About Harry Martinson
Harry Martinson was a Swedish writer, poet and former sailor. In 1949 he was elected into the Swedish Academy. He was awarded a joint Nobel Prize in Literature in 1974 together with fellow Swede Eyvind Johnson "for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos". The choice was controversial, as both Martinson and Johnson were members of the academy. In September 1929, Martinson's first book of poems called Spökskepp ("Ghost Ship") was published by Albert Bonniers förlag. Martinson would later depict his years as a seaman in several acclaimed books, including Kap farväl! (1933), which was a critical and commercial success and the first of his books to be translated to English (Cape Farewell, 1934). The commercial success of his recent books and several scholarships awarded for his writing allowed Martinson to buy a farm in Södermanland, where he lived with his wife, the proletarian novelist Moa Martinson, and her sons.
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