Remembering Laurie Thompson

I was sad to see an obituary recently for Laurie Thompson who passed away on June 8, 2015. Mr. Thompson was an excellent translator of Swedish writing into English. He translated over 40 titles from an impressive number of well-known Swedish writers, including Henning Mankell, Åke Edwardson, Håkan Nesser and Mikael Niemi. Some of the titles he translated include:

• The White Lioness by Henning Mankell, 1998
• Night Watch by Malin Lindroth, 2000
• The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell, 2001
• The Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell, 2003
• I Die, but the Memory Lives on by Henning Mankell, 2004
• A bridge to the stars by Henning Mankell, 2005
• Sun and Shadow by Åke Edwardson, 2005
• Never End by Åke Edwardson, 2006
• Depths by Henning Mankell, 2006
• The Man Who Smiled by Henning Mankell, 2006
• Borkmann’s Point by Håkan Nesser, 2006
• Shadows in the Twilight by Henning Mankell, 2007
• Frozen Tracks by Åke Edwardson, 2007
• The Return by Håkan Nesser, 2007
• Kennedy’s Brain, by Henning Mankell, 2007
• The Mind’s Eye by Håkan Nesser, 2008
• Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell, 2009
• The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell, 2010

He edited the Swedish Book Review from 1983 to 2002, and lectured at the University of Wales (Aberystwyth and Lampeter). In 1992 he was awarded the Royal Order of the Polar Star for his service to Swedish culture and literature and 2003 he received an award from the Swedish Academy for service to Swedish culture abroad. He was also a co-founder of the Swedish-English Literary Translators’ Association.

His translation of Håkan Nesser’s The Living and the Dead in Winsford is available as of today, July 2, 2015 in the US.

Having left such a great body of work, we will all be remembering Laurie Thompson for many years to come.