2022:1
Featuring works by Mikael Bergstrand, Kerstin Ekman, Anna-Lena Laurén, Björn Ranelid, Maria Wine, Nina Wähä and more.
Editor: Alex Fleming
Reviews Editors: Fiona Graham and Darcy Hurford
Advisory Editors: Deborah Bragan-Turner, Sarah Death, Paul Norlen and Linda Schenck
Social Media: Sophie Ruthven
New Books: Alice E Olsson
Photo by Kumiko SHIMIZU on Unsplash
It is amid an outpouring of sadness and outrage that we publish this spring issue of Swedish Book Review. We condemn the Russian Federation’s brutal, unjustifiable military assault on Ukraine and its cities, people and culture. We stand in solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, and with all those who oppose this war.
In the light of such events, we are grateful to Dagens Nyheter for granting us permission to publish a translation of a column written by esteemed journalist Anna-Lena Laurén prior to the invasion – an illuminating, personal piece on the insanity of war. We also present an extract from Anna-Lena Laurén’s The Velvet Dictatorship, a book that offers a valuable insight into life under the Putin regime.
Meanwhile, in translated fiction, Nina Wähä explores a complex power dynamic between friends in the simmering psychological drama Babetta, and Kerstin Ekman returns to the novel format with The Wolf Run, an intimate portrait of nature and the human psyche.
A small town is struck by an inconceivable tragedy in Björn Ranelid’s Bill Nilsson’s Last White Shirt, while Mikael Bergstrand’s The Consultant Who Wouldn’t Swim brings us a warmly humorous tale of a self-satisfied consultant who is forced to take stock of his life. Finally, Arthur Allen presents a translated folio of the early poetic works of Maria Wine, a doyenne of Swedish literary modernism.
Elsewhere, in features, Anna Maria Hellberg Moberg discusses the gains and pitfalls of self-translation, and we spend a day in the life of subtitler Alexander Keiller.
Our illuminating reviews section offers insight into a wide range of recent publications in Swedish, and we are also pleased to present a brand new list of Swedish and Finland-Swedish books published in English translation in 2022.
We hope that you enjoy reading this issue. With thanks, and with hope for peace.
Translations
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from The Wolf Run by Kerstin Ekman
Kerstin Ekman returns with her first novel in ten years, an intimate and captivating tale of a man and his wife of many years, of their love for their community, their family, their dogs and for the natural world of which they are a part.
Translated by Linda Schenck.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from Babetta by Nina Wähä
'She calls and I come. That’s how it is. That’s how it has always been. She asks me and I do as she says.' Nina Wähä returns with a suggestive novel that explores the complexities of friendship
Translated by Sarah Death.
TRANSLATED POETRY
from The Wind out of the Darkness by Maria Wine
Arthur Allen presents a folio of ten previously untranslated poems of Maria Wine, a dexterous doyenne of Swedish literary modernism.
Translated by Arthur Allen.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from The Consultant Who Wouldn’t Swim by Mikael Bergstrand
Mikael Bergstrand takes us inside the mind of a self-satisfied consultant on the brink of a personal crisis, in his warmly humourous The Consultant who Wouldn't Swim.
Translated by Tom Buckle.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from The Velvet Dictatorship by Anna-Lena Laurén
Esteemed journalist Anna-Lena Laurén explores democracy in Russia in this extract taken from Sammetsdiktaturen, her latest collection of essays on Russian contemporary society.
Translated by D.E. Hurford.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from Bill Nilsson’s Last White Shirt by Björn Ranelid
An inconceivable family tragedy is the backdrop for Björn Ranelid’s most recent novel.
Translated by Paul Norlen.
Features
FEATURE
Stepping into Self-Translation
Anna Maria Hellberg Moberg investigates the phenomenon of self-translation, its advantages and pitfalls.
FEATURE
One Day, Some Life: a day in the life of a subtitler
Alexander Keiller discusses the ever-changing shape of the subtitling industry.
FEATURE
‘You don’t believe in war. Where in the past four decades have you seen reason prevail?’
In this recent column published on the eve of war, Anna-Lena Laurén explores the crisis in Ukraine through the prism of her own family history.
Translated by D.E. Hurford.
Reviews
curated by Fiona Graham, edited by Fiona Graham and Darcy Hurford
Fiction
REVIEW
Den svarta månens år
‘The absurd is a reality, he thought, forming a snowball between his hands, there’s no need to twist the text to find it, it’s there all the time.’ Year of the Black Moon, a delightful but troubling existential detective novel, follows a disillusioned scholar on an epic quest for clues and meaning when his normal life is derailed by concussion.
REVIEW
Skugga och svalka
An unconventionally told story of childhood in which photography and aesthetics play a major part, Shade and Breeze is an elusive but absorbing debut novel.
REVIEW
Röda Rummet
'Published author looking to buy an apartment in south Helsinki. Offer me a good price, and I’ll write you a book!’ So begins The Red Room, a novel about dominance, submission, manipulation, and the darker side of human relationships that unfortunately fails to fulfil its potential.
REVIEW
Nikes bok
Disaster strikes in a small seaside community, bonding families and signalling the beginning of a succession of landmark events in their lives. In Nikky's Book Lidbeck explores the ways people deal with adversity, and its effects on friendships and relationships.
REVIEW
Brobyggarna (Det stora århundradet)
The Bridge Builders begins the tale of one family’s journey from a tiny village near Bergen in the late 1800s through the 1900s and into the new millennium.
REVIEW
Nya människor i fel ordning
The multi-talented Jonas Karlsson is back with New People in the Wrong Order, a new collection of short stories that steps away from the surrealism he is renowned for, but not the unpredictability.
REVIEW
Inifrån Sápmi: Vittnesmål från stulet land
The voices of writers and poets from across the Sámi lands of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia ring out with the clarity of reindeer bells in Sápmi from the Inside: Testimonies from Stolen Land.
Thrillers/Crime
REVIEW
Nattavaara
In a post-apocalyptic dystopian world of the not-too-distant future, the global order as we know it has collapsed. Nattavaara, a strong example of speculative fiction, explores what it takes to survive in the fictional nation of Nordmark in this new era.
REVIEW
Konferensen
Mats Strandberg’s The Conference sees a whole municipal department running for its life.
REVIEW
Gryning. Falsk.
Fine art meets organised crime in Dawn. False., a gripping tale focusing on two female artists.
Graphic novels
REVIEW
Inne i spegelsalen
In In the Hall of Mirrors, Liv Strömquist asks where our obsession with appearance came from, and whether we should try to change the situation.
Fiction for children and teenagers
REVIEW
Hemligheten i Helmersbruk
The Mystery of Helmersbruk Manor is a spooky but heart-warming Christmas mystery for middle-grade readers.
REVIEW
Inte din baby
In Seluah Alsaati’s Not Your Baby we meet Samira: star football player and burgeoning rapper, perhaps the next Cardi B. She knows who her friends are, and what she wants from a guy – three simple demands, nothing complicated. Then she meets Nabil, and her whole world is turned upside down ... and not totally for the better.
REVIEW
De afghanska sönerna
A commentary on the reception of refugees in Sweden, told through the eyes of a young woman working with unaccompanied minors, The Afghan Sons is an award-winning novel with a sense of connection.
Non-fiction
REVIEW
Dolda gudar: en bok om allt som inte går förlorat i en översättning
Hidden Gods: About Everything That Doesn’t Get Lost in a Translation explores the art of literary translation down the centuries with a delectably dry wit.
REVIEW
En ensam plats
A Lonely Place, Kristina Sandberg's eighth book, is a moving, unsparing memoir that explores the period when Sandberg had breast cancer.
REVIEW
Hon minns inte
In She Doesn’t Remember, a writer, psychologist and literary translator is inspired to write a moving, timely account of his mother’s dementia that will resonate with many readers outside Sweden.
REVIEW
Hemtjänstmaffian
An account of a remarkable court case against the most unlikely of criminal gangs – private home care providers – is followed by well-informed commentary, case histories and interviews in The Home Care Mafia. Finally, a piece of journalistic dynamite: a unique list, naming and shaming assorted provider organisations and local authorities.
REVIEW
Förintelsens Barn
Margit Silberstein’s Children of the Holocaust is an important story to tell in today’s transcultural Sweden, as the discussion of migrant/postmigrant identity is an increasingly relevant topic in the political and cultural discourse.
REVIEW
Vit melankoli: En analys av en nation i kris
White Melancholy: An Analysis of a Nation in Crisis takes a timely look at Sweden’s shift from ethnic homogeneity to the more diverse society we see today.
REVIEW
Modernitetens kritiska samvete. En samhällsvetenskap som gör nytta.
Spoiler alert! This book will alter your perceptions of fake news, cancel culture and ‘experts.’ Olof Hallonsten’s The Critical Conscience of Modernity: A social science that is useful is both timely and necessary. Hallonsten tackles critics of social sciences head on to reject many of their criticisms.