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Who's Albert?
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Who, indeed? Self-knowledge is a tricky thing. But I know the facts. I was born in Gothenburg, Sweden and lived there for nearly fifty years. In 1995, I bought a small house in the forest region of southern Sweden where I now live with my wife. |
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My father sailed around the world as a chief engineer in the merchant navy so I didn't see him much during my adolescence. But he was a poetry lover and guided me into the magic world of words. After High School I decided my mind wasn't altogether scholarly and made a pause in my training. That pause is still going on though I've learned commercial art in the meantime. So, I spent a couple of years exploring the world as a young sailor. As a boy I had been around a little with my father. These were very instructive periods of my life. What still strikes me is the inexpressible poverty I encountered at some places. I happened to be in the United States when President Kennedy was assassinated and shared the shock and the sorrow with the American people. As a commercial artist I worked for shipping companies, making drawings for broschures, magazine articles and merchant navy instruction films. I also took on assignments as a photographer. The computer area changed my life. The diagrams and maps I had made with my pen suddenly could be clicked up and altered in numerous ways by anyone - buildings and ships were as easily manipulated by skilled operators. |
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So, I started writing thrillers. Back in school, my teacher of English, a British gentleman from Manchester, had seen my aptitude for language in general. He urged me to write essays in English, which isn't my first language. He opened my eyes to writers like Somerset Maugham, Graham Greene and Hemingway. This became the start of a lifelong devotion for Anglo-Saxon literature. But I was forty before I started writing short stories and novels. |
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The most influental writer I have read is John Steinbeck. His crystal clear language still is a source of inspiration to me. Of Mice and Men must be one of the most ingenious stories ever written. I also like his humorous way of dealing with socially serious subjects like in Tortilla Flat and Sweet Thursday. Not to mention epic masterpieces like Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. Like most people who write for publishing, I have a vast experience of rejection. In spite of going for the subsidy variety, I was lucky to have my first two books accepted by Janus in London. Now, I have published four books and another two are waiting for approval. Over the years I have had jobs like tourist informer, librarian assistant, translater and evening class teacher. Each of them taught me a little more about the human nature, a learning that comes in handy when I write my stories. |
If you want to dig deeper, please visit my
Reflection Page
