Nils Ferlin

• Name — Nils Ferlin • Birth Name — Nils Johan Einar Ferlin • Born — 11 December 1898 • Birthplace — Karlstad, Sweden • Died — 21 October 1961 • Place of death — Uppsala, Sweden • Occupation — poet, lyricist • Spouse — Henny Lönnqvist

• Illustration — Ferlin (right) and Finnish poet Elmer Diktonius in Helsinki, 1936. Nils Ferlin was born in Karlstad, Värmland, where his father worked at Nya Wermlands-Tidningen. In 1908, the family moved to Filipstad, and his father started his own newspaper. His father passed away the following year, and the family relocated from their comfortable home to a modest dwelling in the industrial district so that Ferlin could complete his education. He graduated at the age of sixteen. Ferlin had a minor career as an actor and debuted at the age of seventeen in Salomé by Oscar Wilde. He continued his career with a traveling theater company. Although many of Ferlin's poems are melancholic, they are not without humor. Several were set to music and became popular songs such as En valsmelodi, an attack on the music industry. Ferlin sold over 300,000 volumes of his poetry during his lifetime. His lasting appeal is partly attributed to his vivid portrayal of central Stockholm before urban renewal and his association with the popular culture that flourished there then. Several statues of Nils Ferlin have been erected in Sweden: one in Filipstad of him sitting on a park bench, one in the Karlstad city square of him standing on a table, and one near Klara kyrka in Stockholm of him lighting a cigarette. Ferlin’s lyrics have been translated into English by Martin S. Allwood, Fred Lane, Thord Fredenholm and Roger Hinchliffe.

Nils Ferlin is recorded as having received Samfundet De Nio's Grand Prize and Värmland county council Fröding award. Recorded at birth as Nils Johan Einar Ferlin.