2016:2

When  the  Man  Booker  International  prize  was  awarded  this  year,  shared equally between the author and translator, the Financial Times (26 May 2016) reported that sales of translated fiction in the UK have more than doubled in the last fifteen years and pointed to the growth in the number of independent publishers  championing  translated  literature. Earlier  this  year  the  organisers of  the  2016  Oxford-Weidenfeld  Prize  announced  ‘impressive’  submissions, predominantly from independent publishers. Dedalus Books’ Reading Europe initiative (Guardian, 24 March 2016) made its own case for Britain remaining in the EU with a selection of European novels translated into English, all from independent publishers in the UK. Our own publisher, Norvik Press, appeared in this list more than once. It is 30 years since Norvik Press was founded as an independent, not-for-profit publisher specialising in Nordic literature and as it celebrates its anniversary we talk to managing editor and co-founder, Janet Garton, about its continuing success.

The  late  Helena  Forsås-Scott  was  an  active  contributor  to  SBR  and  had a  particular  interest  in  19th-  and  20th-century  Swedish  women’s  writing, researching and publishing extensively on writers such as Elin Wägner, Selma Lagerlöf, Kerstin Ekman, Moa Martinson and Sara Lidman. In this issue we present an article on Elin Wägner she completed for SBR shortly before her death in a collaborative project with translator Sarah Death. Kerstin Ekman features in this issue too, in an extract translated by Linda Schenck from Ekman’s latest biographical work, in which she has drawn a fascinating and sensitive portrait of Clas Bjerkander, the 18th-century entomologist and botanist who considered himself more than fortunate to live when he did.

In our wide-ranging mixture of journalism, biography and fiction, we travel from the 18th to the 21st century and in the course of our journey celebrate two centenaries. It is one hundred years since the birth of Karin Lannby, the notorious Swedish actress, writer and spy; translator Ian Hinchliffe introduces AndersThunberg’s true story of her fascinating life with two translated extracts. It is also one hundred years since the publication of the novella Regnbågen by Finland-Swedish author Runar Schildt, represented here in extracts introduced and  translated  by Anna-Lisa  and  Martin  Murrell. We  move  to  the  late  20th century with a translation by Chris Hall from a short story by one of Sweden’s most  esteemed  authors, Torgny  Lindgren, and  leap  forward  to  a  frightening view of Europe’s future in an extract from Alexander Koistinen’s debut novel, translated by Ian Giles.

And as usual, to give a flavour of the many exciting books currently being published in Swedish, we end with a selection of reviews of fiction and non- fiction.