Klas Ostergren was born in Stockholm in 1955 and is the author of several novels including the landmark Gentlemen (1981) and its sequel, Gangsters (2005). A leading star of Swedish literature for nearly three decades, he has won the Piratenpriset and the Doblougska prize from the Swedish Academy. A founder of the rock band Fullersta Revolutionary Orchestra, Ostergren has also worked as a playwright, scriptwriter for television and screen, and translator from French and English. His translations include works by J.D. Salinger, Charles Baudelaire, Henrik Ibsen, and Harold Pinter. He now lives with his wife and three children in the seafront town of Kivik in southern Sweden.