2018:1

In spring 2017 SELTA organised a programme of literary and translation events around the theme of nature in Swedish writing. Sweden is renowned for its natural landscapes and in a land of long coastlines and dense forests, the countryside is filled with thousands of lakes and rivers, mountains and wide open spaces. Seasons vary enormously according to which part of the country you are in and both the weather and the light influence much of Swedish life. Sweden is also a world leader in sustainability and environmental protection; and with a long history in conservation it was one of the first countries to address the loss of natural resources. In many diverse ways Swedish literature reflects the beauty and raw magnitude of nature as well as the damage caused to the natural environment by industrial progress. 

Our spring issue is brimming with prose and poetry on these themes. Göran Bergengren’s Tree Sparrow, beautifully illustrated by Gebbe Björkman, demonstrates the author’s affinity with the natural world and especially his native Östergötland. Therése Söderlind’s novel The Road to Fire Mountain, while specifically drawing on the Torsåker witch trials, powerfully depicts rural life in northern Sweden in the 17th and 18th centuries. Rural life is also an important element in Elin Olofsson’s new novel Entangled, a gripping account of the experiences of two women in the small town of Krokom in rural Jämtland in the post-war years.  Jonas Gren’s ecopoetry contains a strong ecological message and engages with the imperative for social change, presented in striking fashion here by the typography in The Land Survey. Concluding our nature-themed extracts, Ann-Helén Laestadius’s young adult novel Ten Past One vividly portrays the fear and anxiety of a teenage girl living in the mining town of Kiruna in northern Sweden and highlights the effect exploitation of natural resources has had on a community that owes its existence to the vast iron-ore mine on which it sits – a town that has been undermined quite literally and has to be moved, with its 23,000 inhabitants, three kilometres to the east. 

On tour in the UK in October 2017 following the publication of her book 1947: When Now Begins, author and journalist Elisabeth Åsbrink met her translator Fiona Graham. She generously agreed to make time in her busy schedule for an interview, in which we learn more about the writing and translation of this fascinating work.

In September 2017 Literature Across Frontiers presented an update to its 2015 report on translated literature and Ian Giles again summarises the findings from a Swedish perspective for us. The Swedish Arts Council in its annual news round-up for 2017 has reported that international interest for Swedish books and the Swedish book market remains strong. The book reviews in Bookshelf reflect the strength of this market, offering a glimpse of the wide variety and excellent quality of books being published in Swedish.  A selection this time rich in nature writing too.