Gunnar Harding

Gunnar Harding
Karl Gunnar Harding (born 11 June 1940) is a Swedish poet, novelist, essayist and translator, considered 'one of Sweden's foremost poets'. Among his other poetry collections is Starnberger See from 1977. Among his novels is Luffaren Svarta Hästen from 1977. He published the children's book Mannen och paraplyet in 1990. He was awarded the Dobloug Prize in 2011.
Biography
Gunnar Harding was born in Sundsvall and brought up in Bromma as the son of the doctor Gösta Harding. He studied painting in Stockholm and was a jazz musician before making his literary debut in 1967 with Lokomotivet som frös fast. During his early career, Harding travelled extensively in America, and this influenced his work.
Harding is noted primarily for his poetry (mostly in free verse but also significant prose-poetry). Alongside this, he has written essays, a book about the origins of jazz called Kreol, and a few stories.
He has also worked as an editor, for Lyrikvännen ('poetry-lover') 1971–1974, for Artes for many years, and for Artes International during its five-year run. He has been a member of the Samfundet De Nio (chair number 5) since 1993 and served on the 1973 Swedish Bible committion 1981–1989.
Harding's literary significance is partly as an introducer of foreign modernism, especially French, American and British poetry, into Swedish literature.
Harding also takes a lively interest in jazz and likes to read his poetry with jazz as background music.
Bibliography
Literary writing
1967 – Lokomotivet som frös fast
1968 – Den svenske cyklistens sång
1969 – Blommor till James Dean
1970 – Örnen har landat
1971 – Guillaume Apollinaires fantastiska liv
1972 – Skallgång
1974 – Poesi 1967–1973
1975 – Ballader
1977 – Starnberger See
1977 – Luffaren Svarta Hästen och det hemska rånmordet i Leksand
1978 – Bilddikt, with Olle Kåks
1978 – Den trådlösa fantasin
1980 – Tillbaka till dig
1983 – Gasljus
1987 – Stjärndykaren
1989 – Guillaume Apollinaires gåtfulla leende: en ändlös biografi
1990 – Mannen och paraplyet, text: Gunnar Harding; pictures: Catharina Günther-Rådström
1990 – Mitt vinterland
1991 – Kreol
1993 – Överallt där vinden finns: dikter i urval 1969–1990
1995 – Stora scenen
2001 – Tal på Övralid 6 juli 2001
2001 – Salongsstycken kring Dante Gabriel Rossetti
2003 – Det brinnande barnet
2007 – Dikter 1965–2003
2009 – Innerstad
2012 – Blues for Jimmy ; Nordvästexpressen ; Martin Luther King [from the author's original manuscript of Blommor till James Dean] (Tragus)
2013 – Mitt poetiska liv (autobiography)
Translations by Harding into Swedish
1966 – 4 poeter, translations from Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Anselm Hollo and Lionel Kearns (Bok och Bild)
1969 – Amerikansk undergroundpoesi (Wahlström & Widstrand)
1970 – Vladimir Majakovskij: För full hals, with Ulf Bergström (Wahlström & Widstrand)
1971 – Allen Ginsberg: Tårgas & Solrosor, with Gösta Friberg (FIB:s Lyrikklubb)
1976 – Den vrålande parnassen, with Bengt Jangfeldt (rysk avantgardepoesi)
1978 – O Paris – Apollinaire och hans epok i poesi, bild och dokument (FIB:s Lyrikklubb/Tiden)
1985 – Vladimir Majakovskij: Jag!, with Bengt Jangfeldt
1988 – Frank O'Hara: Till minne av mina känslor
1989 – Guillaume Apollinaire: Dikter till Lou, pictures by Olle Kåks
1995 – Är vi långt från Montmartre? Apollinaire och hans epok i poesi, bild och dokument
1997 – En katedral av färgat glas: Shelley, Byron, Keats och deras epok
1998 – 3 x New York, interpretations of John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch and Ron Padgett
2000 – Och drog likt drömmar bort: Coleridge, Wordsworth och deras epok
2002 – Där döda murar står: Lord Byron och hans samtida
2005 – Beat! (poetry and prose from the beat generation, with Per Planhammar)
2006 – Mina Loy: Baedeker för månresenärer
2007 – Catullus: Dikter om kärlek och hat, with Tore Janson
2012 – John Donne: Skabrösa elegier och heliga sonetter (Ellerströms)
Translations of Harding's work into English
1970 – The Fabulous Life of Guillaume Apollinaire, trans. by Sydney Bernard Smith (Iowa City: Windhover, 1970; Dublin: Raven Arts, 1982) [part of Guillaume Apollinaires fantastiska liv]
1973 – They Killed Sitting Bull and Other Poems, trans. by Robin Fulton (London: Magazine Editions) [a selection of 25 early poems], repr. with additional translations by Anselm Hollo as Tidewater (Grosse Pointe Farms, MI: Marick Press, 2009)
2014 – Gunnar Harding, Guarding the Air: Selected Poems of Gunnar Harding, ed. and trans. by Roger Greenwald (Boston, MA: Black Widow Press) [selected poems]
Anthologies
1979 – Modern Swedish Poetry in Translation, with Anselm Hollo
Discography
Jazz och Poesi - Gunnar Harding och Sumpens Swingsters (LP with text volume, 1982)
Prizes and distinctions
1975 – Tidningen Vi:s litteraturpris
1987 – Stipendium ur Lena Vendelfelts minnesfond
1988 – Carl Emil Englund-priset för Stjärndykaren
1992 – Bellmanpriset
1995 – Svenska Dagbladets litteraturpris
2000 – Wahlström & Widstrands litteraturpris
2001 – Ferlinpriset
2001 – Övralidspriset
2002 – Letterstedtska priset för översättningar för Och drog likt drömmar bort: Coleridge, Wordsworth och deras epok
2004 – Sveriges Radios Lyrikpris
2008 – Litteris et Artibus
2010 – Karlfeldt-priset
2011 – Doblougska priset
2013 – Elsa Thulins översättarpris
References
1940 births
Living people
20th-century Swedish poets
20th-century Swedish novelists
Swedish essayists
Swedish translators
Dobloug Prize winners
Swedish male poets
Swedish male novelists
Male essayists
International Writing Program alumni
20th-century Swedish male writers
21st-century Swedish novelists
Litteris et Artibus recipients