Mozambican theater commemorates Swedish author Mankell

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JOHANNESBURG (AP) β€” Mozambicans have paid tribute to the late Henning Mankell, the Swedish crime writer who worked in theater and contributed to charity in Mozambique as it recovered from decades of war.

A Mozambican woman who lost her legs in a mine blast when she was a child and later got help from Mankell joined a memorial service this week at Teatro Avenida, a theater in the Mozambican capital of Maputo where the Swede was artistic leader. The German and Swedish ambassadors also attended, as did Mia Couto, a prominent Mozambican author.

Couto says Mankell had “one foot in the snow and one foot in the sun,” a reference to how he divided time between Sweden and Mozambique.

Mankell died Oct. 5 in Sweden after a battle with cancer.