born July 29, 1900, Svartbjörnsbyn, near Boden, Swed.
died Aug. 25, 1976, Stockholm
Swedish novelist.
He endured a grim boyhood of hard labour. His early novels evince feelings of frustration; Bobinack (1932) is an exposé of the machinations of modern capitalism, and Rain at Daybreak (1933) is an attack on modern office drudgery. Return to Ithaca (1946) and The Days of His Grace (1960) have been widely translated. Johnson's working-class novels experimented with new forms and techniques; they also introduced new themes to Swedish literature. He shared the 1974 Nobel Prize for Literature with Harry Martinson .