Ellen Mattson
Ellen Mattson is a Swedish novelist, playwright and literature critic, and a member of the Swedish Academy.
Mattson was born in Uddevalla. She studied literature and language, and also piano at a folk high school in Vadstena. She is a trained librarian, but now works as a full time writer and literature critic.
Mattson debuted as a novelist in 1992. She won a wider audience and critical acclaim with the 1998 novel Resenärerna. Several of her works are historical novels, including Vinterträdet, in which she portray Greta Garbo at the height of her international film career, Snö and Tornet och fåglarna, which are both set in the early 18th century. Snow, which depict the time after the Swedish army's return from Norway after the death of king Karl XII, was Mattson's first fictional work to be published in English translation. Mattson has also written plays for radio and the stage. The main theme in Mattson's work is human relations and the question of the individual's freedom.
Mattson has won several literary prizes, including the Svenska Dagbladet Literature Prize in 1998, the Dobloug Prize in 2009, and the Selma Lagerlöf Prize in 2011.
On 28 March 2019, the Swedish Academy elected Mattson as a new member of the academy and was inducted on seat 9 on 20 December 2019. She is currently a member of the Academy's Nobel Committee for Literature.