Johnson, Eyvind Olof Verner (1900-1976)

Swedish novelist. His tetralogy Romanen om Olof/The Story of Olof (1934-37) is a partly autobiographical account of adolescence. He wrote a number of historical novels, in which he demonstrated brilliant technical skills and a passionate belief in humanism and democracy. These include a realistic retelling of the Odyssey in Strändernas svall/Return to Ithaca (1946); an investigation of a heresy trial in 17th-century France in Drömmar om rosor och eld/Dreams About Roses and Fire (1949); and a chronicle of Charlemagne's Europe, Hans nådes tid/The Days of His Grace (1960). He shared the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1974 with Harry Martinson.

Johnson was born in Overlulea in the far north of Sweden, and was largely self-educated.