2025:1

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.