Tranströmer, Tomas Gösta, 1931-2015

Tomas Gösta Tranströmer was born on April 15, 1931 to Helmy Westberg and Gösta Tranströmer in Stockholm, Sweden. He graduated with a Ph.D in psychology from Stockholm University in 1956, and practiced as a psychologist from 1960 to 1990, when he suffered a stroke that limited his ability to speak and use his right hand. He married Monica Bladh in 1958, and they had two daughters. Tranströmer published fifteen poetry collections over his career, as well as a short autobiography. Among many awards, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2011. He maintained a long friendship with American poet Robert Bly, and a collection of their correspondence on personal, contemporary, and literary matters was published in 2001, titled Air Mail. Tranströmer played piano his entire life, learning how to play with only his left hand after his stroke. Tranströmer died in Stockholm on March 26, 2015.