Harry Martinson (Jämshög, 1904 - Stockholm, 1978). Swedish writer and poet. He was born in a small town in southern Sweden. He was the fifth of seven brothers and when he was six years old his father died and soon after his mother abandoned them. At the age of 16, Martinson gets ready on a boat and spends six years sailing. After working in several ships and living in South America and India, in 1927 he finally settled in Sweden. In 1930 he published Five Young People and a year later Nomad, a work with which he consecrated himself as a poet. In 1949 Martinson was elected member of the Swedish Academy and in 1974 he receives the Nobel Prize for Literature, shared with his compatriot Eyvind Johnson.