Writers Write Is All About Writing
Writers Write Is All About Writing
Fredrik Backman

Literary Birthday – 2 June – Fredrik Backman

Happy Birthday, Fredrik Backman, born on 2 June 1981.

Fredrik Backman Quotes

  1. I very rarely know how anything works or comes from. Every book is just a long, chaotic process of me sitting alone in a room, arguing loudly with people I have made up. (ABA)
  2. Whatever it is you want to create that you for whatever reason are afraid of pursuing, because you think you’re not good enough or not smart enough or whatever it is. You just have to go, try, fail, try again. ‘Fail better’ like Samuel Beckett put it. (ABA)
  3. There’s always a technical part and an emotional part to a novel. Technically, the biggest challenge was tempo and movement and language. How do I move this story forward? For how long can I keep your attention? What is every character’s distinct voice? (ABA)
  4. My biggest hero is Astrid Lindgren, who wrote Pippi Longstocking. She [also] wrote The Brothers Lionheart, which is my favourite book of all time. It’s just extraordinary. (Goodreads)
  5. When I write, I imagine myself writing for 20 people, and 18 of them like me, and that’s my crowd. I want the book to feel like you and I are sitting down at a table, we’re having a beer, and I’m telling you a story. (Goodreads)
  6. I’ve always struggled with anxieties. I’m a pretty anxious person. That’s one of the basic traits needed to become a writer. (Publisher’s Weekly)
  7. I steal little things from a lot of people, and I pour that into a character until that character is real for me. (Publisher’s Weekly)
  8. I just write when I’m allowed. But what I have discovered, to be honest, is that it’s not really important to set aside time for writing. It’s more important to set aside time for thinking. Writing is fun, so one way or another I always find time for that. (PageToStage)
  9. Write. Then you’re not ‘aspiring’ anymore and that’s a really good first step. Other than that I don’t think anyone should take my advice because I honestly don’t really know what I’m doing. (OffTheShelf)

Fredrik Backman is a Swedish author, blogger, and columnist. He has written A Man Called Ove (2012), Things My Son Needs to Know about the World (2012), My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry (2013), Britt-Marie Was Here (2014), Beartown (2017), Us Against You (2018), Anxious People (2020), The Winners (2022), and My Friends (2025). His debut novel, A Man Called Ove, spent over a year on The New York Times Best Seller list. His books have been published in more than 25 languages. According to Atria, his books have sold more than five million copies across all formats in the U.S., with 12 million copies sold globally. Follow him on Instagram.

Source for photograph: Author’s Website

by Amanda Patterson

Are you interested in more authors’ birthdays? Please click here: Literary Birthday Calendar

Posted on: 22nd May 2026
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