Anna Laestadius Larsson
Anna Gerd Laestadius Larsson is a Swedish journalist and historical novelist. She made her debut in 2013 with Barnbruden, the first part of a trilogy about 18th-century Swedish women. In 2017, she published the successful novel Hilma: En roman om gåtan Hilma af Klint. Laestadius Larsson has also been editor of the Swedish magazine Amelia as well as a columnist for Svenska Dagbladet.
Biography
Anna Gerd Larsson was born in Leksberg near Mariestad on 6 April 1966. After first working as a reporter for Aftonbladet and Expressen, she was an editor at Aftonbladet Kvinna. In 2007, she went on become a columnist at Svenska Dagbladet where she served for almost 11 years.Laestadius Larsson was inspired to embark on writing historical novels when she took her nine-year-old daughter to visit Drottningholm Palace. Commenting on a portrait of Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte, the guide explained that she was only 15 when she was forced to marry the king's brother and that she had kept a diary. Laestadius Larsson bought the nine-volume diary from an antique dealer and based her novel Barnbruden on its 5,000 pages of intrigue. Her novel Kurtisanen was based on letters written by Charlotte Eckerman while on a study trip to Italy.
Her highly acclaimed novel Hilma received additional interest when Hilma af Klint's paintings were exhibited at the Guggenheim in New York.