Tomas Tranströmer

He died in Stockholm on 26th March 2015 at the age of 83, just two weeks and six days before his 84th birthday.

Tomas was born on April 15, 1931, in Stockholm. His parents divorced when he was very young. He was raised by his mother who was a schoolteacher.

He received his secondary education at the ‘Södra Latin Gymnasium’ in Stockholm, where he began writing poetry. His initial poems were published in some leading journals in Sweden.

When he was 23-year-old, his first collection of poems, ‘17 Poems’, was published.

He graduated with psychology from ‘Stockholm University’ in 1956. During graduation he also studied history, religion and literature.

In 1960 he started working as a psychologist at the ‘Roxtuna center for juvenile offenders’. He worked there till 1966. During this period he also continued writing poetry.

By the mid-1960s, Tomas became close friends with poet Robert Bly. Robert had translated Tomas’s poems in English. Robert also helped arranged readings of Tomas’s poems in America. Thus he brought Tomas’s master work to Americans. These two friends used to correspond regularly through letters. They used to discuss the literary matters. This mail correspondence was published as a book ‘Air Mail’ in 2001, by Tomas’ publisher – Bonniers. The Syrian poet Adunis also helped spread Tomas’s work in the Arab world, accompanying him on reading tours.

Some of the his books which are translated in English include ‘The Half Finished Sky’ published in 1954, ‘Paths’ published in 1973 and ‘Balatics’ published in 1974.

Robin Fulton, who himself is an accomplished poet and translator, translated entire work of Tomas as ‘New Collected Poems’ in the UK in 1987. This collection was further expanded in 1997.

His poetry collection book, ‘Windows and Stones’ won an ‘International Poetry Forum Selection’ and was runner-up at the ‘National Book Award for translation’.

In 1990, a year after the publication of his tenth book of poems, Tomas suffered a stroke, which deprived him of most of his speech and partly inhibited movement on his right-hand side. However, he still continued to write.

Robin Fulton has extensively worked on Tomas’s poems. He has translated his entire work as ‘New Collected Poems’ in the UK in 1987. This collection was further expanded a number of times. This translated book has won many prizes. It is the most authoritative and comprehensive edition of his poetry published anywhere in English.

After a six-year silence after his stroke, he published his collection ‘Sorgegondolen’ (Grief Gondola) in 1996. This collection was translated into English by Michael McGriff and Mikaela Grassl as ‘The Sorrow Gondola’ in 2010. Some of the poems of this book were included in Robin Fulton’s translation of his ‘New Collected Poems’.