It’s the birthday of Swedish journalist and novelist Stieg Larsson (1954-2004), who died at 50 of a heart attack before seeing his three enormously popular crime novels, the Millennium series, published. The novels—The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005), The Girl Who Played with Fire (2006), and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest (2007)—have sold millions of copies worldwide in more than 30 languages. Before turning his hand to fiction, Larsson worked for a Swedish news agency and was considered an expert on hate groups in Sweden, sounding the warning about the growth of neo-Nazi groups in Sweden long before Scandinavian governments appeared to take the threats seriously.

It’s also the birthday of American poet and writer Mary Jo Salter (b. 1954), born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, educated at Harvard and Cambridge University, and associated with the New Formalist movement, though she denies any interest in such an association. Here is her poem “Somebody Else’s Baby” in its entirety:

 

From now on they always are, for years now

they always have been, but from now on you know

they are, they always will be,

 

from now on when they cry and you say

wryly to their mother, better you than me,

you’d better mean it, you’d better

 

hand over what you can’t have, and gracefully.

 

Salter currently teaches at Johns Hopkins University.

Have a superb Wednesday, smooch your babies, and stay scrupulously honest to the data.