November 9

This Day in History

Also on This Day

Lead Story
Nazis launch Kristallnacht, 1938
American Revolution
Sumter evades Wemyss in South Carolina, 1780
Automotive
Robert McNamara becomes president of Ford Motor Company, 1960
Civil War
Burnside assumes command of the Union Army of the Potomac, 1862
Cold War
East Germany opens the Berlin Wall, 1989
Crime
A Sunday school teacher murders his family and goes undercover for 18 years, 1971
Disaster
Fire rips through Boston, 1872
General Interest
Roosevelt travels to Panama, 1906
Nazis suppressed in Munich, 1923
Sartre renounces communists, 1956
The Great Northeast Blackout, 1965
Hollywood
Kodak Theatre, new home of Oscars, opens, 2001
Literary
Best-selling Millennium trilogy author Stieg Larsson dies at 50, 2004
Music
Willie Nelson's assets are seized by the IRS, 1990
Old West
Followers of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse identified as hostile, 1875
Presidential
Teddy Roosevelt establishes a naval base in the Philippines, 1901
Sports
Army and Notre Dame fight to a draw, 1946
Vietnam War
Antiwar protestor sets himself afire, 1965
Captain Lance Sijan shot down over North Vietnam, 1967
Supreme Court refuses to rule on legality of Vietnam War, 1970
World War I
Australian warship Sydney sinks German Emden , 1914
World War II
"The Night of Broken Glass", 1938

Literary

Nov 9, 2004:

Best-selling Millennium trilogy author Stieg Larsson dies at 50

Previous Day November 9 Calendar Next Day

On this day in 2004, Swedish writer Stieg Larsson dies suddenly of a heart attack at age 50, only months after turning in the manuscripts for three crime thrillers—“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “The Girl who Played with Fire” and “The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”—which would later become international best-sellers. Known collectively as the Millennium trilogy, the novels feature the characters Mikael Blomkvist, a middle-aged journalist, and Lisbeth Salander, a young pierced and tattooed computer hacker with a troubled past. Larsson, who never lived to see his books’ success, died without a will, setting off a protracted legal battle for the rights to his work.

Larsson was born on August 15, 1954, in the town of Skelleftehamm, in northern Sweden. His parents soon relocated to Stockholm in search of better job opportunities, leaving their son to be raised by his maternal grandparents. Larsson eventually joined his parents and younger brother in Sweden’s capital city in the early 1960s. He went on to work as a graphic designer for a Swedish news agency, and later became an investigative journalist who focused on exposing right-wing extremist groups.

In 2002, while vacationing with Eva Gabrielsson, his longtime live-in companion, Larsson began writing what would become the first book in the Millennium series. Over the next two years, he completed three manuscripts for a Swedish publisher. There has been speculation that Gabrielsson, an architect whom Larsson met at an anti-Vietnam rally in Sweden in 1972, helped him with the books; however, the exact nature of her collaboration is unknown. Within months after delivering the manuscripts, Larsson, a heavy smoker and junk food fanatic, died of a massive heart attack after a broken elevator forced him to climb the stairs to his office.

In August 2005, the first Millennium novel was published in Sweden under the title “Man Som Hatar Kvinnor,” or “Men Who Hate Women.” The English-language version of the book would go by the title “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” In May 2006, “Flickan Som Lekte Med Elden” or “The Girl Who Played with Fire,” was published in Sweden, followed one year later by “Luftslottet Som Sprangdes” or “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.” The books were best-sellers in their author’s homeland before going on to become a publishing phenomenon and sell millions of copies around the world. Swedish movie versions of the books have been made, and the first English-language Hollywood adaptation is slated for release in late 2011.

Since Larsson died without a will, according to Swedish law, his estate—including the rights to his books--went not to Gabrielsson, his partner of some 30 years, but to his father and younger brother. Gabrielsson has claimed that Larsson was not close to his father and sibling, and a legal battle between the two sides ensued and is ongoing. One thing Gabrielsson does have is Larsson’s laptop, which contains several hundred pages of a fourth--and potentially highly valuable--Millennium novel.

Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, contact us!

Previous Day November 9 Calendar Next Day

This Week in History, Nov 9 - Nov 15

Nov 09, 2004
Best-selling Millennium trilogy author Stieg Larsson dies at 50
Nov 10, 1973
Slaughterhouse-Five is burned in North Dakota
Nov 11, 1852
Louisa May Alcott publishes her first story
Nov 12, 1889
DeWitt Wallace, founder of Reader's Digest, is born
Nov 13, 1850
Robert Louis Stevenson is born
Nov 14, 1851
Moby-Dick is published
Nov 15, 1859
Final installment of A Tale of Two Cities is published

What Happened on Your Birthday?

Pick a Date

Editor’s Picks

Bio.com

  • On This Day

    On This Day

    Read about notable birthdays and celebrity deaths at On This Day.