David Lagercrantz


David Lagercrantz is a Swedish journalist and author, internationally known as the author of I am Zlatan Ibrahimović, The Girl in the Spider’s Web and The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, the latter two being the fourth and fifth installments respectively in the Millennium series originated by Stieg Larsson. He is a board member of Swedish PEN.

Personal life

Lagercrantz grew up in Solna, Stockholm. He studied philosophy and religion at university and subsequently graduated from the Gothenburg school of journalism. He began his career as a reporter at regional newspaper Sundsvalls Tidning as crime reporter and continued on to the national daily newspaper Expressen, where he covered some of the major criminal cases of the late '80s and early '90s in Sweden, notably the Åmsele murders, later to become the topic of his book Änglarna i Åmsele.
Lagercrantz is the son of the literary scholar and publicist Olof Lagercrantz and Martina Ruin and brother of the actress and diplomat Marika Lagercrantz. He is married to the media executive Anne Lagercrantz :sv:Anne Lagercrantz|, with whom he has three children.

Author

His first book, Göran Kropp 8000+, was released in 1997. The book is a biography of the Swedish adventurer and mountaineer Göran Kropp. In 2000, his biography of the inventor Håkan Lans, Ett svenskt geni, was published. The book was turned into a documentary film, Patent 986.
His breakthrough as a novelist was Fall of Man in Wilmslow, a novel about the British mathematician Alan Turing. The response was consistently positive and the book has since sold in over 15 languages.
In 2005, Himmel över Everest was released: a fictional narrative of the catastrophe on Mount Everest in 1996 where twelve people died.

''I am Zlatan Ibrahimović'' (2011)

In November 2011, David Lagercrantz's best-selling sports biography I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic was published. The Swedish language edition sold over 500,000 copies in six weeks making it the fastest selling book of all time in Sweden. The biography has today been translated into more than 30 languages. I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic received much attention as it contributed to an increased readership amongst boys and young men. It was nominated for The August Prize in 2012 and The William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 2013. In Financial Times, Simon Kuper called the biography "The best footballer's autobiography of recent years".

''The Girl in the Spider's Web'' (2015)

In December 2013, the Swedish publishing company Norstedts announced that Lagercrantz had been contracted to write the fourth novel in the Millennium series of crime novels, originally by Stieg Larsson. The novel was published on August 27, 2015 and was launched in 27 countries at the same time. It received consistent positive reviews, reached international sales records and landed on best seller lists all over the world. The novel was designated as one of the year's best thrillers in 2015 by the magazine Esquire, and nominated to the 2016 Petrona Award in the category of Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.
The Girl in the Spider's Web was made by Sony Pictures into a 2018 film, with Claire Foy starring as iconic main character Lisbeth Salander. It is the first of the novels in the Millennium series to be directly filmed in English. The previous three novels were initially made into Swedish films. Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Álvarez directed the 2018 film, and co-wrote the screenplay with Steven Knight and Jay Basu.

''The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye'' (2017)

In September 2017, Lagercrantz's second contribution to the Millennium series was released. Millennium 5, The Girl Who takes an Eye for an Eye, has been celebrated in reviews worldwide, and was named No. 2 at The New York Times Best Sellers list only two weeks after being released.
Lagercrantz donated approximately €100,000 of his profits to Läsrörelsen, an organization working for children's and youth's readership. He also donated approximately €50,000 to Grävfonden, a foundation for training investigative journalists in Sweden.

''The Girl Who Lived Twice'' (2019)

In 2019 Lagercrantz's third addition to the Millennium series The Girl Who Lived Twice was published.

Awards

Board member of Swedish PEN, that fights for persecuted authors over the entire world.
Actively involved in children's and youth's readership through Läsrörelsen.