Translations

In search of life beyond the strains of the everyday, poet and author Cecilia Hansson sets off on an illuminating personal voyage in Franz Kafka’s footsteps. 
Translated by Kathy Saranpa.

Ellen Nordmark's ambitious poetic epic interrogates the cosmos, underworld, and current global political landscape through the intermingling of contemporary tragedy and ancient mythologies.
Translated by Gina Abelkop.

In his rich autofictional tale of a writerly life, Sven Olov Karlsson details his long, snaking journey from a Västmanland smallholding on the brink of collapse to life as a novelist in the capital.
Translated by Alex Fleming.

Written from the perspective of a three-year-old girl, poet and author Jörgen Gassilewski's latest novel offers an ambitious and imaginative exploration of the inner world of a child.
Translated by Jane Davis.

Sara Danius describes her collaboration with couturier Pär Engsheden, revealing the rich cultural fabric that went into the inspired dresses they created.
Translated by Darcy Hurford.

Lida Starodubtseva's cycle of short stories from Karelia revolves around questions of personal and political boundaries, as its multifaceted characters endeavour to understand the contexts in which they find themselves.
Translated by Kathy Saranpa.

Linda Jones's latest offering is a layered text about complex questions of revenge and responsibility, viewed through the prism of secondary-school friendships.
Translated by Alice Menzies.

Delving into themes of motherhood and hope in a troubling age, She’ll Be Named Minou is a thought-provoking piece on life and death, and the world that future generations will come to inherit.
Translated by Robert Lyons.

Written by one of Sweden’s foremost playwrights and an acclaimed poet making her dramatic debut, King Mother interrogates the many facets of familial love, and what happens to them in the absence of memory.
Translated by Anna McGroarty.

A regular feature on Helsinki's theatre scene, Bengt Ahlfors weaves the story of an entire life into this gentle, delicately crafted monologue on one elderly man’s unconventional search for connection.
Translated by Henning Koch.

An ingeniously crafted comedy that plays out like a thriller, Alejandro Leiva Wenger's masterful play explores loss, the malleability of memory and the narratives we tell ourselves about those we love.
Translated by May-Brit Akerholt.

Taking up the drama where Euripides' Medea ends, Farrokhzad places her protagonist in a poetic dialogue with a personified Morality, as she grapples with the import of what she has done.
Translated by Jennifer Hayashida.

Based on the accounts of dozens of young people originally from Afghanistan, Kabul Sthlm Paris is a polyphonic, multi-media piece of documentary theatre that shines a light on the disorienting and at times dehumanising asylum process.
Adapted and translated by Johanna Larsson.

Drawn in a style inspired by manga but with a twisted and expressionistic flair, Cecilia Vårhed's eagerly anticipated debut Fattigt skryt is a trippy saga about broken love, class, friendship and the quest to land on one’s feet.
Translated by Corinne Platten.

Magnus Florin's latest novel plays out during the philosopher René Descartes’ last journey, a month-long voyage from Holland to Stockholm in the autumn of 1649.
Translated by Harry D. Watson.

In her explosive second poetry collection, Aya Kanbar offers a heady, romantic and often dark exploration of love, loneliness, destruction and the search for identity.
Translated by Elizabeth Clark Wessel.

In his debut novel, which won the 2023 Borås Tidning's Debut Prize, Yvesand has perfectly captured the dreaminess not only of bright, long summers but also the voice and energy of a thirteen-year-old.
Translated by Sophie Ruthven.

One of the most prominent voices in twentieth and twenty-first century Swedish literature, Kerstin Ekman enters into dialogue with her own literary heroes, detailing the works that have influenced her own reading and writing life.
Translated by Linda Schenck.

Lisa Röstlund, an experienced, award-winning journalist, has spent years investigating concerns about modern forest management. The many lines of thought and inquiry in her largest, most complicated, and politically charged story all come together in Forestland.
Translated by Anna Paterson.

In this short story, a disagreement between a clergyman and his wife in a rural parish serves as a prelude to an incisive exploration of the clashes that inevitably occur between tradition and innovation, faith, superstition and reason.
Translated by Sarah Death.

Hannah Lutz's second novel is an uncompromising, full-bodied portrait of a complex woman who has reclaimed her life after living with death.
Translated by Andy Turner.

Coloured by magical realism, Giraffe Island is a tale of longing to be part of a family, to find one’s place in the world, and to be loved as one is.
Translated by Julia Marshall.

The conditions that inspired Finnish emigrants to search for a better life, predominantly from agricultural Ostrobothnia, find clear-eyed, non-sentimental expression in Ann-Luise Bertell’s Turn My Heart Towards Home.
Translated by Kathy Saranpa.

Robert Åsbacka uses gentle humour to satirise elements of contemporary society and the increasing commercialisation of all aspects of life, even under a Social Democratic government.
Translated by Ruth Urbom.

Composed of short poetic fragments, Emma Ahlgren's precise, multifaceted and at times dark second collection of poetry explores a young woman’s life, and the many roles and states that she comes – or is made – to inhabit.
Translated by Nichola Smalley.

Maria Turtschaninoff’s first work of literary fiction for adults, Inherited Land is an enchanting novel that depicts human relationships with nature across the generations.
Translated by Annie Prime.

Ellen Strömberg captures just what it feels like to be a teenager struggling with the demands of close friendship, an irritatingly cool big sister, and heartache.
Translated by Fiona Graham.

Revolving around a Vietnamese family of three navigating small-town life in Finland of the 90s, Quynh Tran's poignant and suggestive debut plays out through a series of oblique yet intimately detailed tableaux.
Translated by Kira Josefsson.

Psychological realism meets sinister suspense in Matilda Gyllenberg's eerie debut, which explores parenthood, isolation and responsibility, and our conflicting needs for freedom and security.
Translated by Sarah Death.

Written in a beautiful prose with a comic melancholy, Peter Sandström's Autumn Apples is the portrait of a middle-aged man reflecting on his past and trying to make sense of the present.
Translated by Deborah Bragan-Turner.

A poem-essay looking at the things that surround us, how they shape us and how we relate to them, Ulrika Nielsen’s The Things is thought-provoking, amusing and moving by turns.
Translated by Darcy Hurford.

In her first work of prose, poet Matilda Södergran turns her finely honed lyricism to themes of loneliness and loss, writing with astute psychological depth and striking, at times dreamlike, imagery.
Translated by Bradley Harmon.

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.

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.

Marit Kapla marries prose poetry with investigative journalism to create poignant portrayal of the conditions of love in our time.
Translated by Linda Schenck.

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.

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.

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.

An encounter between a young nursery school worker and a Sámi reindeer herder marks the start of a transformative relationship, in Mikael Berglund's suggestive, starkly poetic third novel.
Translated by Anna McGroarty.

Seluah Alsaati's award-winning, razor-sharp YA debut explores what it means to find yourself in a destructive relationship, and how to find your way back to yourself.
Translated by Sophie Ruthven.

What does it mean to feel something for real? In Lyra Ekström Lindbäck’s latest novel, several voices interrogate this question side by side, probing fiction, reality, and what exists in between.
Translated by Emma Olsson.

In his latest book, Niklas Rådström examines what football might have to teach us about cooperation, justice and peaceful coexistence despite conditions of intense competition.
Translated by Tom Buckle.

Kaj Korkea-aho’s fifth novel Röda rummet is a charged, sensitively hewn text that explores power dynamics and desire, and the extent to which we are prepared to go to realise our own, and others’, fantasies.
Translated by Bradley Harmon.

In Malin Ekman's literary debut, Anna, an observant and introspective first-person narrator, recalls her childhood with an impulsive single mother and younger brother.
Translated by Paul Norlen.

Swedish journalist and writer Margit Silberstein tells the story of her parents’ escape from the Holocaust, interwoven with her own experience of navigating her Jewish heritage while growing up in postwar Sweden.
Translated by Karin Filipsson.

Olivia Bergdahl's spoken-word poem Europa is a searing interrogation of the concept and legacy of 'Europeanness'.
Translated by Linda Schenck.

In her essayistic memoir Bread and Milk, Swedish writer Karolina Ramqvist traces a girlhood through food, exploring how what we eat is inexorably intertwined with how we love.
Translated by Saskia Vogel.

Jonas Brun's honest and searching account of his mother’s final years with dementia transports the reader beyond a lyrical encapsulation of a mother loved, mourned and lost, conveying the vibrancy and achievements of a life well lived.
Translated by Andy Turner.

In her latest book, spoken-word poet Olivia Bergdahl explores what it means to be cast into the uncertainty of a cancer diagnosis while pregnant, and to survive.
Translated by Linda Schenck.

In her seminal novel, which has engaged and provoked readers since its publication in 1976, Gun-Britt Sundström explores the turbulent relationship between two people as they struggle to reconcile their differing needs.
Translated by Kathy Saranpa.

Mikael Bergstrand takes us inside the mind of a self-satisfied consultant on the brink of a personal crisis, in his warmly humourous The Consultant who Wouldn't Swim.
Translated by Tom Buckle.

An inconceivable family tragedy is the backdrop for Björn Ranelid’s most recent novel.
Translated by Paul Norlen.

'She calls and I come. That’s how it is. That’s how it has always been. She asks me and I do as she says.' Nina Wähä returns with a suggestive novel that explores the complexities of friendship.
Translated by Sarah Death.

Esteemed journalist Anna-Lena Laurén explores democracy in Russia in this extract taken from Sammetsdiktaturen, her latest collection of essays on Russian contemporary society.
Translated by D.E. Hurford.

Kerstin Ekman returns with her first novel in ten years, an intimate and captivating tale of a man and his wife of many years, of their love for their community, their family, their dogs and for the natural world of which they are a part.
Translated by Linda Schenck.

Arthur Allen presents a folio of ten previously untranslated poems of Maria Wine, a dexterous doyenne of Swedish literary modernism.
Translated by Arthur Allen.

All aboard a magical express train, in a story that combines Christmas cosiness with a thoughtful exploration of how to talk about people who are no longer themselves.
Translated by Annie Prime.

Johan Anderberg's The Herd is real-life thriller about a nation in crisis, and the controversial decisions its leaders made during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Translated by Alice Olsson

In Kjell Johansson's latest novel, after a breakdown in his former workplace, a retired school janitor is confronted with his past.
Translated by Neil Betteridge.

Jenny Wrangborg's poetry explores working conditions in the restaurant industry, solidarity, and the struggle to unionise this sector of the economy.
Translated by Freke Räihä and Jenny Wrangborg.

Susanna Alakoski's most recent project takes an explicitly wide, and dazzlingly ambitious, view of regular people caught in the winds of history with a suite of novels that puts individual destinies in a deeply researched context.
Translated by Kira Josefsson.

In Anneli Jordahl's sharp social critique, a widow left adrift after her husband's sudden death finds catharsis in recording the unreported stories of workplace deaths across Sweden.
Translated by Kate Lambert.

Eija Hetekivi Olsson's latest novel is both a sharp, sprightly-worded social commentary on how society treats its marginalised youths, and a warm rendering of a steadfast mother-daughter bond.
Translated by Sophie Ruthven.

Mats Jonsson's complex, melancholy, sometimes emotionally raw graphic novel discusses the difficulties of connecting to and communing with one's Sámi identity whilst also trying to integrate it into one's life as a Swede.
Translated by Michael O Jones.

A searing portrait of a life and a family, told through the prism of a mother's gradual disappearance into Alzheimer's disease.
Translated by Anna McGroarty

Set across three generations of women in three cities, Abandonment is a captivating story of love, emigration and humanity that traces how secrets and lies pass from one generation to the next.
Translated by Deborah Bragan-Turner.

Hjalmar Bergman's classic 1920 novel, about a madcap a captain and knight errant, uses warmth and humour to lay bare the inner workings of his characters and of the wider age.
Translated by Margareta Horiba

Elin Anna Labba’s poetic, August-Prize-winning history Sirdolaččat brings the stories of the displaced Northern Sámi people vividly to life.
Translated by Fiona Graham.

At a public swimming pool somewhere in Finland, a young man decides to take a sauna. The ensuing sweaty power struggle is a hilarious, finely tuned exploration of masculinity, linguistic identity and the corrupting nature of power. Translated by D.E. Hurford.

Tullia's World is a fascinating attempt to recreate the life of Roman women, interwoven with themes ranging from feminism to pacifism to climate change.
Translated by Linda Schenck.

Twice August Prize-winning author Jessica Schiefauer's new novel opens a window onto a radically different society, where the political and economic systems of today have been relegated to the past.
Translated by Alice E. Olsson.

In this festive story by Kerstin Ekman, a new arrival throws Christmas preparations into disarray.
Translated by Linda Schenck.

With the two interwoven stories in her debut novel, Pooneh Rohi has joined a fray of new voices who chronicle the experience of trying to fit in in a country that fundamentally appears to reject you.
Translated by Kira Josefsson

Adrian Perera's Mamma is a genre-bending, multi-lingual, claustrophobic glimpse into the world of its protagonist, a young boy called Tony.
Translated by Kate Lambert.

Joel Mauricio Isabel Ortiz's debut novel is a painful and at times brutal account of a tumultuous time in the life of its protagonist Angel, a young non-binary person spiralling in a world of alcohol, drugs, sex and loneliness.
Translated by Hanna Löfgren

Balsam Karam stresses that her debut novel is no dystopic fantasy. The deprivation experienced by the people of the Edges reflect the reality of refugees and displaced persons everywhere.
Translated by Fiona Graham

Kayo Mpoyi's searing debut exploring shame, intergenerational cycles of trauma and abuse, sisterhood and the different narratives that shape us as humans, from the perspective of a young girl growing up in Dar es Salaam.
Translated by Alex Fleming

This ambitious historical novel spanning more than a century tells a tragic story based in reality.
Translated by Fiona Graham.

Magnus Dahlstrom's latest book is a carefully crafted tale of unnerving rural horror.
Translated by Neil Smith

Some twenty years after their paths first crossed, Stewe and John come face to face deep in the Swedish forest. Their previous clandestine relationship is opened up and a mystery they have shared about a catastrophic fire resurfaces. Translated by Andy Turner.

Kerstin Ekman's latest collection of essays places the spotlight firmly on living landscapes and nature.
Translated by Linda Schenck

Prizewinning novelist Johanna Nilsson rises to the challenge of devising a sequel to Karin Boye’s dystopian classic Kallocain, published in Sweden in 1940. Translated by Sarah Death

Comedy Queen tackles a dramatic and painful situation with the bold energy and humour for which Jägerfeld has become renowned. It deals with one of the most devastating events to affect a child – a mother’s suicide – and is the story of twelve-year-old Sasha’s survival technique. Translated by Susan Beard

Although numerous books have been written about the director, writer and producer Ingmar Bergman, Jan Holmberg’s is the first to focus on Bergman as a literary author. Translated by Deborah Bragan-Turner

Set in a small village on the Ångerman River in northern Sweden, Therése Söderlind's narrative extends over four centuries in an evocative novel imbued with a strong sense of place.
Translated by Alex Fleming

Teenage mental health issues are treated intelligently and sensitively in this bittersweet
young adult novel, set in Kiruna, Sweden’s northernmost mining town.
Translated by Annie Prime

Anni Blomqvist's series of five novels set in the Åland archipelago in the 19th century draws on events in her own family history to depict the harsh reality of life on a small, remote island.
Translated by Kate Lambert.

In this extract from Martin Kellerman's first novel, a disenchanted young man's life revolves around collecting his grandmother's pension and growing cannabis in her living room.
Translated by Paul Goldsman

In her YA trilogy about the teenage Turid, Elisabeth Östnäs gives us a tale of a curious, kind and fiercely intelligent young woman who finds herself questioning elements of the society where her father is king.
Translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles.

Carl-Michael Edenborg's novel is the dark tale of a young noblewoman, the last in a line of Manichaean alchemists, whose late father ordered her to destroy the world through alchemy.
Translated by Fiona Graham.