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 Editorial
Let us be upbeat in downbeat times. Everything seems to be coming together, and we can justifiably talk of a new Swedish wave.The seemingly unstoppable Stieg Larsson juggernaut steams on. Kenneth Branagh drew huge audiences for his BBC appearances as Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander. This led Boyd Tonkin of The Independent to write in December 2008: “Now we can realistically expect that Henning Mankell’s beyond-genre novels will pick up a substantially enhanced UK readership. They will enjoy the books thanks to the top-level translations by Laurie Thompson, Steven T Murray and Ebba Segerberg. [...] Nordic crime fiction has dug a deep and relatively cosy niche on these shores.” Meanwhile, the UK release of Tomas Alfredson’s box-office success, a poetic and chilling horror film based on the novel Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist (now published in English by Quercus, and as Let Me In in the USA by T .Dunne), is eagerly anticipated.
Add to all this the impact of Sweden’s Presidency of the EU in the second half of 2009. Top-class concerts, an Ingmar Bergman film season, and a host of other events are bound to boost the Swedish cultural profile further (for details,see our News & Views page). So what better time to bring our readers another wide-ranging sampler of what Swedish writing has to offer?
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 Unchanged Unending
Jonas Hassen Khemiri
Translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles
Enjoy a short story from the latest volume by cultural iconoclast Jonas Hassen Khemiri, whose last appearance in SBR has prompted more enquiries than any other item we have published.
["Oändrat Oändlig", from Invasion! Pjäser noveller texter, Norstedts förlag, 2008. 256pp. ISBN 9789113018522]
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 from Fall from Grace in Wilmslow
David Lagercrantz
Translated by Marlaine Delargy
David Lagercrantz’s take on a very British story makes an unusual “crime” novel out of the odd life of Bletchley Park mathematical genius Alan Turing in Fall from Grace in Wilmslow.
[Syndafall i Wilmslow, Albert Bonniers förlag, 2009. 404pp. ISBN 9789100120313]
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 from Silent Seas
Isabella Lövin
Translated by Peter Linton
Isabella Lövin’s tenacious investigative journalism has won her prizes for spotlighting the environmental catastrophe threatening the modern oceans in her Silent Seas.
[Tyst hav. Jakten på den sista matfisken, Ordfront, 2007. 404pp. ISBN 9789100120313]
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 from The Art of Flight
Fredrik Sjöberg
Translated and introduced by Linda Schenck
Fredrik Sjöberg's latest book, as hard to categorise as all his work, is about landscape painter Gunnar Widforss, who became much loved in the USA.
[Flyktkonsten. Nya Doxa, 2006. 192pp. ISBN 9789157804747]
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 from Buster's Ears
Maria Ernestam
Translated by Laura A. Wideburg
Buster's Ears, the second novel by Maria Ernestam, leaps beyond conventional genres so that Swedish critics invented the word "Ernestamian" to describe the poetic blend of internal and external dialogue, realism and fantasy.
[Busters öron. Bokförlaget Forum, 2006. 369pp. ISBN 9789137129419]
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 from Penwoman
Elin Wägner
Translated by Sarah Death
Elin Wägner was a pioneering female journalist and also later known as an environmental campaigner, notably in Alarm Clock. Her early work Penwoman is the novel par excellence of the Swedish women’s suffrage movement, stylistically assured and skilfully plotted.
[Pennskaftet has been republished as part of the Swedish Academy's series of classic works of Swedish literature. ISBN 9789174867541. Penwoman, translated by Sarah Death, is published by Norvik Press. 224pp, ISBN 9781870041744.]
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Beyond Crime Fiction, Handbags and Designer Suits
Jonas Thente
Translated by Sarah Death
Jonas Thente of Dagens nyheter helps us orientate ourselves with his survey of recent trends. This essay was first published on the Eurozine website and is reproduced with permission.
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The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
Erik Titusson
In the field of children’s books, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award has established a growing international reputation; its new director, Erik Titusson, introduces its work.
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The Gothenburg Book Fair 2008
Sarah Death reports from the Gothenburg Book Fair 2008. |
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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
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