Career
He published modernist proletarian poetry and books about his travels in Europe in the early 1930s, such as På snålskjuts genom Europa (Across Europe Without a Penny in My Pocket, 1930). However, Kjellgren is best known for his later novels, including Människor kring en bro (People Around a Bridge, 1935), about the building of Västerbron in Stockholm, and Smaragden (The Emerald, 1939). Kjellgren was also a journalist and wrote a play, Okänd svensk soldat (Unknown Swedish Soldier, 1938), which was the basis for the 1948 movie Främmande hamn (Foreign Harbour), directed by Hampe Faustman.
Kjellgren died of tuberculosis in 1948.
