John-Henri Bertilson Holmberg (born 22 June 1949 in Essingen, Stockholm) is a Swedish author, critic, publisher and translator, and a well-known science fiction fan.[1][2] In the early 1960s he edited Science fiction Forum with Bertil Mårtensson and Mats Linder and published over 200 science fiction fanzines of his own, in addition to his professional career as editor and critic. One of the fans with whom he worked was fellow Swede Stieg Larsson.
As editor and later publisher at Askild & Kärnekull, Lindfors, Bokförlaget Bra Böcker/Wiken and later with his own publishing house Replik he has introduced many current authors into Sweden, including several science fiction authors. A leading libertarian, he introduced Ayn Rand into Swedish debate in the 1970s and later saw to the publication in Swedish of her main literary works.
He is a contributor to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and to The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, edited by John Clute and Peter Nicholls; and has written three major literary overviews in Swedish, a two-volume work about science fiction and one-volume works on psychological suspense fiction and on fantasy. As a translator, he has rendered Lemony Snicket's and many of Stephen King's novels into Swedish. He is a member of the Swedish Crime Fiction Academy and since 2004 edits and publishes the quarterly, resurrected Nova science fiction (which in its earlier incarnation he also edited from 1982 to 1987), the largest Scandinavian science fiction magazine.
Holmberg is a frequent guest on Swedish television and radio for discussions about science fiction and other literature; in 2010, this has often included discussions of his relationship with fellow SF fan Stieg Larsson and the question of whether Larsson left behind fourth or even fifth novels in his series.[3] He now is in the process of writing a book in collaboration with Dan Bursteing and Arne De Keijzer, titled The Tattooed Girl: The Enigma of Stieg Larsson and the Secrets Behind the Most Compelling Thrillers of Our Time. Rights to the book have been presold in a number of languages.[4]
He lives in Viken, Sweden in the south of Sweden.