, is a prequel: a collection of five novellas (Wallander's First Case, The Man with the Mask, The Man on the Beach, The Death of the Photographer, The Pyramid) about Wallander's past, with the last one ending just before the start of Faceless Killers. Ten years after The Pyramid, Mankell published another Wallander novel, The Troubled Man, which he said would definitely be the last in the series.

• Mördare utan ansikte (1991; English translation by Steven T. Murray: Faceless Killers, 1997)
• Hundarna i Riga (1992; English translation by Laurie Thompson: The Dogs of Riga, 2001)
• Den vita lejoninnan (1993; English translation by Laurie Thompson: The White Lioness, 1998)
• Mannen som log (1994; English translation by Laurie Thompson: The Man Who Smiled, 2005)
• Villospår (1995; English translation by Steven T. Murray: Sidetracked, 1999) Gold Dagger 2001
• Fotografens död (1996)
• Den femte kvinnan (1996; English translation by Steven T. Murray: The Fifth Woman, 2000)
• Steget efter (1997; English translation by Ebba Segerberg: One Step Behind, 2002)
• Brandvägg (1998; English translation by Ebba Segerberg: Firewall, 2002)
• Pyramiden (1999; short stories; English translation by Ebba Segerberg with Laurie Thompson: The Pyramid, 2008)
• Handen (2004; novella; originally published in Dutch (2004) as Het Graf (The Grave). Published in Swedish, 2013. English translation by Laurie Thompson: An Event in Autumn, 2014)
• Den orolige mannen (2009; English translation by Laurie Thompson: The Troubled Man, 2011)

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 of Johanna 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.

• Innan frosten (2002; English translation by Ebba Segerberg: Before the Frost, 2005)

• Danslärarens återkomst (2000; English translation by Laurie Thompson: The Return of the Dancing Master, 2004)
• Kennedys hjärna (2005; English translation by Laurie Thompson: Kennedy's Brain, 2007, U.S. release)
• Kinesen (2007; English translation by Laurie Thompson: The Man from Beijing, 2010)

• Vettvillingen (1977)
• Fångvårdskolonin som försvann (1979)
• Dödsbrickan (1980)
• En seglares död (1981)
• Daisy Sisters (1982)
• Sagan om Isidor (1984)
• Leopardens öga (1990); English translation by Steven T. Murray: The Eye of the Leopard, (2008)
• Comédia infantil (1995); English translation by Tiina Nunnally: Chronicler of the Winds, (2006)
• Vindens son (2000); English translation by Steven T. Murray: Daniel (2010)
• Tea-Bag (2001) English translation by Ebba Segerberg: The Shadow Girls (2012)
• Djup (2004); English translation by Laurie Thompson: Depths, (2006)
• Italienska skor (2006); English translation by Laurie Thompson: Italian Shoes, (2009)
• Minnet av en Smutsig Ängel (2011); English translation by Laurie Thompson: A Treacherous Paradise, (2013)

• Secrets in the Fire – 2000 (Eldens hemlighet, 1995)
• Playing with Fire – 2002 (Eldens gåta, 2001)
• The Fury in the Fire – 2009 (Eldens vrede, 2005)

• A Bridge to the Stars – 2005 (Hunden som sprang mot en stjärna – 1990)
• Shadows in the Twilight – 2007 (Skuggorna växer i skymningen – 1991)
• When the Snow Fell – 2007 (Pojken som sov med snö i sin säng – 1996)
• The Journey to the End of the World – 2008 (Resan till världens ände – 1998)

• The Cat Who Liked Rain – 2007

Mankell has also written original screenplays for television.

• Etterfølgeren (1997)
• Labyrinten (2000) TV mini-series
• Talismanen (2003) TV mini-series (co-written with Jan Guillou)
• Unnamed Ingmar Bergman docudrama (2012) TV mini-series

• Älskade syster (1983) – Beloved Sister
• Antiloperna
• Apelsinträdet (1983) – The Orange Tree
• Att Storma Himlen
• Berättelser På Tidens Strand
• Bergsprängaren (1973)
• Butterfly Blues
• Daisy Sisters (1982)
• Darwins kapten (2010) – Darwin's Captain
• Den Samvetslöse Mördaren Hasse Karlsson...
• Dödsbrickan (1980)
• Eldens gåta (2001) – Fire Riddle
• En Gammal Man Som Dansar
• En Höstkväll Innan Tystnaden
• En seglares död (1981) – Death of a Sailor
• Fångvårdskolonin som försvann (1979)
• Gatlopp
• Grävskopan
• Hårbandet
• I sand och i lera (1999) – In Sand and Mud
• In Duisternis (2010) – Time of Darkness
• Innan Gryningen
• Italienska skor (2006) – Italian shoes
• Jag dör, men minnet lever (2003) – I Die, but the Memory Lives
• Kakelugnen På Myren
• Katten som älskade regn (1992) The Cat that Loved Rain
• Labyrinten (2000) – The Labyrinth
• Lampedusa
• Mannen Som Byggde Kojor
• Mörkertid
• Möte Om Eftermiddagen
• Och Sanden Ropar...
• Påläggskalven
• Pojken som sov med snö i sin säng (1996) – The Boy Who Slept with Snow in His Bed
• Politik (2010) – Politics
• Resan till värdens ände (1998) – Journey to The End of the World
• Sagan om Isidor (1984) Isidor's Saga
• Sandmålaren (1974) – Sand painter
• Svarte Petter
• Tea-Bag (2001)
• Tokfursten
• Tyckte Jag Hörde Hundar
• Valpen
• Vettvillingen (1977) – The Maniac

• Wallander (1997–2007) Sveriges Television. Swedish language.
• Wallander (2005, 2009) Yellow Bird for TV4 (Sweden). Swedish language.
• Wallander (2008, 2009) Yellow Bird for BBC (UK). English language.

Awards and honours

• 1991 – Swedish Crime Writers' Academy, Best Swedish Crime Novel Award for Faceless Killers
• 1991 – The Nils Holgersson Prize for A Bridge to the Stars
• 1992 – The Glass Key Award For Best Nordic Crime Novel: Faceless Killers
• 1993 – Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis for A Bridge to the Stars
• 1995 – Swedish Crime Writers' Academy, Best Swedish Crime Novel Award for Sidetracked
• 1996 – Swedish Astrid Lindgren Prize
• 2001 – Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year: Sidetracked
• 2001 – Corine Literature Prize for One Step behind
• 2005 – Gumshoe Award for Best European Crime Novel: The Return of the Dancing Master
• 2008 – Corine Literature Prize for the German Audiobook The Man from Beijing