Latest issue
2024:1
Featuring works by Kerstin Ekman, Magnus Florin, Aya Kanbar, Lisa Röstlund, Elin Wägner, Mikael Yvesand and more.
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash.
Latest translations
latest translation
from Lame brag by Cecilia Vårhed
Drawn in a style inspired by manga but with a twisted and expressionistic flair, Cecilia Vårhed's eagerly anticipated debut Fattigt skryt is a trippy saga about broken love, class, friendship and the quest to land on one’s feet.
Translated by Corinne Platten.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from Evening Street by Aya Kanbar
In her explosive second poetry collection, Aya Kanbar offers a heady, romantic and often dark exploration of love, loneliness, destruction and the search for identity.
Translated by Elizabeth Clark Wessel.
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from Hang City by Mikael Yvesand
In his debut novel, which won the 2023 Borås Tidning's Debut Prize, Yvesand has perfectly captured the dreaminess not only of bright, long summers but also the voice and energy of a thirteen-year-old.
Translated by Sophie Ruthven.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from Descartes’ Daughter by Magnus Florin
Magnus Florin's latest novel plays out during the philosopher René Descartes’ last journey, a month-long voyage from Holland to Stockholm in the autumn of 1649.
Translated by Harry D. Watson.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from My Book World by Kerstin Ekman
One of the most prominent voices in twentieth and twenty-first century Swedish literature, Kerstin Ekman enters into dialogue with her own literary heroes, detailing the works that have influenced her own reading and writing life.
Translated by Linda Schenck.
Latest features
FEATURE
Swedish Folk Tales – An Evolving Tradition
Anna Maria Hellberg Moberg delves into the changing landscape of folk tales and storytelling traditions across Sweden.
INTERVIEW
‘There’s nothing like the act of translation to reveal the magic of how and why a piece of writing gets under your skin.’
Fresh from her Bernard Shaw Prize win for her translation of Johanne Lykke Holm's Strega, Saskia Vogel speaks to SBR about her luminous translation and stretching the limits of the English language.
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SBR is committed to bringing Swedish-language literature to the English-speaking world, and to promoting works in translation. In 2021, with the publication of our full online archive, we will be launching our new membership package. SBR membership gives you access to hundreds of reviews, translations and features on the latest in Swedish literature.
Latest reviews
REVIEW
Stacken
In Annika Norlin’s debut novel The Ant Hill, An alternative lifestyle brings rewards and challenges for a group of people who reject mainstream society.
REVIEW
Fjollornas fest
In Sissy, Jonas Gardell writes another collective literary testimony from Stockholm’s gay community. This time, the sissies – said to be the most despised even by the gay community – take centre stage.
REVIEW
Fattigt Skryt
With its appealingly coloured tales of a group of twenty-something friends that shun strict realism for a more psychological take, Cecilia Vårhed’s graphic novel Empty Boasting has fun with the genre.
REVIEW
Onsdagar på badhuset
Alma Thörn’s children’s book Wednesdays at the Swimming Pool is a lavishly illustrated and irresistibly empathetic tale of what it feels like to struggle with anxiety.
REVIEW
Mitt stora vackra hat. En biografi över Victoria Benedictsson.
Elisabeth Åsbrink's My Big, Beautiful Hatred portrays a gifted writer torn apart by the conflicting demands that late nineteenth-century society placed on female authors and intellectuals.
REVIEW
Slavdrivaren
Enforcers of unfree labour are victims and perpetrators: in The Slavedriver, Anders Teglund combines reportage and historical essays to examine that grim paradox.
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