Tomas Tranströmer

Tomas Gösta Tranströmer (1931–2015) was a Swedish poet, psychologist, and translator, widely regarded as one of the most influential Scandinavian writers since World War II. Born in Stockholm on April 15, 1931, he published his debut collection 17 Poems in 1954 while studying at Stockholm University, where he later graduated as a psychologist. He balanced a career in psychology with a prolific output of fifteen poetry collections that explored nature, mystery, everyday life, and spiritual undertones. His poetry, praised for its accessibility and vivid imagery even in translation, appeared in over sixty languages. Notable works include The Half-Finished Heaven (1962), Baltics (1974), The Sorrow Gondola (1996), and The Great Enigma (2004). A stroke in 1990 left him partially paralysed and aphasic, yet he continued composing poetry and playing piano with his left hand. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2011 'because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality.' He died in Stockholm in 2015.