Dan Andersson

Daniel Andersson (6 April 1888 – 16 September 1920) was a Swedish author, poet, and composer. He sometimes used the pen name Black Jim. Although he is counted among the Swedish proletarian authors, his works are not limited to that genre. His poems are among the most popular in Swedish literature; they have been set to music by more composers than any other 20th century Swedish poet.

Early life

Born in Grangärde parish in the province of Dalecarlia (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 to live in Forest Lake, Minnesota, 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 his five siblings in Luossa cottage there from 1911 to 1915. During this period, he wrote several stories and poems; in particular, large parts of his Kolarhistorier (Colliers' Stories) and Kolvaktarens visor (The charcoal-burner's Songs) were probably created during this time. Those collections mention his work of charcoal-burning; he describes looking after the charcoal "by the dim glow of a sooty lantern, swinging from the smoke-grimy roof of his sod-cabin." In 1918 Andersson married primary schoolteacher Olga Turesson, the sister of troubadour Gunnar Turesson.