Per Fredrik Wahlöö (5 August 1926 – 22 June 1975) – in English translations often identified as Peter Wahloo – was a
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
author. He is perhaps best known for the collaborative work with his partner
Maj Sjöwall
Maj Sjöwall (; 25 September 1935 – 29 April 2020) was a Swedish author and translator. She is best known for her books about police detective Martin Beck. She wrote the books in collaborative work with her partner Per Wahlöö.
Biograph ...
on a series of ten novels about the exploits of
Martin Beck, a police detective in
Stockholm, published between 1965 and 1975. In 1971, ''
The Laughing Policeman'' (a translation of ''Den skrattande polisen'', originally published in 1968) won an
Edgar Award from the
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City.
The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday.
It presents the Edgar Awa ...
for Best Novel. Wahlöö and Sjöwall also wrote novels separately.
Wahlöö was born in Tölö parish,
Kungsbacka Municipality
Kungsbacka () (old da, Kongsbakke) is a locality and the seat of Kungsbacka Municipality in Halland County, Sweden, with 19,057 inhabitants in 2010.
It is one of the most affluent parts of Sweden, in part due to its simultaneous proximity to the ...
,
Halland
Halland () is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap''), on the western coast of Götaland, southern Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat. Until 1645 and the Second Treaty of Brömseb ...
. Following school, he worked as a crime reporter from 1946 onwards. After long trips around the world he returned to Sweden and started working as a journalist again.
He had a thirteen-year relationship with Sjöwall but they never married, as he already was married. Both were
Marxists.
Biography
Wahlöö's career in journalism started in 1947 in Sydsvenskan in Malmö and continued in 1949 at the new ''Evening Post'', where he was a permanent employee, to 1953. He moved onto freelance work in the 1950s, writing theater reviews and film articles for various newspapers including for the newspapers in
Norrköping before moving to
Stockholm. By May 1964 Per Wahlöö's journalistic path was said to be complete. Subsequently, he was involved in the New Left journal ''Tidsignal (Time Signal)'' (1965–1970) where he was part of the editorial board, among others including the writer .
A leftist tendency and a dramatically effective narrative distinguished Wahlöö's early novels about power and the right, for example ''A Necessary Action'' from 1962, which depicts
Franco's Spain, and his ''Dictatorship'' series. From the mid-1960s, he wrote together with life companion
Maj Sjöwall
Maj Sjöwall (; 25 September 1935 – 29 April 2020) was a Swedish author and translator. She is best known for her books about police detective Martin Beck. She wrote the books in collaborative work with her partner Per Wahlöö.
Biograph ...
a series of detective novels with criminal investigator
Martin Beck as protagonist. Several of them have been filmed, and a Swedish TV film series began running in 1997, with
Peter Haber
Peter Alexander Haber (born 12 December 1952) is a Swedish actor. His father was German, his mother Swedish. He grew up in Skåne, Sweden, and in Remscheid, Germany. In 1987 he was hired by the Stockholm City Theatre where he was active unti ...
as Martin Beck. The series was bought by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in 2015, and shown in the United Kingdom with English subtitles.
Per Wahlöö died in
in 1975, after an unsuccessful operation on the pancreas (necessitated by cancer). He is buried in the memorial garden at Malmo Sankt Pauli's central cemetery.
for joint collaboration with Sjöwall)
*''The Chief'' (1959)
*''The Wind and Rain'' (1961)
*''A Necessary Action'' (1962)
*''The Assignment'' (1963)
*''No Roses Grow on Odenplan'' (1964)
*''Murder on the Thirty-First Floor'' (1966)
*''The Steel Spring'' (1968)
*''A Necessary Action'' (1969)
*''The Generals'' (1974)
.