Elsie Johansson was one of the most read and beloved Swedish authors.
Her greatest successes came with the novel trilogy about Nancy, which began with "Glasfåglarna" and was followed by "Mosippan" and "Nancy".
There are so many of my readers who want to believe that I am Nancy or one of my other characters. They can hardly accept that it's not true. But I am all my characters, and none of them, she said in an interview with TT in 2016, in connection with the publication of her autobiography "Riktiga Elsie".
Elsie Johansson grew up with her parents and older siblings in a working-class home.
I'm still that working-class kid. At the same time, it's impossible to ignore that I find myself in a cultural world full of people with a different background and different opportunities. It has always been difficult for me, she said.
Late Debut
It wasn't until she was 48 years old that Elsie Johansson made her debut. A few years later, the novel "Glasfåglarna" was published.
It's clear that there was a maturity about her when she started writing. I think that's what gave her the courage to be herself, to use her own language, says her former publisher Eva Bonnier to TT.
She was a working-class author, our time's Moa Martinsson. In a fantastic way, she wrote about the background she came from.
Warm and Curious
On two occasions, she has put on plays at the city theater in Uppsala. In 2011, "Hjärterhus" premiered.
She came to the theater and despite her advanced age, she was an incredibly warm and curious person, but with high integrity, says Linus Tunström, former head of the city theater.
Together with director Sunil Munshi, Johansson worked on the production.
She wrote a new play that dealt with erotic longing and it was quite daring. It was wonderful to see this young man and this old woman meet in this material, continues Tunström.
Living Legend
Elsie Johansson was also a member of the board of the Literature Center in Uppsala city and county, which works to support local reading and the regional literary scene.
In a way, she was a bit of a living legend locally. It was fun to see how she was open to younger talents and to slightly unconventional ways of using her texts as well, says board member and author Ola Larsmo.
He particularly remembers a production at Teater Blanca, where young people with intellectual disabilities interpreted her poems.
She was there and I think she was quite moved by it. It was the best reading anyone had done of her poems, she thought. It showed a bit of her openness, says Larsmo.
Elsie Johansson grew up with her parents and older siblings in a working-class home.
She studied at the realskola in Uppsala and then began working at the Post Office, where she stayed for nearly 30 years.
It wasn't until she was 48 years old that she debuted with the poetry collection "Brorsan hade en vevgrammofon".
Her greatest successes came with the novel trilogy about Nancy, which began with "Glasfåglarna" and was followed by "Mosippan" and "Nancy".
