Dan Andersson

Dan Andersson
Dan Andersson, 1917.
Born	Daniel Andersson (1888-04-06)6 April 1888 Ludvika, Sweden
Died	16 September 1920(1920-09-16) (aged 32) , Sweden
Occupation	Author Poet
Literary movement	Naturalism

Dan Andersson (6 April 1888, Ludvika – 16 September 1920, ) was a Swedish author, poet and composer. A nom de plume he sometimes used was Black Jim. Although counted among the Swedish proletarian authors, his works are not limited to that genre.

Born in Grangärde parish in the province of Dalarna, Andersson grew up under harsh conditions in the village of Skattlösberg. His father Adolf was a primary school teacher there, and his mother Augusta had also taught in the local school. The village lies in the "Finn Woods" of southern Dalarna, where Forest Finns had immigrated to cultivate new land. On his father's side, Andersson descended from these Finnish settlers. Andersson took odd jobs during the first years of his life, for instance as a forestry worker and school teacher. He found it difficult to make a living. The family considered trying to find a better life in the United States, and Andersson was sent there as a 14-year-old in 1902 to see if it would be possible. But he wrote to them, saying that there were no better opportunities there than in Sweden, upon which his father asked him to come home. The family moved from Skattlösberg in 1905, but Andersson returned there to live with his parents and siblings 1911-1915. During this period, he wrote a number of stories and poems. Large parts of his Kolarhistorier and Kolvaktarens visor were probably created during this time. In 1918 Andersson married primary school teacher Olga Turesson, the sister of troubadour Gunnar Turesson.

During the years 1914-1915, Andersson studied at the Brunnsvik folk high school, with, among others, future authors and . He was also a good friend of Karl Lärka, who would become a well-known documentary photographer. From this time onwards he was to become active as an author, writing poems and songs about his home region, which are read and sung almost a century later in Swedish homes. Gunde Johansson and Thorstein Bergman are among the best known of his interpreters. Andersson also set some of his lyrics to music — most notably Till min syster ("To My Sister") and Jungman Jansson ("Sailor Jansson") — and played the accordion and violin. He was a co-worker at the Social Democratic newspaper Ny Tid in Gothenburg 1917-1918 and he also translated texts by Rudyard Kipling and Charles Baudelaire into Swedish. Despite his simple upbringing, Andersson was highly educated.