Halmstad [ˈhamsta] is a port, university, industrial and recreational city at the mouth of Nissan in the province of Halland on the Swedish west coast. Halmstad is the seat of Halmstad Municipality and the capital of Halland County. The city has a population of about 58,577, out of a municipal total of nearly 90,000. Halmstad is located about midway between Gothenburg and Malmö.

Halmstad, at the time part of the Kingdom of Denmark, received its first city charter in 1307, and the city celebrated its 700th anniversary in 2007. The oldest remains of that first town are to be found at "Övraby" upstream on Nissan, quite close to the regiment buildings. The remains of the church can still be seen today between a defunct brick industry and a former landfill.

In the 1320s the town moved to the present day town centre. At this time there were two monasteries in the town and during the 15th century the St. Nikolai church was built. Halland was the object of numerous battles, sieges and occupations by Swedish troops.

Ulf Lundell (born 20 November 1949 in Södermalm, Stockholm, Sweden, full name Ulf Gerhard Lundell) is a Swedish writer, poet, songwriter, composer, musician and artist.

He made his debut in 1975 with the LP Vargmåne and was immediately hailed as "Sweden's Bob Dylan". In 1976 his first novel, the partly autobiographical Jack was published by Wahlström & Widstrand. Lundell was influenced by musicians such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and writers such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and other beats. Ulf Lundell is one of the central figures in Swedish rock music and almost since his debut he has been one of the most important influences on rock musicians writing and singing in Swedish. Lundell is also somewhat controversial and has argued with everyone from neo-nazis, feminists and communists to colleagues and music journalists.

Lundell was known as a heavy drinker in the 1980s, but pulled out of overdrinking after serious bouts with alcoholism in 1985-87; he gave a vivid report of this time, his recovery and his struggle with the rocker myth in the autobiographical novel En varg söker sin flock (1989; "A Wolf in Search of his Pack")