2010:1 Issue

Editorial2010:1 Issue

A week into 2010, an analysis of bestseller lists from Europe’s seven biggest book markets reveals that Stieg Larsson, late author of the Millennium Trilogy, was the top-selling writer across the continent in 2009. The Top Ten also included Camilla Läckberg and Henning Mankell. Just inside the doors of a UK high-street branch of W H Smith, a Millennium display trumpets ‘read the books everybody’s talking about!’ Publishers from firms small and large talk of heading to the a Gothenburg Book Fair (see Laurie Thompson’s lively account of last autumn’s Fair in this issue).

By March, the travel section of The Times is devoting two pages to the ‘Secrets of Stieg’s Stockholm’, and no less than four books about Larsson are in preparation for the English-language market. The Swedish film of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo goes on UK general release, and Hollywood sits up and takes notice. The Independent on Sunday runs a long article by Kate Youde, bringing in other rising stars such as Håkan Nesser, Johan Theorin and Mari Jungstedt. The compilers of the popular ‘Euro Crime’ website find themselves inundated with translated Swedish crime novels to review, and there is anecdotal evidence from publishers’ sales reps that booksellers are demanding only Nordic crime.

Swedish crime fiction has gone mainstream. What is its fascination? Gloomy Viking protagonists in frozen, island landscapes, and the darkest of crimes in the shadow of the collapse of the welfare state have been cited. But don’t we have our own broodingly disintegrating fictional detectives, broken society, and evil murder plots? Leading crime fiction reviewer Barry Forshaw perhaps puts his finger on it when he says that for us, Sweden is sufficiently the same, yet sufficiently different. We are all ‘complaining people in a cold climate’, he suggested at the recent, packed discussion evening, ‘Crimes of the Millennium’, at the Swedish Ambassador’s London residence.

What impact is all this having on the uptake of literary works from Sweden? The issue is addressed for us here by Paul Engles in his survey of the current publishing scene. We also present the latest in our series highlighting other European countries: Paul Berf describes Germany’s love affair with Swedish literature, led by, but not confined to, its crime fiction.

In the first SBR crime fiction special since 2001, we have selected some top-quality, genre-broadening authors still largely undiscovered in the English-speaking world. Matchless storyteller Kerstin Ekman came to prominence here with Blackwater in 1995, but much of her superb writing remains to be translated. The intelligent thrillers of Arne Dahl have been on SBR’s radar for some time, but it is only recently that two Dahl titles have been acquired by a US publisher. Bestselling Viveca Sten and Finland-Swedish crime reporter Staffan Bruun complete the line up. Enjoy a voyage of discovery!

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Kerstin Ekman and Swedish Crime

Anna Paterson

Citing 'the continuing tendency in crime fiction to link psychological exploration with political radicalism', Anna Paterson outlines the various ways in which Kerstin Ekman construes crime, its origins and consequences, in her fiction.

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from The Practice of Murder

Kerstin Ekman

Translated by Sarah Death, Anna Paterson, Linda Schenck, and Rochelle Wright

The novel concerns a physician who believes he is the model for Hjalmar Sjöderberg's eponymous protagonist in Doctor Glas. Yet he appears, rather, to emulate Söderberg's character.

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from Scratchcards

Kerstin Ekman

Translated and introduced by Linda Schenck

This is the third volume of the Wolfskin trilogy. The core of Scratchcards is how Elis Elv's past catches up with him. The trilogy begins and ends with wolf hunts, a subject as current and controversial today as it was a century ago, when the first in the trilogy was set.

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from Revive Me

Kerstin Ekman

Translated and introduced by Rochelle Wright

A mystery motif running through this complex, polyphonic novel is the whereabouts of teenager Rosemarie, who vanishes on the morning of Lucia Day, and the efforts of her younger sister Mariella to find her.

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from Devil's Horn

Kerstin Ekman

Translated and introduced by Sarah Death

Devil's Horn is a clever and intriguing novel which is sometimes described as a 'crossover' work, marking the author's transition from crime fiction to 'serious' writing. But all of Ekman's fiction is multi-dimensional and resistant to straightforward genre categorisation.

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Selling Ice to the Eskimos? Swedish Crime Fiction and the World of Publishing

Paul Engles

In the light of runaway successes like Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, Paul Engles assesses the impact and importance of Swedish Crime Fiction and the world of publishing.

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from Requiem

Arne Dahl

Translated by Laurie Thompson

Requiem is part of the 'Intercrime' series, a sequence of nine free-standing novels about the elite crime fighters known as 'The A Team'. Arne Dahl is the crime-writing pseudonym used by the author, critic and literary magazine editor Jan Arnald.

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from Struggling Love

Staffan Bruun

Translated by Anna-Lisa and Martin Murrell

Struggling Love is the author's ninth crime novel featuring the Finland-Swedish journalist Burt Kobbat. Murders, death threats, a long-lost Paul McCartney recording and the premiere of a Disney film all conspire to provide Kobbat with adventures in various countries.

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from Still Waters

Viveca Sten

Translated by Marlaine Delargy

In this extract from Viveca Sten's first novel we meet Detective Inspector Thomas Andreasson and his childhood friend Nora Linde, a lawyer. As Thomas investigates a mysterious death on the atmospheric island of Sandhamn, Nora is inexorably drawn into the mystery - but the real danger is much closer than either of them can imagine.

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Swedish Literature in Germany - A Success Story, Only Slightly Flawed

Paul Berf

Paul Berf presents an overview of the changing fortunes of Swedish literature in German translation.

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The Attractions of the Fringe: The Gothenburg Book Fair 2009

Laurie Thompson

Laurie Thompson reports from the Gothenburg Book Fair 2009.

Reviews

Gabriella Ahlström, De oförglömliga (The Unforgettable)

Norstedts,  2009. ISBN: 9789113021508

Reviewed by B.J. Epstein ▸Read Review

Marjaneh Bahktiari, Kan du säga schibboleth? (Can you Say 'Shibboleth'?)

Ordfront,  2009. ISBN: 9789170372872

Reviewed by Ruth Urbom ▸Read Review

Eva-Stina Byggmästar, Men hur små poeter finnes det egentligen? (But How Little Can Poets Possibly Be?)

Söderströms,  2008. ISBN: 9789146219088

Reviewed by Martin Murrell ▸Read Review

Kalle Dixelius, Toffs bok (Toff's Book)

Ordfront,  2009. ISBN: 9789170373961

Reviewed by Gunnel Minett ▸Read Review

Kerstin Ekman, Mordets praktik (The Practice of Murder)

Albert Bonniers Förlag,  2009. ISBN: 9789100123864

Reviewed by Rochelle Wright ▸Read Review

Peter Englund, Stridens skönhet och sorg. Första världskriget i 212 korta kapitel (The Beauty and Sorrow of War: The First World War in 212 Short Chapters)

Atlantis,  2008. ISBN: 9789173532440

Reviewed by Peter Graves ▸Read Review

Aris Fioretos, Den siste greken (The Last Greek)

Norstedts,  2009. ISBN: 9789113013145

Reviewed by Sarah Death ▸Read Review

P.C. Jersild, Edens bakgård (The Back Yard of Eden)

Fri Tanke förlag,  2009. ISBN: 9789186061029

Reviewed by Peter Hogg ▸Read Review

Johan Kling, Människor helt utan betydelse (People Who Don't Mean Anything)

Norstedts,  2009. ISBN: 9789113019611

Reviewed by Darcy Hurford ▸Read Review

Harry Martinson, The Procession of Memories. Selected Poems 1929-1945

Wordcraft of Oregon,  2009. ISBN: 9781877655647

Reviewed by Brita Green ▸Read Review

Ulf Karol Olov Nilsson, Barndomstolen (The High-Chair)

Norstedts,  2009. ISBN: 9789113020471

Reviewed by Anna Tebelius ▸Read Review

Karolina Ramqvist, Flickvännen (The Girlfriend)

Wahlström & Widstrand,  2009. ISBN: 9789146219958

Reviewed by Marie Allen ▸Read Review

Elisabeth Rynell, Hitta hem (Finding the Way Home)

Albert Bonniers Förlag,  2009. ISBN: 9789100121655

Reviewed by Irene Scobbie ▸Read Review

Steve Sem-Sandberg, De fattiga i Lodz (The Destitute of Lodz)

Albert Bonniers Förlag,  2009. ISBN: 9789100122669

Reviewed by Anna Paterson ▸Read Review

Jerker Virdborg, Kall feber (Cold Fever)

Albert Bonniers Förlag,  2009. ISBN: 9789100123536

Reviewed by Sarah Death ▸Read Review

Kjell Westö, Gå inte ensam ut i natten (Don't Go Out Alone Into the Night)

Söderströms,  2009. ISBN: 9789515226099

Reviewed by Zeljka Cernok ▸Read Review

Helena von Zweigbergk, Sånt man bara säger (Things You Just Say)

Norstedts,  2009. ISBN: 9789113019918

Reviewed by Tuva Tod ▸Read Review

Bestsellers from Sweden

This month's bestseller lists from Sweden (provided by Svensk bokhandel):

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