Jonas Gardell

Swedish novelist, playwright, screenwriter and comedian

Lars Jonas Holger Gardell (born 2 November 1963) is a Swedish novelist, playwright, screenwriter and comedian. He is the brother of religion scholar Mattias Gardell. He is well known for his books and plays in all of Scandinavia and his books have been translated to around 25 languages.

Gardell's first novel, Passionsspelet (The Passion Play), was published in 1985. Since then, he has written some ten novels, including En komikers uppväxt (A Comedian Growing Up), which became a TV series. He has also written several other books, nine plays and two screenplays that were made into movies, including Livet är en schlager (Life is a Schlager). His novels are not yet available in English. He wrote and performed himself the song "Aldrig ska jag sluta älska dig", which was performed by Bergström in the film.

In 2006, more than 20 years after his first novel was published, Gardell is one of Sweden's most famous stand up comedians. Well known to be openly gay, Gardell was married to the Finnish Swedish American writer and TV presenter Mark Levengood. He has one child by a female friend. Gardell performed his own play Tillfällig gäst i ditt liv (Temporary guest in your life) (2007) at the Scala Theater in Stockholm. In 2013, Gardell was elected "Homo Bi Trans Person of the Year" at the Swedish Gaygalan Awards, notably for the book [[Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves (Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves). His prize was presented to him by the Swedish Crown Princess Victoria, whom Gardell thanked with the words: "Victoria, you are our Crown Princess, but tonight I think that I'm our little queen" this went down well with the Crown Princess, whom Gardell knows well. His husband Levengood hosted the immensely popular "Victoria Day" for several years at the Swedish island of Öland, when the Swedes celebrate Crown Princess Victoria's birthday on 14 July. He participated in Melodifestivalen 2018. In January 2023, Gardell and Levengood announced their separation after having been in a relationship for 37 years. The couple divorced the following June.