Born in Åbo (Turku), von Numers lived between 1913 and 1994. He was a translator and author as well as a journalist in Finnish and Swedish newspapers, including Svenska Dagbladet. As the cosmopolite he was, he became a resident in France from 1959.

 

von Numers made his debut with the poetry collection Svart harnesk (1934) followed by Porträtt med blomma (1936) and Havslyktan (1942), collections characterized by formal skill, imagination and sense of life.

 

As a prose writer, he gave a romanticized portrait of the French Bohemian poet François Villon's life, Snäckans bröder (1946), in addition to several other historical novels, e.g. Drottningens handelsmän (1964), a colorful, witty and entertaining depiction of Moscow in the 1650s in a cultured narrative style.

 

Lorenz von Numers also wrote satirical contemporary novels, travel stories, historical essays, and he translated French literature, e.g. André Gide and Bédier's Novel of Tristan and Isolde.