- published: 10 Oct 2010
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Karl Stig-Erland "Stieg" Larsson (/stiːɡ ˈlɑːrsən/; Swedish pronunciation: [ˈkɑːɭ ˈstiːɡ ˈæːɭand ˈlɑːʂɔn]; 15 August 1954 – 9 November 2004) was a Swedish journalist and writer. He is best known for writing the "Millennium trilogy" of crime novels, which were published posthumously. Larsson lived much of his life in Stockholm and worked there in the field of journalism and as an independent researcher of right-wing extremism.
He was the second best-selling author in the world for 2008, behind Khaled Hosseini. The third novel in the Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, became the most sold book in the United States in 2010 according to Publishers Weekly. By March 2015, his series had sold 80 million copies worldwide.
Stieg Larsson was born on 15 August 1954 as Karl Stig-Erland Larsson in Umeå, Västerbottens län, Sweden, where his father and maternal grandfather worked in the Rönnskärsverken smelting plant. Suffering from arsenic poisoning, his father resigned from his job and the family subsequently moved to Stockholm, but, due to their cramped living conditions there, they chose to let their one-year-old son remain behind with his grandparents. He lived with his grandparents until the age of nine near the village of Bjursele in Norsjö Municipality, Västerbotten County.