Andersson, Lena

Swedish author, journalist and playwright who grew up in the Stockholm suburb of Tensta in a family belonging to what she calls the "upper working class" – her father was a carpenter and woodworking teacher and her mother an office clerk. Andersson was an elite cross-country skier, and attended an upper-secondary school skiing programme in the county of Värmland, but she later switched to the science programme. She holds a BA in English. She later studied at the Poppius School of Journalism, after which she worked at the national daily Dagens Nyheter's mobile editorial office. She has also worked as a freelance journalist, she regularly contributes to Svenska Dagbladet and she used to write a column for Dagens Nyheter. In 2013, Andersson was awarded the Swedish Publicists' Association "Golden Pen" award with the motivation: "Warm and sharp, she quells every sacred cow in a style so lucid that even the gods weep – reluctantly."