Mats Wahl was born in 1945 in Malmö and grew up on Gotland. He debuted as an author in the 1970s and has published over 40 books in different genres – including youth literature – and he has been translated into a dozen languages.
Wahl also wrote theater plays, film and TV series, and in 1990 he was awarded the Royal Dramatic Theater's prize for the best children's and youth play.
August Prize
Three years later, he was also awarded the August Prize for the youth novel "Vinterviken", which was made into a feature film in 1996 and 2021. In the jury's motivation, they particularly highlighted the book's poetic portrayal of young people's longing, friendship and love in a society marked by hardening contradictions.
Wahl worked for almost two decades as an unqualified teacher, including ten years with vulnerable young people at special institutions. He was deeply committed to young people's mental health and in his stories, Wahl often returns to portraying experiences from meetings with young people in crisis.
Criticized drug policy
In interviews, he has talked about a tough period in his youth filled with drugs and self-destructiveness. In 2021, he published the autobiographical "Medicinmannen" about his own life and how a different drug policy could have helped him and his friends. In the book's back cover text, he writes:
"The Swedish drug policy is a disaster. People who should be offered help with emotional wounds and social difficulties are being hunted by the judicial system. Hundreds die from heavy drugs, year after year. That I myself survived seems mysterious"
When Wahl became a teacher for rowdy young people in his 25th year, he managed to get rid of the drugs and his life took a new direction.
I think I have slowly found this meaning in my life and that the heavy burden I previously carried has slowly melted away and that I can now look at myself with self-respect, said Mats Wahl in an interview with Aftonbladet 2021 ahead of the launch of his autobiography.
Mats Wahl passed away on Thursday after a period of illness and became 80 years old.
