Tomas Tranströmer

Tomas Gösta Tranströmer was born on April 15, 1931, in Stockholm. Graduating in psychology from Stockholm University, he worked for decades as a professional psychologist counseling juvenile offenders, disabled individuals, and convicts at Roxtuna correctional center.

Tranströmer published groundbreaking poetry collections characterized by astonishing metaphorical precision and quiet mystical depth, including 17 dikter (1954), Östersjöar (1974), and Sorgegondolen (1996). Stricken by a severe stroke in 1990 that paralyzed his right side and took his speech, he continued to write poetry with his left hand and performed left-handed piano concerts. In 2011, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, revered as one of the supreme masters of modern world verse.