David Lagercrantz, Author
David Lagercrantz is the author of The Girl in the Spider´s Web and I am Zlatan Ibrahimović, immensely successful books that have encouraged unaccustomed readers to read a book. He is also one of the keynote speakers at Take Part 2016.
David made his debut as an author in 1997 with Ultimate High, the story of Swedish adventurer Göran Kropp, who climbed Mount Everest without oxygen tanks or sherpas the week after one of the most tragic disasters ever to occur on the mountain. The book became a great success, both in Sweden and abroad, and enabled David to continue as an author. Since then he has written several books.
The Girl in the Spider's Web
In August 2015, Norstedts published the fourth, free-standing sequel to Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy. Together with Larsson’s heirs Norstedts had asked David Lagercrantz to write it. Det som inte dödar oss/The Girl in the Spider's Web was published simultaneously by 26 publishers worldwide, ten years after the Swedish publication of Stieg Larsson's Män som hatar kvinnor/The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. (Larsson's three Millennium novels have sold more than 80 Million copies to date, by 50 publishers worldwide).
The Girl in the Spider's Web is available from 45 publishers (in 47 languages) and has sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide. It is available as a talking book and braille book In Swedish, as in many other languages.
I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Lagercrantz’s book about the football star Zlatan Ibrahimovic was published in 2011 and sold more than 500 000 copies in Sweden (with a population of 9 million) in less than two months. It is one of the most successful books in Sweden in modern times. Jag är Zlatan / I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been published in over 30 languages around the world, among them German, French, Italian and English.
Jag är Zlatan is also available as a talking book, a braille book, an easy read book, an easy read talking book and an easy read braille book.
Last year these two books (Det som inte dödar oss and the easy read book Jag är Zlatan) were number 1 and 2 on the talking books top list in Sweden!
David is a board member of Swedish PEN, an organization that campaigns on behalf of persecuted writers all over the world. He is also a supporter of The Reading Movement, a Swedish association that promotes reading and access to high-quality books for children as ways of improving their vocabulary and educational success.
Quotes:
“Storytelling is crucial for our empathy and understanding of the world. A story can make us grow and act. We get reports of all sorts of crises in the world and still we often yawn, and then we hear of a little boy lying on a beach, and suddenly we understand.”