Stig Dagerman (1923–1954) is one of the most prominent authors among the Swedish “Fyrtiotalisterna” (writers of the 1940s).

He made his debut in 1945 with the novel The Snake which was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet prize for literature. He is best known as a writer of prose, with Island of the Doomed, 1946, A Burnt Child, 1947 and Wedding Worries, 1949, but he also wrote short stories (The Games of Night), drama (The Man Condemned to Death), and newspaper articles, not least from postwar Germany, which he collected in the book German Autumn in 1947.

In addition Stig Dagerman wrote almost a thousand daily satirical verses for the newspaper Arbetaren (The Worker), where he worked until his death.