Maj Sjöwall

The recorded working language is Swedish. The field of work recorded is detective fiction, journalism and translation. Works named in the authority record are The Laughing Policeman and The Man on the Balcony. Distinctions recorded are Riverton International Honour Prize, Lenin Award (Sweden) and Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel.

Maj Sjöwall was the daughter of Margit Trobäck and CEO Will Sjöwall. After completing school, Sjöwall was employed at Åhlén & Åkerlunds publishers between 1954 and 1959; Wahlström & Widstrands publishers between 1959 and 1961; and then Esselte publishers between 1961 and 1963. Sjöwall was best known for the collaborative work with her partner Per Wahlöö on a series of ten novels about the exploits of Martin Beck, a police detective in Stockholm. They also wrote several novels separately. The fourth of the Beck novels, Den skrattande polisen, was published in 1968; a translation of this novel, The Laughing Policeman, won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America in 1971. This novel was also adapted into the film The Laughing Policeman, starring Walter Matthau. In 2013, Sjöwall received a fifth Lenin Award. After the death of Wahlöö, Sjöwall continued working as a translator, writing columns for magazines and as an author. With Danish author Bjarne Nielsen, she published the novel Dansk Intermezzo in 1989. In 1990, she and author Tomas Ross published the thriller Kvinnan som liknade Greta Garbo.

Sjöwall married her first husband, magazine editor Gunnar Isaksson, in 1955, and they divorced in 1958. She married again in 1959 to photographer Hans J. Flodquist; they divorced in 1962. Sjöwall had a 13-year relationship with Wahlöö, which lasted until his death in 1975. Sjöwall died on 29 April 2020, at the age of 84, after a prolonged illness.

Roseanna (1965) Mannen som gick upp i rök (1966) Mannen på balkongen (1967) Den skrattande polisen (1968) Brandbilen som försvann (1969) Polis, polis, potatismos (1970) Den vedervärdige mannen från Säffle (1971) Det slutna rummet (1972) Polismördaren (1974) Terroristerna (1975)

The novels about Martin Beck were adapted into several successful films, and Beck has been portrayed by several of Sweden's best-known actors. The best-known portrayal of Beck is by actor Peter Haber, who has appeared in 42 films or TV episodes in the role.