Laurie Thompson

A collective tribute to Laurie Thompson (1938-2015) by his friend and colleagues

Stig Dagerman wrote the poem 'Autumn' ten days before his death in 1954.
Translated by Laurie Thompson

As well as being a distinguished academic, Laurie Thompson (1938-2015) was also a prolific translator.

Laurie Thompson was an outstanding and prolific literary translator. He also had a distinguished academic
career, and had a major impact on the promotion of Swedish language, literature and culture in the UK.

This extract is the opening of an unsettling story from Aino Trosell’s collection of Krimineller (‘Criminelles’, or crime-fiction short stories). ‘Confused’ describes the fate of an undocumented migrant to Sweden.
Translated by Laurie Thompson

Disaster strikes in the far north of Sweden. How will the people react? Translated by Laurie Thompson

A selection of Stig Dagerman’s ‘daily verses’ from the 1940s and 1950s.
Translated by Laurie Thompson

The world is very familiar with Astrid Lindgren the children's writer. Her role as an opinion former is less widely known. This speech, delivered when she collected the German Booksellers' Peace Prize in Frankfurt in 1978, appears in a new anthology focusing on Astrid Lindgren as an opinion former and campaigner.
Translated by Laurie Thompson.

Lars Sund's Colorado Avenue was published to great acclaim in 1991, with Sund being compared to Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Salman Rushdie. 
Translated by Laurie Thompson.

Laurie Thompson introduces his translation of Jonas Hassen Khemiri's An Eye Red, providing a useful insight into the unusual form of Swedish used and explaining how he went about translating non-standard and "incorrect" forms into English.
Translated by Laurie Thompson.