David Lagercrantz

His father was author and editor-in-chief Olof Lagercrantz (1911–2002), whose parents were banker Carl Lagercrantz and Countess Agnes Hamilton; the latter was the great-granddaughter of poet and historian Erik Gustaf Geijer.

David Lagercrantz's mother, Finnish-Swedish Martina Ruin (1921–2019), was the daughter of the philosopher and author Hans Ruin.

The actress Marika Lagercrantz is David Lagercrantz's sister.

In interviews, David Lagercrantz has spoken of his fear of failure in an intellectually eminent family, of early depression, and of the strained relationship with his father.

After graduating from Kungsholmens gymnasium in Stockholm, David Lagercrantz studied philosophy and religious history, and obtained a degree in journalism from Gothenburg University.

Enticed by a peculiar job advertisement, he took a position as a crime reporter at local newspaper Sundsvalls Tidning, and subsequently worked at evening paper Expressen, where he covered the major criminal cases of the time, one of which he later described in his book Änglarna i Åmsele (The Angels in Åmsele).

Though his time as a crime reporter was formative in many ways, he eventually had enough and moved into freelance journalism.

David Lagercrantz (born 4 September 1962) is a Swedish journalist and author, internationally known as the author of I Am Zlatan Ibrahimović, The Girl in the Spider's Web, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye and The Girl Who Lived Twice.

The latter three of these works are the fourth, fifth and sixth instalments respectively in the Millennium series originated by Stieg Larsson.

He is also a television presenter and a screenwriter.

David Lagercrantz is the youngest of five siblings.

In 1996, Lagercrantz wrote a piece about the adventurer Göran Kropp who, mere days after a disaster on Mount Everest in which eight people died, reached the summit without sherpa or oxygen.

The piece turned into Lagercrantz's first book, Göran Kropp 8000 Plus (1997).

In 2000, Lagercrantz published a biography of the inventor Håkan Lans, A Swedish Genius, which was later adapted as a documentary film, Patent 986.

Lagercrantz's literary breakthrough was the 2009 novel Syndafall i Wilmslow (the Fall of Man in Wilmslow) about the English mathematician and cryptanalyst Alan Turing.

Lagercrantz's first books had in common the theme of brilliant eccentrics at odds with their contemporaries.

In November 2011, David Lagercrantz's best-selling sports biography I Am Zlatan Ibrahimović was published.

The Swedish-language edition sold over 500,000 copies in six weeks, making it the fastest-selling book of all time in Sweden.

The biography has today been translated into more than 30 languages.

I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic received much attention, as it contributed to an increased readership amongst boys and young men.

It was nominated for the August Prize in 2012 and the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 2013.

In the Financial Times, Simon Kuper called the biography "the best footballer's autobiography of recent years".

A film adaptation of the book premiered in Sweden in March 2022 and became the No. 1 Swedish movie in Swedish cinemas that year.

David Lagercrantz wrote the screenplay along with Jakob Beckman.

The film I Am Zlatan was nominated for the audience award at the 2023 Swedish Film Awards.

It was also nominated in the best film, best director, best screenplay, best actor and best supporting actor categories at the 2023 Swedish Film Awards.

In 2013 it was announced that David Lagercrantz would write a fourth installment in Stieg Larsson's Millennium series.

The announcement garnered considerable attention, both positive and negative.

Stieg Larsson's partner, for example, criticized the project.

In August 2015, The Girl in the Spider's Web was published simultaneously in 27 countries.

It broke international sales records and topped bestseller lists across the world, including the New York Times bestseller list.

Reviews were generally positive.

Along with two subsequent Millennium installments also penned by Lagercrantz, The Girl in the Spider's Web has been published in more than 50 countries and is one of the greatest international commercial successes of Swedish literature to date.

In 2015, Lagercrantz published a diary about his work on The Girl in the Spider's Web, and in 2016 Swedish Public Broadcasting released a television documentary on the same topic.

The Girl in the Spider's Web was adapted by Sony Pictures as the first book in the Millennium series to be originally produced in English.

The fifth installment in the Millennium series, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, was published in 2017.

Reviews were mostly favorable and the book was a New York Times bestseller.

The Girl in the Spider's Web film premiered in 2018.

The film was directed by Fede Álvarez, who also wrote the screenplay along with Steven Knight and Jay Basu.

Claire Foy, known from The Crown, played Lisbeth Salander while Sverrir Gudnason played Mikael Blomkvist.