Jonas Jonasson

Jonas Jonasson
Jonas Jonasson
Born	Per Ola Jonasson (1961-07-06) July 6, 1961 Växjö, Sweden
Occupation	Journalist, writer
Nationality	Swedish
Notable work(s)	The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

Pär-Ola Jonas Jonasson, originally Per Ola Jonasson, (6 July 1961),^[1] is a Swedish journalist and writer, best known as the author of the best-seller The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.^[2]

Early life and media career

The son of an ambulance driver and a nurse, Jonasson was born and raised in Växjö in southern Sweden.^[3] After studying Swedish and Spanish at the University of Gothenburg, Jonasson worked as a journalist for the Växjö newspaper Smålandsposten, and for the Swedish evening tabloid Expressen, where he remained until 1994. In 1996, he founded a successful media company, OTW, which grew to 100 employees thanks to his efforts, working as he did seven days a week.^[3]

Change in direction

By the end of 2003, he was suffering from backpains and severe stress. Despite medical care, in 2005, he was forced to completely change his lifestyle after 20 years in the media industry. He sold his business and, in 2005, moved to a remote part of Södermanland on the east coast of Sweden, with his cat Molotov. After living on his own for a couple of years, he married a Norwegian woman in February 2007 and they moved to Ticino, Switzerland, where he concentrated on the book he had long wished to complete, The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. It was published in Sweden in 2009. The marriage was not a success and soon ended in divorce. His son had however been born in the meantime and, after a gruelling time trying to gain custody of the child in both Switzerland and Sweden, he was finally successful.^[3][4][5] Since 2010, Jonas Jonasson has been living with his five-year-old son on the Swedish island of Gotland.^[3][6]

His second novel, Analfabeten som kunde räkna (approx. "The Analphabet Who Knew How to Count"), is "about a South African woman who lives in Soweto and turns the world upside down. It’s very funny."^[3] It was published in 2013.

Film

While rights have now been sold for the book's translation into over 30 languages, the film rights for The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared have been acquired by the Swedish production companies Nice Entertainment and FLX 2.0 for a movie to be directed by Felix Herngren and starring the Swedish comedian Robert Gustafsson.^[7] NICE Drame, as the new production company is called, reports that the first part of the film will be shot in October 2012, the second part in the spring of 2013.^[8]

Awards

• Swedish Booksellers Award (2010).^[9]
• German Pioneer Prize (M-Pionier Preis) from Mayersche Buchhandlung (2011).^[10]
• Danish Audiobook Award (2011).^[10]
• Prix Escapades (2012).^[11]

Bibliography

Jonasson's first novel has achieved worldwide success. Telling the story of the incredible adventures in the life of a centenarian who escapes from a home, it has been translated into some 35 languages, selling over a million copies in Germany and some 3.5 million worldwide.^[6]

• Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann, Piratförlaget, Stockholm 2009. ISBN 978-91-642-0296-3. (Swedish)

• The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, paperback, Hyperion Books, United States, 2012. ISBN 978-14-01324-64-3.

• The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared (translated by Rod Bradbury), Hesperus Press, London, 2012. ISBN 978-1-84391-372-6.

• Der Hundertjährige, der aus dem Fenster stieg und verschwand (translated by Wibke Kuhn), Carl's Books, München 2011, ISBN 978-3-570-58501-6. (German)

• Le Vieux qui ne voulait pas fêter son anniversaire, Paris, Presses de la Cité, 2011. ISBN 9782258086449. (French)

• Stoletý stařík, který vylezl z okna a zmizel, Mladá Boleslav, Panteon, 2012. ISBN 978-80-87697-00-9. (Czech)
• A százéves ember, aki kimászott az ablakon és eltűnt, Budapest, Athenaeum, 2011. ISBN 978-963-293-183-8 (Hungarian)

Jonasson's second novel, about an orphan from Soweto who by chance becomes involved in international politics, was released on 25 September 2013:

• Analfabeten som kunde räkna, Piratförlaget, Stockholm 2013. ISBN 978-91-642-0396-0. (Swedish)

References