Lars Jonas Holger Gardell (born 2 November 1963) is a Swedish novelist, playwright, screenwriter and comedian. He is the brother of religion scholar Mattias Gardell. He is well known for his books and plays in all of Scandinavia and his books have been translated to around 25 languages.

Early career

Gardell's first

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

, (''The Passion Play''), was published in 1985. Since then, he has written some ten novels, including (''A Comedian Growing Up''), which became a TV series. He has also written several other books, nine plays and two screenplays that were made into movies, including (''Life is a Schlager''). His novels are not yet available in English. He wrote and performed himself the song "", which was performed by Bergström in the film.

Later years

In 2006, more than 20 years after his first novel was published, Gardell is one of Sweden's most famous stand-up comedians. Well known to be openly gay, Gardell was married to the Finnish-Swedish-American writer and TV presenter Mark Levengood. He has one child by a female friend. Gardell performed his own play (''Temporary guest in your life'') (2007) at the Scala Theater in Stockholm. In 2013, Gardell was elected "Homo Bi Trans Person of the Year" at the Swedish Gaygalan Awards, notably for the book (''Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves''). His prize was presented to him by the Swedish Crown Princess Victoria, whom Gardell thanked with the words: "Victoria, you are our Crown Princess, but tonight I think that I'm our little queen" - this went down well with the Crown Princess, whom Gardell knows well. His husband Levengood hosted the immensely popular "

Victoria Day Victoria Day () is a federal Canadian public holiday observed on the last Monday preceding May 25 to honour Queen Victoria, who is known as the "Mother of Confederation". The holiday has existed in Canada since at least 1845, originally on Vic ...

" for several years at the Swedish island of Öland, when the Swedes celebrate Crown Princess Victoria's birthday on 14 July. He participated in Melodifestivalen 2018. In January 2023, Gardell and Levengood announced their separation after having been in a relationship for 37 years. The couple divorced the following June.

Bibliography

* 1979 – * 1985 – * 1986 – * 1987 – * 1988 – * 1990 – * 1992 – * 1993 – * 1995 – * 1997 – Cheek to cheek. * 1998 – * 1998 – * 2001 – * 2003 – * 2006 – Jenny * 2009 – * 2011 – * 2012 – * 2013 – * 2013 –

Singles

References

External links

Article from ''The Guardian'' about Swedish writers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardell, Jonas 1963 births Living people People from Danderyd Municipality Swedish male novelists Swedish male dramatists and playwrights Swedish male comedians Swedish male screenwriters Swedish gay entertainers Swedish gay writers Swedish LGBTQ novelists Swedish LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Swedish LGBTQ comedians Swedish LGBTQ screenwriters Gay novelists Gay screenwriters Gay comedians Gay dramatists and playwrights Gay Christians Best Screenplay Guldbagge Award winners 20th-century Swedish male writers 21st-century Swedish male writers 20th-century Swedish novelists 21st-century Swedish novelists 20th-century Swedish dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Swedish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Swedish comedians 21st-century Swedish comedians 20th-century Swedish screenwriters 21st-century Swedish screenwriters 20th-century Swedish LGBTQ people 21st-century Swedish LGBTQ people Writers from Stockholm County