2023:2
Featuring works by Majgull Axelsson, Göran Bergengren, Martin Björklind, Thella Johnson, Marit Kapla, Nora Khalil and more.
Editor: Alex Fleming
Reviews Editor: Darcy Hurford
Advisory Editors: Deborah Bragan-Turner, Sarah Death, Fiona Graham, Paul Norlen and Linda Schenck
Social Media: Sophie Ruthven
New Books: Alice E Olsson
Welcome to this latest issue of Swedish Book Review, which is dedicated to the theme of ‘Unseen Worlds’. Drawing us from parallel realms to marginalised spaces and the landscapes of the mind, the works presented in this issue all bear out the idea of literature – particularly literature in translation – as a window onto new, hidden or previously unexplored worlds.
In translations, Thella Johnson’s enthralling debut Peace offers a vivid retelling of a turbulent family history, while in The Flight of the Swallows Majgull Axelsson steps inside the mind of a scarred young woman trying to take control of her future.
Marrying prose poetry and reportage, Marit Kapla’s polyphonic Love in Swedish explores the conditions of love in our time, while nature writer par excellence Göran Bergengren offers a meditative essay on the dance of the bees.
Nora Khalil’s bittersweet, warmly narrated Yani follows a close-knit group of teens through joy and hardship, and Martin Björklind’s reality-bending thriller A Third World takes us on a race to prevent looming catastrophe.
In features, Tom Geddes celebrates the life of Eivor Martinus, a writer and prolific translator of literature and drama who made valuable contributions to both SELTA and Swedish Book Review. And, in the centenary year of Stig Dagerman’s birth, Bengt Söderhäll explores Dagerman’s lasting legacy and impact, and some of the events taking place to mark this anniversary.
As ever, our reviews section features an array of new Swedish-language books from across the publishing scene, including risk-taking experimental texts, topsy-turvy picture books and urgent depictions of the here and now.
This is just the first of two exciting issues that we have in store for you this autumn. Look out for our special issue dedicated to Finland-Swedish literature coming later this October.
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
from The Flight of the Swallows by Majgull Axelsson
In Majgull Axelsson's latest novel, an aging psychologist feels a surprising affinity for an abused teenager who enters her office with a combative demeanour and an armour of foul language.
Translated by Kathy Saranpa.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from The Purpose of Bees by Göran Bergengren
In short, captivating essays that blend personal experience with extraordinary facts, Bergengren celebrates the remarkable lives of bees and the role that they play in our world.
Translated by Fiona Graham.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from A Third World by Martin Björklind
Martin Björklind's debut novel, a philosophical metropolitan thriller, reaches beyond the physical world to offer a reflection on the nature of reality.
Translated by Neil Betteridge.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from Peace by Thella Johnson
Thella Johnson's debut novel is a tender portrayal of an unforgettable family and the post-war people of Sweden and Finland, two countries close as siblings.
Translated by Nichola Smalley.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from Love in Swedish by Marit Kapla
Marit Kapla marries prose poetry with investigative journalism to create poignant portrayal of the conditions of love in our time.
Translated by Linda Schenck.
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from Yani by Nora Khalil
In her August-Prize-nominated Yani, Nora Khalil tells a collective coming-of-age story about alienation and belonging among a close-knit group of friends in suburban Stockholm.
Translated by Catherine Venner.
Features
In memoriam
Eivor Martinus 1943-2023
Tom Geddes celebrates the life of Eivor Martinus, a writer, prolific translator of Swedish literature and drama, and teacher of language and literature.
FEATURE
Stig Dagerman at 100
Bengt Söderhäll, Chair and Co-founder of the Stig Dagerman Society, discusses Stig Dagerman’s lasting legacy and impact, and some of the events taking place to mark his centenary.
Translated by Alex Fleming
Reviews
curated and edited by Darcy Hurford
Literary fiction
REVIEW
De som ger sig av
Inger Edelfeldt's Scheherazade-like sequence for today’s fantasy fans weaves an unsettling tale of suppression of freedom in multiple worlds and provides a pithy commentary on the mechanics of storytelling in the process.
REVIEW
En låda apelsiner
A Crate of Oranges tells the moving real-life story of a Jewish boy and his father forced by persecution to emigrate from Communist Poland.
REVIEW
Haralds mamma
Johanna Frid´s novel Harald’s Mother charts a difficult relationship between a mother and her daughter-in-law. It is a funny but at the same time deeply poignant take on love, family and relationships. A perfect read for book club discussions.
REVIEW
Natten
Sara Gordan’s The Night was received with unanimous, overwhelmingly warm praise for her unique style of novelistic autobiography that focuses on a troubled, loving parenthood.
REVIEW
Regnet
Stylistically breathtaking, Maxim Grigoriev’s The Rain is a hypnotic ode to a city being hollowed by gentrification, as told through the fragmented conversations of a young group of residents.
REVIEW
Halva Malmö består av killar som dumpat mig
In Half of Malmö’s Men Have Dumped Me, Amanda Romare takes the reader on a Mr Toad’s wild ride of sex, laughs and disappointment.
REVIEW
Häng City
Luleå, northern Sweden, 1999. Summer is just beginning, and for three boys on the edge of teenagerdom, long months of freedom beckon. In Mikael Yvesand's Hang City adventure is always round the corner – and sometimes right under your nose. If you can see that far.
Thrillers/Crime
REVIEW
Levande och döda
An excellent whodunnit as well as a sharp social and psychological drama about peoples’ lives, loves and unavoidable tragedies, The Living and the Dead shows Christoffer Carlsson on home ground in Halland.
REVIEW
Maos Hibiskus
Mao’s Hibiscus is a story of a decades’ long friendship between former Maoists, cemented by the obligation to look after a suitcase of money. They eventually invest the money, but their investment has fatal consequences, and everything points to the involvement of the Russian secret services.
Fiction for children and teenagers
REVIEW
Historien om Bodri
The Story of Bodri is a simple introduction to the Holocaust for young children, told from the perspective of a girl and her beloved dog.
REVIEW
Tora och Tytte planterar
In Lotta Geffenblad’s life-affirming and humorous picturebooks about the lovably odd couple Tora and Tytte, size does not matter if you care for one another. Together the couple explores everyday chores with unexpected, hilarious results and a deep sense of the small pleasures of everyday life.
REVIEW
Tora och Tytte motionerar
In Lotta Geffenblad’s life-affirming and humorous picturebooks about the lovably odd couple Tora and Tytte, size does not matter if you care for one another. Together the couple explores everyday chores with unexpected, hilarious results and a deep sense of the small pleasures of everyday life.
REVIEW
Det som känns förbjudet
This picture book by Annica Hedin takes an innovative approach to exploring knotty moral issues for very young children, aged 3-6 years. It begins with a question – what do we do in secret which we know is wrong, and what happens if somebody notices?
REVIEW
Älgkungen
In Maria Hellbom’s many-layered, enchanting children’s fantasy novels, two pre-teen protagonists team up with age-old, local mythical creatures and animals in order to save their rural community, its people, forests and animals from fire and exploitation.
REVIEW
Pärlbäraren
In Maria Hellbom’s many-layered, enchanting children’s fantasy novels, two pre-teen protagonists team up with age-old, local mythical creatures and animals in order to save their rural community, its people, forests and animals from fire and exploitation.
REVIEW
De tar allt ifrån mig
In They’re Taking Everything Away from Me, An intense YA novel set in Northern Sweden, Linda Jones describes Frida, a fifteen-year-old coming of age in a community that is falling apart.
Non-fiction
REVIEW
Judarnas historia i Sverige
Carl Henrik Carlsson's text is a comprehensive and highly readable study of Jewish history in Sweden from the arrival of Aaron Isaac in Ystad in 1774 to the present day.
REVIEW
En annan Edith
Best known for her poetry, Edith Södergran (1892 – 1923) also left a substantial body of photography. In Another Edith, award-winning book designer Nina Ulmaja analyses some of these photos and links them to Södergran’s biography – and her own.
REVIEW
En bok för Ingen
Nominated for 2023 Nordic Council Literature Prize, A Book For Nobody surprises and delights thanks to Isabella Nilsson’s playful approach to writing about difficult topics.
Generously supported by the Swedish Literature Exchange at the Swedish Arts Council.
