Nobel Prize Recipient. Verner von Heidenstam received world-wide recognition after being awarded the 1916 Nobel Prize in Literature, according to the Nobel Prize Committee, "in recognition of his significance as the leading representative of a new era in our literature." He received a total of 11 nominations for this coveted award with six being submitted in 1916. In the light of World War I, he was the only person to receive a Nobel Prize in 1916. He was a writer of both poetry and prose. His first collection of poems, "Vallfart och vandringsår" or "Pilgrimage and Wander Years" was published in 1888, and met with much success. He challenged the contemporary literature and called for a renaissance of fantasy, beauty and national themes, instead of naturalism that prevailed at the time. This opposition he voiced in "Renässans" in 1889. He became a member of The Swedish Academy of Literature in 1912, and received the Nobel Prize for Literature 1916. Born Carl Gustaf Verner von Heidenstam into a noble family, he studied painting in the Academy of Stockholm, but soon left because of ill health. He was said to have been a lazy student with problems in grammar. Because of illness he was sent to the milder climate of the Middle East when he was 15. He then traveled extensively to Asia, Europe, and Africa and his writings gave way to his memories of these places. His 1915 collection, "New Poems" dealt with philosophical themes, mainly concerning the elevation of man to a better humanity from solitude. This writing is said to inspired the Nobel Prize nominations. He married three times, was a widower once, and divorced twice. His family disapproved of his first wife, a young Swiss lady, and he had no contact with his family for seven years after the wedding until he went to his father's deathbed in 1887. His first wife died 1896. He had a son, who was born in France. The last 25 years of his life, he produced almost nothing. Several of his books have been translated to English. Verner von Heidenstam is buried at his private estate, "Övralid," a two-story, five-bedroom mansion that was finished in 1925 and has vast grounds.