Julius Axel Kiellman-Göransson

Born on November 22, 1811, at Gripsholm in Kärnbo parish, Julius Axel Kiellman-Göranson was a Swedish priest and author who spent much of his life balancing church work with an unusually wide range of writing. He died in Uppsala on February 10, 1869.

Alongside his work in the clergy, he wrote sermons, literary annuals, schoolbooks, short fiction, novels, and texts for illustrated prints, and he also contributed to newspapers and worked as a translator. In his imaginative writing he often used the pseudonyms Nepomuk and Norna Gäst, likely to keep some distance between his literary work and his role as a priest.

Kiellman-Göranson was active in Stockholm literary circles and became editor of the journal Freja in the mid-1840s. His writing first appeared as poetry, but he came to see prose as his stronger form, producing shorter stories marked by humor and touches of realism. He was also the father of Immanuel Kiellman-Göranson.