Henning Mankell was born on 3rd February 1948 in Stockholm, Sweden. A year after he was born, his mother left his father to bring up Henning and his older sister, Helena, alone. He did not have regular contact with his mother until he was 15. His mother committed suicide when Mankell was in his twenties.

After the divorce in 1950, his father Judge Ivar Mankell took Henning and Helena to live in Sveg, in Härjedalen a sparsely populated region of Northern Sweden. The family lived above the law courts where Ivar was a judge. Occasionally the children could watch the court proceedings and on one occasion Mankell's toy car was used to demonstrate a car accident. Mankell explains that 'Ever since I was a child I have been interested in the justice system and how it works.'

Mankell's ancestors immigrated to Sweden in the 1700s from the border area between Germany and Denmark. Many were musicians - church organists and violin players. Ivar's father, also called Henning (1868-1930) was a composer and Ivar had a great love of music. He founded a concert society in Sveg so that the people of the town could get the chance to hear classical music preformed. The musical influence is evident in Mankell's novels as he often refers to the music that Wallander enjoys. Mankell says that he shares a love of music with Wallander 'but otherwise we're quite different.'

Mankell's Grandmother lived with the family in Sveg and was fundamental to his future, as she taught him to write. He knew he wanted to become an author when at the age of 6, he wrote a short review of Robinson Crusoe. Mankell was also a prolific reader, especially enjoying stories about Africa, which seemed so exotic compared to the Swedish backdrop of his childhood. He regularly imagined that the logs that floated down the river, which ran by the house, were crocodiles in the Congo.

In 1961, his father moved the family to Borås where Mankell attended Högre Allmäna Löroverket secondary school. He left school at 16 to become a merchant seaman, which gave him the chance to travel around Europe and America.

In 1966, he settled in Paris where he was extremely poor so returned to Sweden in 1968, at the age of 20, to work as a stagehand in a theatre.

Just days before Mankell's first book, The Stone-Blaster, was published in 1972 his father died. In the winter of the same year, Henning travelled to Guinea-Bissau in Africa, a country he had always dreamed about. From then on he continued to visit Africa regularly until in 1987, he was invited to run the Teatro Avenida theatre in Matputo, Mozambique. There was no professional theatrical tradition so Mankell had to help construct one from scratch.

Mankell's personal life is quite private although he is very proud of his four sons - Thomas, Marius, Morten and Jon - from previous marriages and relationships. He married his fourth wife, the daughter of the film director, Ingmar Bergman, Eva, in 1998. Eva is a choreographer and theatre director; she has directed a number of Henning's plays. Henning divides his time between his farmhouse in Sweden and Mozambique, where he boards with a friend. He has also written a number of books for children and teenagers, as well as a book about Aids.

The Birth of Kurt Wallander

Mankell's decision to write crime was motivated by the desire to highlight the social problems that he saw in Sweden, such as Xenophobia. Mankell has gone on to use Wallander as a device to highlight the need for social cohesion. He picked the name Wallander out of the phone directory on 20 May 1989 and Kurt Wallander was born.

Wallander is so popular now that Mankell receives letters addressed to the character and has been asked how he will vote in elections. There are even tours around Ystad and the police station. Check out Mankellholics Dream Holiday to find out more.

Mankell and his Aids campaign

Henning is passionately involved in the fight against Aids in Africa and devotes much time to the Memory Book project. The project aims to help people with Aids leave behind a memory of themselves for their children. The books are designed to help stimulate the child's memory and imagination while surrounded by so much pain and suffering. Mankell also considers the books to be an important part of African history and hopes that they will be stored in the new Alexandrian library in Egypt.

In connection with the project, Mankell went to meet Christine, who had the Aids virus. She was making a memory book for her daughter, Aida; these books do not just contain writing but pictures, imprints and anything that will create a memory for the reader. Aida also had her own way of coping with her mother's impending death; she cared for a mango tree in secret. This tale is recounted in Mankell's short book called I die, but the Memory Lives on. All royalties from the book go to Aids charities.

The effects of Aids can be felt all over Africa even in the theatre that Mankell runs. One of the plays that they performed included a coffin. The coffin was kept in storage with other props for the play. When the decision was taken to perform the play again, the props were taken out of storage but the coffin was missing. Mankell asked his stage manager what had happened to it and he explained that a young girl who begged outside the theatre had died of Aids. She had no money and would have been put in a pauper's grave thus the stage technician took the decision to donate the coffin so that she may have a dignified burial.

Mankell sees that one of the problems for Aids suffers in Africa is the cost of the drugs that can help control it. It costs twice the average wage and he believes that it is important to shame the pharmaceutical companies into reducing the prices. Mankell is very generous not only supporting Aids charities but also political causes and providing stipends for actors and playwrights at the Teatro Avenida theatre.

In brief

Born: 3rd February 1948

Place of Birth: Stockholm, Sweden

Education: Folkskolan Elementary School, Sveg
Högre Allmäna Löroverket, Borås

Awards: Swedish Mystery Academy Prize 1991
German Crime Prize 1999
CWA Gold Dagger Award 2001
Author of the Year, Germany 2002

Current Home: Maputo, Mozambique, Africa

Children: Thomas, Marius, Morten and Jon

Wife: Eva Bergman

For more information read The Guardian article at
http://www.llt.uea.ac.uk/scandstudies/swe/guardian2003nov01.html