Barbro Elisabeth Dahlin

1940 - 2000

Sweden

Barbro Elisabeth Dahlin-Widström was born and grew up on Lidingö as the daughter of engineer Oscar Dahlin and pianist and artist Inga-Lill Hellqvist, qualified as a doctor, child psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst, and married the doctor Anders Widström in 1961.

Her debut work was Tummelbana (P), published in 1959, followed by Leva i var bit (P), 1961, and the collection Småglöd, 1963. Her experiences as a children’s psychiatrist permeate her poems in Dikter från Carlslund, 1975, and Sista tåget genom Sverige (P), 1976, which contemplate human inward and outward loneliness. Her other works of poetry include Att bygga en livbana, 1979, and Där fisken står tät, 1996, about the importance of community and cohesion. Vigorous criticism of civilisation is also a constant thread running through Barbro Dahlin’s novels, and she often writes in a satirically revealing tone.