Roland Adlerberth
(September 21, 1923 – July 31, 1993)
Roland Carlos Adlerberth was a Gothenburg, Sweden, fan, librarian and translator. He was an avid science fiction reader from an early age, and in the mid-1940s became enthusiastic about the more than 70 sf short stories published in a Swedish family weekly by a young Swedish author, Sture Lönnerstrand. He wrote to Lönnerstrand, they met at a resort hotel in 1950, and decided to form an sf club, which they called Futura: this was the first science fiction club known in Sweden, and when more members were found, it began holding meetings in Stockholm, where Lönnerstrand lived.
When an outright sf magazine was started (Häpna!, in 1954), the publishers had been in contact with Lönnerstrand and through him with Futura. Consequently, Adlerberth became the magazine's constant book reviewer, a position he retained until the magazine ceased publication in 1966, then resumed when Sam J. Lundwall in 1972 became editor of a resurrected Jules Verne-magasinet and kept reviewing for that magazine through 1983.
Adlerberth worked from 1949 until 1958 as a librarian, first at the main library in Gothenburg, and in this guise, nurtured fledgling sf fans in Gothenburg. He has been named as the inspiration for the local club Cosmos, formed in 1954: the founders had all been recommended sf books by Adlerberth, who also suggested that they might start a club.
After 1960, when Adlerberth had left his librarianship and instead became one of Sweden's most prolific translators – until his death in 1993, he averaged more than a dozen books per year, and was for many years the primary translator for Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Robert A. Heinlein, in addition to huge numbers of mainstream fiction and nonfiction titles – he no longer attended sf conventions, and indeed had little contact with fandom, but as a reviewer for the Swedish library service did his best to entice as many libraries as possible to buy copies of all sf titles published. This may to some extent have been a disservice to readers, since he unhesitatingly recommended also inferor work, but was most definitely a boon to Swedish sf publishers.
Though never really active as a fan, Adlerberth is nevertheless revered as one of the founders of Swedish fandom.
| Person | 1923—1993 |
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