Eva Gabrielsson, the partner of the late Swedish crime author Stieg Larsson, who wrote the Millennium Trilogy, is currently in Iceland and will be a guest at the fourth “Author’s Evening” in the Nordic House in Reykjavík tonight at 8 pm.
The Nordic House. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
The trilogy comprises of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005), The Girl Who Played with Fire (2006) and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest (2007), starring the troubled IT whiz Lisbeth Salander and investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist.
The books have become popular all around the world as have the films that are based on Larsson’s novels—an English-language remake of the first film is currently in the pipelines, set to star British Bond actor Daniel Craig and little-known US actress Rooney Mara as Salander.
According to Wikipedia, Larsson had planned for the Millennium Series to include ten books and had written about three-quarters of the fourth book when he unexpectedly passed away in November 2004.
Gabrielsson told ruv.is that she hopes the fourth novel won’t be completed by a “ghost writer” and published later on.
In her view, the Millennium Series was completed with the third book. She confirmed that around 200 pages of a manuscript exist but she hasn’t read them, although she has an idea of what they are about.
Publishing a fourth novel about Salander and Blomkvist would only be about making more money from the characters and Larsson’s name. The books have already sold 50 million copies and the films have made around SEK 1 billion (ISK 18 billion, USD 157 million, EUR 111 million), which is enough, she stated.
On the Nordic House’s website it says that Gabrielsson, an architect and author, lived in cohabitation with Larsson for 32 years but as they weren’t married, she didn’t inherit his estate or the publication right to the Millennium books but rather his relatives.
She felt violated against and has been involved in legal disputes with Larsson’s relatives for a few years. In 2010 she released a book, co-written by Gunnar von Sydown, on the problems that can arise when partners aren’t legally married.
Gabrielsson followed it up with a book on her life with Larsson, the creation of the Millennium Trilogy and the heritage dispute.
