Alf Henrikson

• Name — Alf Henrikson • Pen Name — H • Birth Name — Alf Ragnar Sten Henrikson • Born — 9 July 1905 • Birthplace — Huskvarna, Sweden • Place of death — Stockholm, Sweden • Died — 9 May 1995 • Occupation — Author, poet, translator • Awards — Litteris et Artibus

Henrikson was born in Huskvarna, the eldest son of Arvid and Linnéa Henrikson. His father was a clerk at Husqvarna Vapenfabrik, a rifle manufacturer that also produced sewing machines and motorcycles. Alf Henrikson's mother also worked at the factory, where she painted decorative patterns and flowers on sewing machines, prior to her marriage. Henrikson was a precocious child who learnt to read at an early age, something that was encouraged by his parents as well as his grandparents, who lived with the family. When he was five years old, his brother Stig was born, followed by the youngest sibling, Gerd; she was 13 years younger than Alf. He studied Latin and Greek at secondary school, and graduated in 1925. When he had finished his military service he wanted to go to Lund university to study Latin, but as his parents could not afford to send him there, he got a job at the newspaper Jönköpings-Posten. In 1929, he was hired by Dagens Nyheter and moved to Stockholm. Henrikson married Ebba Weck in 1931. They had two sons, Kjell (born 1933) and Lars (born 1938). The family moved to Södra Ängby in the Bromma borough of Stockholm in the mid-1930s, and Henrikson lived there until his death in 1995. He is buried in Huskvarna.

All in all, over 20,000 of Henrikson's daily poems were published in Dagens Nyheter, some of which have subsequently been published in anthologies. Henrikson also wrote and published a number of other volumes of poetry, and a popular introduction to various metric forms and styles. His style was often humorous but could also be very serious; there were often several layers of meanings in Henrikson's texts. Henrikson's published production includes over 100 books including collections of poetry, history books retelling the history of, among others, Sweden, Denmark, China, Iceland and ancient Greece and Rome, and a general encyclopedia, which Henrikson started writing at the age of 80. He also translated poetry, opera librettos and other texts from languages including French, English, and Chinese. His translation of the libretto of Mozart's The Magic Flute from German into Swedish in 1968 became a classic, which was also used in Ingmar Bergman's movie version of the opera from 1975.

Alf Henrikson worked in popular science, popular science literature, poetry and translation. He belonged to Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities and Gastronomic Academy.