[2] Johnson was born Olof Edvin Verner Jonsson 29 July 1900 in a village near the town of Boden in Norrbotten.

Johnson left school at the age of thirteen and then held various jobs such as log driving and working at a saw mill and as a ticket-seller and projectionist in a cinema.

Influenced by writers such as Marcel Proust, André Gide and James Joyce, Johnson gradually took distance from the traditional novel and became the most important representative of modernist literature in Sweden.

In the novels Johnson blended realism with fairy tales and typical modernist features such as inner monologue and changing point of view.

In the novels Johnson condemns Nazi oppression and criticises the controversial Swedish neutrality policy during the war.

Johnson's most noted works internationally include Return to Ithaca and The Days of His Grace (Hans nådes tid, 1960) which have been translated to many languages.