Olle Svensson (3)

Swedish author and painter, born 12 September 1904 in Hå, Bollnäs parish, Gävleborg county, Gävleborg county, died 4 September 1972 in Sunnansjö in Kopparberg county. He was the son of the forest worker Olof Georgius Svensson and Marta Westling and from 1947 married to Berna Hjalmarsson. Svensson grew up in Gustavsfors, Bollnäs' southern Finnish forest. He worked as a forest worker and lumberjack from 1916 to 1933, after which he studied at a folk high school. He made his debut as a writer with the collection of poems Som mitt liv in 1934, which was followed by the collection of poems Spår och spillror in 1937, after which he published several collections of poems. His first novel was published in 1946 and almost every year it was followed by new novels and the partly autobiographical books He wanted to be a poet in 1947 and Judged by the Convicted in 1952. As an artist he was self-taught and began painting in the 1950s mostly as a pastime. His art consists of landscapes in close connection with the natural lyrical line of his writing. He exhibited separately in Ludvika in 1950 and together with Waldemar Bernhard and Margit Rahm he exhibited in Hedemora and Avesta in 1963, he participated in the group exhibition Västvärmländsk konst in Arvika in 1965. He moved to Sunnansjö in 1947 where he lived until his death.