
Writing
Jan 16, 1944
Södertälje, Stockholm County, Sweden
Jan Guillou
Writing
Biography
Jan Oskar Sverre Lucien Henri Guillou (born 17 January 1944) is a French-Swedish author and journalist. Guillou's fame in Sweden was established during his time as an investigative journalist, most notably in 1973 when he and co-reporter Peter Bratt exposed a secret and illegal intelligence organization in Sweden, Informationsbyrån (IB). He is still active within journalism as a column writer for the Swedish evening tabloid Aftonbladet. Among his books are a series of spy fiction novels about a spy named Carl Hamilton, and a trilogy of historical fiction novels about a Knight Templar, Arn Magnusson. He is the owner of one of the largest publishing companies in Sweden, Piratförlaget (Pirate Publishing), together with his wife, publisher Ann-Marie Skarp, and Liza Marklund.
Feature Films (13)

About the IB affair 1973. Two young journalists, Peter Bratt and Jan Guillou, reveal an unknown spy organization. They themselves are accused of espionage and have to pay a high price for their whistle-blowing.
IB - hemligare än Säpo

Documentary about the author Jan Myrdal and his strange friendship with Lasse Diding, founder of the Jan Myrdal Society.
In Anticipation of Jan Myrdal's Death

At the end of August 1973, a robber takes hostages at the Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg. A week or so later, on September 15, King Gustaf VI Adolf dies in Helsingborg's hospital and Sweden gets a new king: Carl XVI Gustaf. In Chile, the military takes power and the popularly elected president Salvador Allende is overthrown. That and much more in this column about the year 1973.
Året var 1973

"The Invasion of the Student Union" - Stockholm, Sweden, May 24th. It all started as a regular student meeting, evolved into a mass-meeting and an invasion of the house, with all ended three days later. The students were primarily upset regarding a draft about a changed curriculum in higher education. They also pursued various political dogmas. The angry students called out for the responsible minister of the government. This happened to be Olof Palme. He arrived at the mass-meeting where he suffered much criticism.
Kårhusockupationen

Hasse and Tage were best friends for over 30 years. Their films, shows, songs and books influenced an entire nation and were the glue that held people's home together. As a comedic duo, they united right-wing ghosts and anarchists in laughter. When Tage dies prematurely, his children lose a father, Hasse a father figure and all of Sweden a country father. And when Palme dies just months after Tage, the Swedish stable society begins to crumble. For the first time, the Alfredson and Danielsson families open up the archives and give us exclusive access to their stories, photographs and recordings.
Hasse & Tage - En kärlekshistoria

Sketch comedy. Look forward to an evening of satire, smut, and contemporary issues in an unholy mix. What more could you want? In these gloomy times? How many times has it been said about a film: "You've never seen anything like it"? This time, it's actually true. This film features, among other things, a bartender with a naked lower body, a double coffin with a built-in pie, a violent flight attendant, five screaming Salvation Army soldiers, a blind TV salesman, a dirty tennis ball and, of course, Uncle Bosse – dirtier than ever.
Yrrol: An Enormously Well Thought Out Movie

Carl Hamilton (Coq Rouge, Swedens James Bond) is called before KU (Swedens answer to the American congressional hearing) to answer questions about a spy war between Sweden and the Soviet Union.
The Interrogation

The whole story of how the books about Martin Beck came to be is told here. It's a love story. A young couple wanted to talk about the injustices in society. Thus was born the modern detective story. It has been over 50 years since the first book in the series came out and it would only be in the fall of the age that Sjöwall Wahlöö was celebrated as the creator of the entire modern detective genre.
Sjöwall & Wahlöö - Berättelsen om ett brott

Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was openly shot to death on a February evening 1986 on the streets of Stockholm. In one night, the country of Sweden was transfigured. “Palme” is about his life, his time, and about the Sweden he had created. About a man who altered history.
Palme

In Götene, they wanted to ride the wave of Arn fever and attract visitors from across the country. The solution was a gigantic medieval theme park – an investment that soon turned into an expensive lesson. Hundreds of millions in taxpayer money vanished, the plans collapsed, and the municipality was left with empty buildings.
Medeltidens värld - Arn-fiaskot i Götene

Stig Bergling (1937-2015) alias Eugén Sandberg alias Stig Sydholt. Three names, one person. The main character in one of Sweden's most famous spy stories. On March 12, 1979, Bergling was arrested by the Israeli security police and shortly afterwards he was transferred to Swedish custody. On December 7, Bergling is sentenced to life imprisonment for aggravated espionage and aggravated unauthorized position with a secret mission, but the story of Stig Bergling does not end with the life sentence. October 6, 1987, during a leave from Norrköping Institution, Bergling escapes together with his wife Elisabeth. The couple manage to get over to Åland, further through Finland and with final destination Moscow.
Stig Bergling - I fiendens tjänst

One day, SVT reporter Hannes Råstam receives a strange phone call that sheds an entirely new light on the wave of arsons that struck Falun in the mid-1970s. The fires wiped out parts of the town’s historic architecture, terrorized the population, and triggered an unprecedented police operation. According to the police investigation, two gangs of youths were behind the fires. A thirteen-year-old girl was held in custody and denied the right to call her mother unless she confessed. Others told reporter Hannes Råstam that they were threatened with being kept locked up “until they rotted.” The police investigation concluded with eight children and youths confessing to having set more than fifty fires. They were placed in children’s homes or sentenced to forensic psychiatric care. Today, all of them maintain that they were innocent and were coerced into confessing. One man now claims that he alone set the fires and wants this miscarriage of justice to be exposed.
Varför erkände dom?
Television & Series (27)

Ett herrans liv is a Swedish TV series that airs on Kanal 5. The hosts are Filip Hammar & Fredrik Wikingsson. On the show, the duo interview Swedish celebrities, many of which they've made fun of on their preceding shows. In the first season, every episode starts with the guest being kidnapped by the hosts. The show's theme song is I Wish by Skee-Lo.
Ett herrans liv

På spåret is a popular Swedish TV game show broadcast on SVT since September 5, 1987. The show, which is intended to be humorous yet educational, has remained one of the most popular TV shows in Sweden, attracting an average of 2,150,000 viewers during the 2007 season. The all-time record was set in March 1990, when 3.7 million people tuned in to see the show. This means that nearly every second Swede saw the game show. På spåret is an original format developed by Ingvar Oldsberg for SVT, and he hosted the show for many years. Author and tennis legend Björn Hellberg was promoted from contestant to permanent Oldsberg sidekick in 1995 after winning for four straight seasons. Famous gourmet, restaurant-owner, and former contestant Carl-Jan Grankvist sat in for Hellberg during the 2004 season. In 2009, after 21 years, Oldsberg left and Kristian Luuk took over as the host. Björn Hellberg too decided to leave and was replaced with Fredrik Lindström.
På spåret

Skavlan is a Norwegian-Swedish television talk show hosted by Norwegian journalist Fredrik Skavlan. It premiered in Sweden on Sveriges Television in January 2009, and the first guests to appear on the show were former Prime Minister of Sweden Göran Persson and his wife Anitra Steen. On 8 May 2009, it was announced that Skavlan had been renewed for a second season. It was also announced that the show would no longer only be produced by SVT in Sweden; Skavlan would now be partly produced in Norway by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. The first twelve episodes of Skavlan's second season were produced by SVT in Sweden, and the remaining twelve by NRK in Norway. Skavlan speaks Norwegian and his dialog is therefore subtitled in Swedish in Sweden, even though the two languages are quite similar and mutually intelligible. If the persons being interviewed by Skavlan are Swedish, he often tells them to let him know if they do not understand what he is saying. Swedish novelist Jan Guillou has criticized SVT for subtitling the program, stating "there is no need for that. If the host had been Danish, subtitling would have been necessary, but with a Norwegian host it does not make any sense."









