Translations
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from Mister von Hancken by Hjalmar Bergman
Hjalmar Bergman's classic 1920 novel, about a madcap a captain and knight errant, uses warmth and humour to lay bare the inner workings of his characters and of the wider age.
Translated by Margareta Horiba
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from Tullia's World by Kerstin Ekman
Tullia's World is a fascinating attempt to recreate the life of Roman women, interwoven with themes ranging from feminism to pacifism to climate change.
Translated by Linda Schenck.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from Sirdolaččat by Elin Anna Labba
Elin Anna Labba’s poetic, August-Prize-winning history Sirdolaččat brings the stories of the displaced Northern Sámi people vividly to life.
Translated by Fiona Graham.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from The Carriers by Jessica Schiefauer
Twice August Prize-winning author Jessica Schiefauer's new novel opens a window onto a radically different society, where the political and economic systems of today have been relegated to the past.
Translated by Alice E. Olsson.
TRANSLATED STORY
The Sauna Throne by Axel Åhman
At a public swimming pool somewhere in Finland, a young man decides to take a sauna. The ensuing sweaty power struggle is a hilarious, finely tuned exploration of masculinity, linguistic identity and the corrupting nature of power.
Translated by D.E. Hurford.
Features
FEATURE
Where in the world do I stand?
In her inaugural speech upon induction into the Swedish Academy, Jila Mossaed discusses her poetry, and her choice to change writing language in order to bear witness. Translated by Brad Harmon.
INTERVIEW
So How Was Your Year? Selling Nordic Literature in 2020
Urpu Strellman, Judith Toth and Sofie Voller discuss the year 2020 in rights, offering an insight into their day-to-day work.
Reviews
curated and edited by Fiona Graham
REVIEW
Tullias värld
In Tullias värld, Kerstin Ekman sets out with grace, inventiveness and often anger to shed light on the hidden lives of the women of Ancient Rome.
REVIEW
Övergivenheten
'I was born ready to flee.' Elisabeth Åsbrink's genre-bending book portrays three generations of women against the background of Jewish diaspora history.
REVIEW
Dubbelporträtt
The most recent work by veteran Swedish author Agneta Pleijel is an engaging novel centring on the real-life meeting in 1969 between Agatha Christie and the Austrian expressionist painter Oskar Kokoschka
REVIEW
Jag föreslår att vi vaknar
Beate Grimsrud's semi-autobiographical final novel - written in Swedish and self-translated into Norwegian - is an astonishing exploration of what it means for an individual life – ‘a giant dot’ – to be erased.
REVIEW
Inställd resa till Sabarmati
Bestselling author Majgull Axelsson's new novel, about "a mother who isn't a mother", runs the gamut from thriller to romance and readily retains the reader’s attention throughout.
REVIEW
Apan i mitten
This standalone sequel to Tre apor (Three Monkeys) clearly depicts the tension between staying with one’s own kind versus assimilation, and the challenges that come with belonging to various different groups.
REVIEW
Svartsvala
Lucia is 26 when she has a brain haemorrhage and is left with an impaired capacity to remember anything short-term. Josefin Roos' powerful novel draws on her own real-life experience to explore the complex terrain of brain damage.
REVIEW
Nidamörkur
They were once a professional couple living a comfortable, middle-class existence in Stockholm. Now Simon is missing and Jenny is searching for him. In Nidamörkur, Fröberg Idling combines a literary style with horror's ability to depict humanity's dark sides.
REVIEW
För han var redan dö
För han var redan dö continues Eva Frantz's skillful series of stand-alone crime novels blending police procedurals with elements of noir, set against a backdrop of the rugged Finnish coast.
REVIEW
Den besvärliga Elin Wägner
Ulrika Knutson's fascinating, vibrant biographical narrative explores the life of Elin Wägner, one of Sweden's most important writers of the early 1900s.
REVIEW
och när hon får andnöd av sorg måste jag blunda
Kina Nilsson’s lapidary free verse poems, 77 of which are published in this anthology, are a testimony to the dedication of the hospital staff who have borne the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic.
REVIEW
Samlade dikter 1955-2015
The work of Gösta Ågren holds a special place in Finland-Swedish – and Swedish and Finnish – literature. This collection brings together many of his works from the past 60 years.
REVIEW
Nattexpressen
Nattexpressen is an exciting story for children that opens up opportunities for conversations on a hard topic: how to talk about people who have changed or who are no longer themselves.
REVIEW
Överallt och ingenstans
Överallt och ingenstans is a well-crafted, pleasantly meandering chapter book that brings together the small and big things in life, like cozy Friday nights, lice and complicated friendships.
REVIEW
Lindormars land
In the middle-grade novel Lindormars land, Frida Nilsson writes about the need and desire for love and about the difficult choices we sometimes have to make.
REVIEW
Där solen aldrig går ned
Journalist Henrik Brandão Jönsson's fourth book is a short history of the Lusophone world that brings together several of the key Portuguese-speaking nations in one volume, providing insight into parts of the world readers may know little to nothing about.
REVIEW
Översten
Ola Larsmo's novel tells the story of Knut Oscar Broady, a Swedish emigrant whose life placed him in the midst of a number of crucial moments in both Swedish and American history.