40 Facts About Henning Mankell

Henning Georg Mankell was a Swedish crime writer, children's author, and dramatist, best known for a series of mystery novels starring his most noted creation, Inspector Kurt Wallander.

Henning Mankell wrote a number of plays and screenplays for television.

In 2010, Mankell was on board one of the ships in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla that was boarded by Israeli commandos.

Henning Mankell was below deck on the MV Mavi Marmara when nine civilians were killed in international waters.

Henning Mankell shared his time between Sweden and countries in Africa, mostly Mozambique where he started a theatre.

Henning Mankell made considerable donations to charity organizations, mostly connected to Africa.

Mankell's grandfather, named Henning Mankell, lived from 1868 to 1930 and was a composer.

Henning Mankell's father Ivar was a lawyer who divorced his mother when Mankell was one year old.

The family first lived in Sveg, Harjedalen in northern Sweden, where Henning Mankell's father was a district judge.

Later, when Henning Mankell was thirteen, the family moved to Boras, Vastergotland on the Swedish west coast near Gothenburg.

Henning Mankell took part in the student uprising of 1968.

Henning Mankell later returned to work as a stagehand in Stockholm.

Henning Mankell used the proceeds from the novel to travel to Guinea-Bissau.

From 1991 to 2013, Henning Mankell wrote the books which made him famous worldwide, the Kurt Wallender mystery novels.

Henning Mankell subsequently spent extended periods in Maputo working with the theatre and as a writer.

Henning Mankell built his own publishing house, Leopard Forlag, in order to support young talented writers from Africa and Sweden.

Around 2008, Henning Mankell developed two original stories for the German police series Tatort.

Actor Axel Milberg, who portrays Inspector Klaus Borowski, had asked Henning Mankell to contribute to the show when they were promoting The Man from Beijing audiobook, a project that Milberg had worked on.

In 2010, Henning Mankell was set to work on a screenplay for Sveriges Television about his father-in-law, movie and theatre director Ingmar Bergman, on a series produced in four one-hour episodes.

Henning Mankell pitched the project to Sveriges Television and production was planned for 2011.

At the time of his death, Henning Mankell had written over 40 novels that had sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.

Henning Mankell was married four times and had four sons, Thomas, Marius, Morten and Jon, by different relationships.

In January 2014, Henning Mankell announced that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer and throat cancer.

Henning Mankell wrote a series of articles inspired by his wife Eva, describing his situation, how it felt to be diagnosed, how it felt to be supported, how it felt to wait, and after his first chemotherapy at Sahlgrenska University Hospital about the importance of cancer research.

On 5October 2015, Henning Mankell died at the age of 67, almost two years after having been diagnosed.

Henning Mankell took an active part in their activities but did not join the party.

In 2002, Henning Mankell gave financial support by buying stocks for 50,000 NOK in the Norwegian left-wing newspaper Klassekampen.

In 2009, Henning Mankell was a guest at the Palestine Festival of Literature.

Henning Mankell said he had seen "repetition of the despicable apartheid system that once treated Africans and coloured as second-class citizens in their own country".

Henning Mankell stated in an interview with Haaretz that he did not support Hezbollah.

Henning Mankell said he did not encounter antisemitism during his journey, just "hatred against the occupants that is completely normal and understandable", and said that "to keep these two things separate is crucial".

In 2010, Henning Mankell was on board the MS Sofia, one of the boats which took part in the flotilla which tried to break the Israeli embargo of the Gaza strip.

In June 2011, Henning Mankell stated in an article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that he had never considered preventing his books from being translated into Hebrew, and that unidentified persons had stolen his identity to make this false claim.

Henning Mankell was supposed to be one of twenty Swedish participants in "Freedom Flotilla II" which never took place.

In 2007, Henning Mankell donated 15 million Swedish crowns to SOS Children's Villages for a children's village in Chimoio in western Mozambique.

Henning Mankell donated vast amounts of money to charitable organizations such as SOS Children's Villages and Hand in Hand, a collection of independent organizations.

Henning Mankell wrote on the plight of refugees and after his death his website asked for donations in his name to the UN Commission on Refugees.

Ten years after The Pyramid, Henning Mankell published another Wallander novel, The Troubled Man, which he said would definitely be the last in the series.

Henning Mankell began an intended trilogy of novels with her as the protagonist.

However, following the suicide of Johanna Sallstrom, the actress playing the character at the time in the Swedish TV series, Henning Mankell was so distraught that he decided to abandon the series after only the first novel.