The Swedish writer and theater director Henning Mankell became famous throughout Germany with his Wallander crime novels.
He would have turned 75 on February 3rd.
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There are writers where the main characters develop such momentum that they end up being more famous than those who created them.
These include, for example, Miss Marple from Agatha Christie, Commissioner Maigret from Geoge Simenon, Guido Brunetti from Donna Leon and Commissioner Wallander from Henning Mankell.
The Wallander films with Kenneth Branagh or Krister Henrikkson as Inspector Kurt Wallander made the books known to a wide audience.
Adam Paalsson is currently slipping into the role of "Young Wallander" on Netflix.
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Bestselling author Henning Mankell would have celebrated his 75th birthday on February 3, 2023
© Eventpress / Imago
Congratulations Henning Mankel: Grattis på födelsedagen
With Inspector Kurt Wallander, Mankell created an extremely exciting main character who undergoes great development in the novels.
Kurt Wallander started out as a simple patrolman in Malmö, who was later transferred to Ystad and worked there as a detective.
Mankell linked his biography very closely with the literary figure who grew to love millions of readers.
Although his thrillers portrayed evil, they did not lose sight of the people.
Through the series, Henning Mankell developed characters that were believable for us readers, that we could empathize with.
We rejoiced and we suffered with them, no matter which side they were on.
In "Enemy in the Shadows" (promotional link) Inspector Kurt Wallander has to admit defeat to his Alzheimer's disease.
A shock for us readers.
In interviews at the time, Henning Mankell announced that he would publish a series with Wallander's daughter as investigator.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen anymore.
Inspector Wallander novels in order
Faceless Killer, 1991
Dogs of Riga, 1992
The White Lioness, 1993 (promotional link)
The Man Who Smiled, 1994
The wrong track, 1995
The Fifth Wife, 1996
Midsummer Murder, 1997
The Firewall, 1998
Before the Frost, 2002 (promotional link)
The Enemy in the Shadows, 2009
Murder in the fall, 2013
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In addition to the Wallander crime novels, Henning Mankell also wrote numerous African stories and psychologically ambitious thrillers, including "Tiefe" (2004) and "Kennedy's Brain" (2006) (advertising link).
In "Tiefe" Mankell had made a psychopathic loner the main character, in which the psyche of the perpetrator and not the deed was in the foreground.
The 13 best thrillers by Jo Nesbø with Harry Hole
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In addition to crime novels, which make up around a third of his publications, Mankell has written books for children and young people, dramas and screenplays, including two for the Kiel crime scene series "Borowski and the fourth man" (2009) and "Borowski and the cool dog" (2010 ).
The screenplay templates for “Borowski und das Fest des Nordens” (2015/17) also come from the successful Swedish author.
He has received numerous awards for his works, for example the German Crime Prize in 2001 for “Midsummer Murder” and the Ripper Award in 2008, the European prize for crime literature.
The Swedish author died on October 5, 2015 at the age of 67 as a result of cancer.
His books have been translated into over 40 languages and have sold more than 40 million copies.
With him, the world has lost a deep lover of Africa and people.
We will always remember his characters, especially Inspector Kurt Wallander.
If you want to go on a voyage of discovery in the footsteps of Kurt Wallander, you will find the perfect place to start in Fridolfs Konditori in Ysatd.
List of rubrics: © Eventpress / Imago
