Latest issue
2025:1
Featuring works by Sara Danius, Yukiko Duke, Jörgen Gassilewski, Linda Jones, Sven Olov Karlsson, Ellen Nordmark, Lida Starodubtseva and more.
Editor and New Books: Alex Fleming
Reviews Editor: Darcy Hurford
Advisory Editors: Deborah Bragan-Turner, Sarah Death, Fiona Graham,
Paul Norlen and Linda Schenck
Social Media: Sophie Ruthven
Photo by Maureen Eijpe on Unsplash
Tensions between the timeless and transitory are brought into sharp relief in this spring issue of Swedish Book Review, as we present a range of evocative works that explore culture, childhood, and the landscapes we live in today.
In translations, Ellen Nordmark’s audacious epic Epos draws upon the corporeal and celestial to interrogate today’s political landscape, while in the mesmeric An Endlessly Long Spring Lida Starodubtseva probes personal and political boundaries with a hint of the uncanny.
Elsewhere, the realms of childhood – and childhood discovery – are a key theme in this issue. In his rich, stylistically playful Backwater Beast Sven Olov Karlsson looks back on a rural childhood and its impact on his writing life, while in the highly charged Pride of Lions Linda Jones offers a complex exploration of teenage friendship dynamics, loneliness and revenge. Finally, in the captivating The Game, poet and author Jörgen Gassilewski ups the ante, presenting a day in the life of a three-year-old girl through her own, unmitigated perspective.
We are also honoured to present essays from two prominent literary voices of recent decades. In ‘Dressed for Chair No 7’, Sara Danius (1962-2019) elegantly explores the intersections of literature and fashion through a selection of inspired sartorial creations. Meanwhile, in ‘The Joy of Translating is Gone’, Yukiko Duke looks back over her experience of co-translating numerous works of literature with her mother Eiko – in doing so encapsulating the innately human and deeply personal aspects of literary translation.
Finally, in features, we speak to Martin Colthorpe of Modern Culture about festival programming in the UK and Ireland, and how the new project Stories From Sweden aims to consolidate the profile of Swedish writing in translation.
As ever, our reviews section highlights the breadth and depth of publishing in Sweden today, including contemplative fiction, graphic novels from reader favourites, swashbuckling children’s fiction and searing non-fiction. We also present the latest data on Swedish and Finland-Swedish books being published in English translation in 2025.
We would like extend our sincere thanks to Swedish Literature Exchange for their support in producing this issue. We hope that you enjoy reading it.
Translations
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
Dressed for Chair No 7 by Sara Danius
Sara Danius describes her collaboration with couturier Pär Engsheden, revealing the rich cultural fabric that went into the inspired dresses they created. Translated by Darcy Hurford.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from The Game by Jörgen Gassilewski
Written from the perspective of a three-year-old girl, poet and author Jörgen Gassilewski's latest novel offers an ambitious and imaginative exploration of the inner world of a child. Translated by Jane Davis.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from Pride of Lions by Linda Jones
Linda Jones's latest offering is a layered text about complex questions of revenge and responsibility, viewed through the prism of secondary-school friendships. Translated by Alice Menzies.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from Backwater Beast by Sven Olov Karlsson
In his rich autofictional tale of a writerly life, Sven Olov Karlsson details his long, snaking journey from a Västmanland smallholding on the brink of collapse to life as a novelist in the capital. Translated by Alex Fleming.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from Epos by Ellen Nordmark
Ellen Nordmark's ambitious poetic epic interrogates the cosmos, underworld, and current global political landscape through the intermingling of contemporary tragedy and ancient mythologies. Translated by Gina Abelkop.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from An Endlessly Long Spring by Lida Starodubtseva
Lida Starodubtseva's cycle of short stories from Karelia revolves around questions of personal and political boundaries, as its multifaceted characters endeavour to understand the contexts in which they find themselves. Translated by Kathy Saranpa.
Features
ESSAY
‘The Joy of Translating is Gone’ by Yukiko Duke
In this moving essay, journalist Yukiko Duke looks back on the deeply personal process of translating the works of Kenzaburo Oe and Haruki Murakami with her mother, Eiko Duke. Translated by Ian Giles.
INTERVIEW
Stories From Sweden
Modern Culture’s Martin Colthorpe on bringing Swedish literature to UK and Irish festival and event stages.
Reviews
curated and edited by Darcy Hurford
Fiction
REVIEW
Första boken
Karolina Ramqvist’s The First Book weaves through different tenses and times, interlacing stories like sections of a long braid. There are many lenses through which one could read it, and Ramqvist never sticks to just one.
REVIEW
Till träden
In To the Trees Ella-Maria Nutti explores the importance of language and culture to a sense of self and a feeling of belonging.
REVIEW
Hur man möter en mamma
How We Met Your Mother by Kaj Korkea-aho is memoir about a gay male couple and their desire to have a child.
REVIEW
Slask
Together since childhood, it is no longer possible for Melvin and his friends to take their bonds for granted, nor assume what those bonds mean for each other anymore in Mikael Berglund’s novel Slush.
REVIEW
En oändligt lång vår
In An Endlessly Long Spring, translator Lida Starodubtseva proves her mettle on a different side of the creative process.
REVIEW
Medan vi lever
In her latest book, While We’re Living, Nina Björk deep-dives into the waters of existential philosophy. In seven chapters, she discusses authenticity, identity, meaning, trust, love, time, and reality – impressive topics to tackle.
REVIEW
Sten i siden
In Stone in Silk, Mikael Niemi describes a Finnish-speaking northern Sweden set in a period far from the egalitarian social democracy we think of today.
REVIEW
Huset vid Pärlälvens slut
William Älgebrink's The House at the End of the Pärl River is a thriller-horror story about a search for blood.
Graphic Novels
REVIEW
Stinas jojk
Mats Jonsson's Stina's joik is a moving YA graphic novel about a Sámi woman who used her extreme height to earn money for her family, while never fully living her own life.
REVIEW
Pythian pratar
Influencers, consumer culture and Meghan Markle writing positive messages on bananas: Liv Strömquist’s graphic novel The Pythia Talks takes on wellness culture and our fear of death.
REVIEW
Kattflickan och andra berättelser
Catgirl and Other Stories is a new collection of graphic short stories by Anneli Furmark that brings together evocative illustrations and melancholic humour.
Fiction for children and teenagers
REVIEW
Smugglarens skatt
In The Smuggler’s Treasure, a young boy visits his grandma on an island in the archipelago and discovers a 100-year-old smuggling mystery that he needs to solve before criminals do.
REVIEW
Chop Chop: En tapper jordbos berättelse
In Chop Chop: The Story of Brave Earthling Linda Bondestam tells a complex and appealing story about a good-natured robot.
REVIEW
Gärna ville jag vara ett träd
Twelve poems for young readers by Barbro Lindgren, I’d Like to Be a Tree encourages young readers to connect with nature.
Non-fiction
REVIEW
Medan kriget pågår finns ingen försoning. Texter om Ryssland och Ukraina 2022-2024
While the War Is Ongoing There Is No Reconciliation is a collection of articles published in Sweden and Finland over the past two years by Anna-Lena Laurén, Russian correspondent of sixteen years.
REVIEW
Man kan fly en galning men kan inte gömma sig för ett samhälle - 10 år efter Utøya
In You Can Escape a Crazy Man But Not Hide From a Society – 10 Years after Utøya, Ali Esbati documents his first-hand experiences of the mass shooting on the Norwegian island of Utøya, and the ominous political and cultural atmosphere that pervaded before and after it.
REVIEW
Gloria. I Rasismens Skugga
The story of one of the Little Rock Nine, Gloria. In the Shadow of Oppression is co-authored by Gloria Ray Karlmark and Elisabeth Åsbrink.
Generously supported by Swedish Literature Exchange, part of the Swedish Arts Council.
