John Ajvide Lindqvist
John Ajvide Lindqvist (born 2 December 1968 in Blackeberg, Sweden) is a Swedish writer, mostly of horror novels and short stories.
Ajvide Lindqvist grew up in the Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg. As a teenager, Ajvide Lindqvist used to perform street magic for the tourists walking on Västerlånggatan in Stockholm. Before becoming a published writer, Ajvide Lindqvist worked for 12 years as a magician and stand-up comedian.
His debut novel Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in), a romantic, social realistic vampire horror story published in 2004, enjoyed great success in Sweden and abroad. Handling the Undead (Hanteringen av odöda) was published in 2005 and involved the rising of the dead as zombies, referred to as the "re-living" by Swedish authorities, in the Stockholm area.
Besides fiction he has also written the screenplay for Sveriges Television's drama series Kommissionen, a large part of the material to the television series Reuter & Skoog, as well as the screenplay for the film based on Let the Right One in. The production company Tre Vänner bought the film rights to Handling the Undead and were planning a future production. However, heavy interest for an American version lead to the decision to sell the rights to an American company. Ajvide Lindqvist refused and the film went unmade. Tre Vänner's rights for an adaptation will go out in 2012. Ajvide Lindqvist is hoping to be able to sell it to another company then.
Lindqvist is a devoted Morrissey fan. The name of his debut novel was inspired by the Morrissey song "Let the Right One Slip In" and one of the short stories in Pappersväggarwas named after the song "Shoplifters of the World Unite". The influence of Morrissey's music became involved in the actual plot of Harbour, where two of the main characters are devoted Morrissey fans who live out much of their lives by speaking in quotes from Morrissey's songs.
Lindqvist's father drowned, and the sea has appeared in several of his works as a dark and sinister force, such as in Handling the Undead and a short story in Pappersväggar. In Harbour the sea has a prominent role as a menacing presence, and could be considered the villain of the novel. Furthermore, Let the Right One In features a pivotal near-drowning scene in a gym swimming pool.
