Elsa Sigrid Collin (3 October 1887 – 29 June 1941) was a Swedish theatre critic, poet and actress.

Early life

Collin was the daughter of Knut Johan August Collin, a doctor in

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

, and Sigrid Elvira Eskilsson. Elsa's mother died when she was just two years old; her father later remarried.

Career

After finishing school in 1906, Collin completed her

studentexamen Studentexamen (Swedish for "students' examination" or "students' degree"), earlier also ''mogenhetsexamen'' ("maturity examination") was the name of the university entrance examination in Sweden from the 17th century to 1968. From 1862 to 1968, ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

, and entered

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

in 1907. Collin became the first woman at any Swedish university to be part of a student spex show playing the part of Susanna, the chambermaid, in a spex called ''Gerda''; the spex also went on a tour to

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

and

. Collin was also active in the left-wing fraternity ''Den yngre gubben'' and wrote for the student paper with, among others,

Vilhelm Ekelund Vilhelm Ekelund (October 14, 1880 – September 3, 1949) was a Swedish poet. He is best known for his collections of poetry, such as ''Havets stjärna'' (1906), and ''Melodier i skymning'' (1902). His works often focus on the beauty of nature and ...

, with whom she had a close relationship at the time. After completing her bachelor's degree in 1909, Collin moved to Stockholm and entered

Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

, but mostly worked, initially as an actress in the theatre ensemble Lilla Teatern as well as Uppsala Teatern. Over time she came to work more for newspapers, first as a secretary at the Stockholm weekly ''Figaro'' and then as the Stockholm theatre critic for the Malmö newspaper ''Arbetet''. Collin published poetry in the Social Democratic women's magazine ''

Morgonbris ', full title (Morning Breeze'': Journal for working women'), is the magazine of the Social Democratic Women in Sweden. The magazine was founded by the Women's Trade Union in 1904. The founding editors were two Swedish political activists, Anna ...

'', including two overtly political poems, "Det dagas" (Day is dawning) and "Giv ditt namn!" (Give your name!) written in association with the

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

assemblies of 1912 and 1913. The title of the second refers to a petition effort; the poem became an anthem of the movement in Sweden. During her years in Stockholm, Collin became a close friend of writer and theatre leader Brita von Horn; the two women shared a residence in

Skagen Skagen () is the northernmost town in Denmark, on the east coast of the Skagen Odde peninsula in the far north of Jutland, part of Frederikshavn Municipality in North Denmark Region, Nordjylland, north of Frederikshavn and northeast of Aalbo ...

. Together they created the theatre group the Dramatist Studio (''Dramatikerstudion'') and wrote a play for the group based on von Horn's book ''Aschebergskan på Wittskövle''. However, the piece did not receive its first performance until 1944, after Collin's death, when it was also

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...

's inaugural production at the

Helsingborg City Theatre Helsingborg City Theatre () is the city theatre of Helsingborg, Sweden. The present Helsingborg City Theatre was built in 1921, after the old Helsingborg Theatre (located at the same place, built in 1877) was demolished. The building was designe ...

Death

Collin died in 1941. Her funeral took place in Stockholm, but she was buried in the Nya kyrkogården (New Cemetery) in her birthplace Helsingborg.

Early life

Career

Death

References

Further reading