This issue of Swedish Book Review sees some major changes. Dr Laurie Thompson, who has edited the journal largely single-handedly for no less than twenty years, has decided to hang up his editor’s cap and retire to the pavilion to concentrate on his own translation work. Under his captainship, SBR has established an excellent reputation among translators, publishers, scholars and other Swedophiles. We salute his outstanding achievement and wish him well. We also thank all those at the University of Wales Lampeter (formerly St. David’s University College) who have provided SBR with secretarial and other assistance over the years, Ann Mackie in particular, and Cambrian Printers in Aberystwyth who have physically produced the journal until now.

Readers will note a new editorial address, a slightly new size and a new design to SBR. Production and distribution of the journal has now moved to Norvik Press at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. Individual subscribers please be aware of the new subscription arrangements. SBR continues to receive financial support from various cultural bodies, particularly the Swedish Institute, and we are very grateful for this. SBR’s coverage will be unchanged and we encourage all potential contributors, whether from Britain, the USA, Sweden or elsewhere, to continue sending in their material.

In this issue we feature three Swedish writers who will be appearing at the London Book Fair in March 2003. Ingrid Elam is a leading critic and cultural journalist. Her essay puts modern Swedish writing, including the novels of Torbjörn Flygt and Mikael Niemi featured in the last issue of SBR, in a wider context and introduces the two other visiting writers. Ellen Mattson’s novels in the classic narrative tradition have won critical acclaim; Snö (Snow) is her first historical novel. Lars Jakobson, by contrast, writes fascinating and perplexing books about the nature of truth, which elude categorization but could perhaps be called docufiction. We also feature an extract from the prizewinning “detective” novel Camera by Eva-Marie Liffner, soon to be published in English, and an intriguing short story by contemporary Finland-Swedish writer Susanne Ringell. The selection of prose is complemented by the environmentally aware poetry of the prolific Elisabet Hermodsson.

Current Issue: 2010: 1 - Crime Fiction Special

• Anna Paterson, Kerstin Ekman and Swedish Crime
• Kerstin Ekman, from The Practice of Murder
• Kerstin Ekman, from Scratchcards
• Kerstin Ekman, from Revive Me
• Kerstin Ekman, from Devil's Horn
• Paul Engles, Selling Ice to the Eskimos? Swedish Crime Fiction and the World of Publishing
• Arne Dahl, from Requiem
• Staffan Bruun, from Struggling Love
• Viveca Sten, from Still Waters
• Paul Berf, Swedish Literature in Germany - A Success Story, Only Slightly Flawed
• Laurie Thompson, The Attractions of the Fringe: The Gothenburg Book Fair 2009
• In Memoriam: Karen Petherick and John Hewish
• Bookshelf
• Just Out and Coming Up
• News and Views