Elsie Johansson

Elsie Gunborg Johansson (1 May 1931 – 15 February 2025) was a Swedish writer. She is sometimes considered a proletarian writer.

Life and career Elsie Johansson was born in Vendel as the fifth child of a statare. Her father would later find work as a lumberjack and construction worker. The Johansson family lived under sparse circumstances in a simple cabin, which would later serve as inspiration for similar housings found in Johansson's novels. Owing to the persuasion of a female teacher, Johansson was allowed to attend realskola in Uppsala, from which she graduated in 1948; upon graduation, she found employment as a postal worker. She married at the age of 18 and had a child at 19.

Johansson would work at the post office for another 30 years, before making her literary debut with the poetry collection Brorsan hade en vevgrammofon, at the age of 48. Her first novel, Kvinnan som mötte en hund, followed in 1984. In addition to her poems and novels intended for adult readers, she wrote a number of books for children and adolescents.

Her breakthrough as a writer came with the Nancy trilogy (Glasfåglarna, Mosippan and Nancy), which earned her several awards, amongst others the Aniara Prize. Johansson also received the Litteris et Artibus award.

Johansson died on 15 February 2025, at the age of 93.