Editor:
Deborah Bragan-Turner
E-mail: 
2016:2 Issue
Editorial
When the Man Booker International prize was awarded this year, shared equally between the author and translator, the Financial Times (26 May 2016) reported that sales of translated fiction in the UK have more than doubled in the last fifteen years and pointed to the growth in the number of independent publishers championing translated literature. Earlier this year the organisers of the 2016 Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize announced ‘impressive’ submissions, predominantly from independent publishers. Dedalus Books’ Reading Europe initiative (Guardian, 24 March 2016) made its own case for Britain remaining in the EU with a selection of European novels translated into English, all from independent publishers in the UK. Our own publisher, Norvik Press, appeared in this list more than once. It is 30 years since Norvik Press was founded as an independent, not-for-profit publisher specialising in Nordic literature and as it celebrates its anniversary we talk to managing editor and co-founder, Janet Garton, about its continuing success.
The late Helena Forsås-Scott was an active contributor to SBR and had a particular interest in 19th- and 20th-century Swedish women’s writing, researching and publishing extensively on writers such as Elin Wägner, Selma Lagerlöf, Kerstin Ekman, Moa Martinson and Sara Lidman. In this issue we present an article on Elin Wägner she completed for SBR shortly before her death in a collaborative project with translator Sarah Death. Kerstin Ekman features in this issue too, in an extract translated by Linda Schenck from Ekman’s latest biographical work, in which she has drawn a fascinating and sensitive portrait of Clas Bjerkander, the 18th-century entomologist and botanist who considered himself more than fortunate to live when he did.
In our wide-ranging mixture of journalism, biography and fiction, we travel from the 18th to the 21st century and in the course of our journey celebrate two centenaries. It is one hundred years since the birth of Karin Lannby, the notorious Swedish actress, writer and spy; translator Ian Hinchliffe introduces AndersThunberg’s true story of her fascinating life with two translated extracts. It is also one hundred years since the publication of the novella Regnbågen by Finland-Swedish author Runar Schildt, represented here in extracts introduced and translated by Anna-Lisa and Martin Murrell. We move to the late 20th century with a translation by Chris Hall from a short story by one of Sweden’s most esteemed authors, Torgny Lindgren, and leap forward to a frightening view of Europe’s future in an extract from Alexander Koistinen’s debut novel, translated by Ian Giles.
And as usual, to give a flavour of the many exciting books currently being published in Swedish, we end with a selection of reviews of fiction and non- fiction.
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Helena Forsås-Scott 1945-2015
Sarah Death and Linda Schenck present their obituary to Helena Forsås-Scott, retired Professor of Swedish and Gender Studies at University College London, who died in July 2015.
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'Yes, Of Course It Hurts'
Translated by David McDuff
Karin Boye’s much-loved poem was first written as a fiftieth birthday present for her fellow author Elin Wägner, in 1932. The poem, it could be said, is about the pain of daring to let go – even when that letting go will lead to a beautiful end. At Helena’s request, the poem was read at her funeral in Edinburgh in July 2015.
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Easy and Fun: Elin Wägner's Light-Hearted Articles in the Helsingborg Post
Introduced and with translated extracts by Sarah Death
Today the Swedish writer Elin Wägner (1882-1949) is known as a radical pacifist and pioneering ecofeminist. But she began her career as a journalist on a conservative newspaper, the Helsingborg Post. Sarah Death introduces, with a mixture of pleasure and heavy heart, the last of Helena Forsås-Scott's many collaborative projects for Swedish Book Review, looking at Wägner's light-hearted articles in the newspaper and illustrated with two enlightening extracts from these articles.
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from In Those Days Everything was Lively and Lovely
Translated and introduced by Linda Schenck
Kerstin Ekman's latest book is a biographical work, beautifully illustrated, in which she has drawn a fascinating and sensitive portrait of Clas Bjerkander, the eighteenth-century entomologist and botanist who considered himself more than fortunate to live when he did. Linda Schenck introduces the new biography and presents her translation of Ekman's brief introductory essay to the work.
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from Karin Lannby: Ingmar Bergman's Mata Hari
Introduced and translated by Ian Hinchliffe
Karin Lannby – Ingmar Bergman’s Mata Hari, written by the Swedish journalist Anders Thunberg, tells the true story of a Swedish socialite who became a radical left-winger in her teens, volunteered as an interpreter in the Spanish Civil War and was recruited as a spy by the Spanish film director, Luis Buñuel, at the tender age of just 21. Ian Hinchliffe introduces this account of her fascinating life and presents two translated extracts.
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Norvik Press Celebrates 30 Years
SBR interviews Janet Garton, Professor Emeritus of Scandinavian Studies at the University of East Anglia and a founder of Norvik Press, an independent publishing house specialising in Nordic literature, based at University College London. This year Norvik Press, which has brought many shining examples of both contemporary and classical Scandinavian literature to British readers, celebrates its thirtieth anniversary.
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from Twilight over Europe
Introduced and translated by Ian Giles
Alexander Koistinen is a Swede with an extensive background in the defence sector who is now based in Brussels. Koistinen's debut novel is set in the not-too-distant future in a world where Sweden has become a republic, the state of Belgium has collapsed, and the EU runs a protectorate in central Brussels while other parts of the city succumb to sharia law. Ian Giles introduces Koistinen's work and presents his translation of an extract from the beginning of the novel.
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from The Rainbow
Introduced and translated by Anna-Lisa Murrell and Martin Murrell
The Finland-Swedish author Runar Schildt (1888-1925) set his novella Regnbågen (The Rainbow) in a village south of Lovisa in the middle of the Crimean War, in 1855, with menacing British warships on the horizon in the Gulf of Finland. It broke new ground when it was published in October 1916. Anna-Lisa Murrell and Martin Murrell mark the centenary of its publication with an introduction and their translation of extracts from the novella.
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from In Streaky Leaf's Water
Introduced and translated by Chris Hall
Torgny Lindgren, from Raggsjö in northern Sweden, is one of his country's best known writers. Chris Hall presents an introduction to Lindgren and a translation of an excerpt from a collection of short stories published in 1999, a series of apparently disparate tales which nevertheless all display the author's exploration of the relationship between art (or indeed artists) and life, a hefty theme which greatly benefits from the humour and lightness of touch which have become his hallmark.
BOOKSHELF: REVIEWS, edited by Fiona Graham
Ellen Mattson, Sommarleken (The Summer Game)
Albert Bonniers förlag, 2016.
Reviewed by Sarah Death ▸Read Review
Emma Ångström, Mannen mellan väggarna (The Man in the Wall)
Piratförlaget, 2016.
Reviewed by Deborah Bragan-Turner ▸Read Review
Madeleine Bäck, Vattnet Drar (The Lure of Water)
Natur och Kultur, 2016.
Reviewed by Annie Prime ▸Read Review
John Ajvide Lindqvist, Våran hud, värat blod, våra ben (Our Skin, Our Blood, Our Bones)
Ordfront, 2016.
Reviewed by Ian Giles ▸Read Review
Ulf Eriksson, Det begravda berget (The Buried Mountain)
Albert Bonniers förlag, 2016.
Reviewed by Eric Dickens ▸Read Review
Ola Larsmo, Swede Hollow
Albert Bonniers förlag, 2016.
Reviewed by Kate Lambert ▸Read Review
Nasser Naje Lazem, Drömmar i vaket tillstånd (Dreaming While Awake)
Hoi Förlag, 2016.
Reviewed by Marie Andersson ▸Read Review
Jonas Hassen Khemiri, Allt jag inte minns (Everything I Don't Remember)
Albert Bonniers förlag, 2015.
Reviewed by Nichola Smalley ▸Read Review
Eva-Stina Byggmästar, I tvillingarnas tecken (Under the Sign of Gemini)
Schildts & Söderströms (Finland), 2015.
Reviewed by Martin Murrell and Anna-Lisa Murrell ▸Read Review
Frida Nilsson, Ishavspirater (Pirates of the Ice Sea)
Natur & Kultur, 2015.
Reviewed by Fiona Graham ▸Read Review
Sara Kadefors, Billie: Avgång 9:42 till nya livet (Billie: 9.42 Departure for a New Life)
Bonnier Carlsen, 2016.
Reviewed by Margaret Dahlström ▸Read Review
Åsa Larsson and Ingela Korsell, The PAX series
Bonnier Carlsen förlag, 2014.
Reviewed by B. J. Epstein ▸Read Review
Elisabeth Östnäs, Sagan om Turid. Kungadottern (The Saga of Turid: Daughter of the King)
Berghs förlag, 2015.
Reviewed by Darcy Hurford ▸Read Review
Björn Elmbrant, Innan mörkret faller: Ska 30-talet hinna ikapp oss? (Before Darkness Falls: Will the 1930s Catch Up With Us?)
Förlaget Atlas, 2015.
Reviewed by John Gilmour ▸Read Review
Anna Sundberg and Jesper Huor, Älskade terrorist. 16 år med militanta islamister (The Terrorist's Wife: My Sixteen Years with Militant Islamists)
Norstedts, 2016.
Reviewed by Anna Paterson ▸Read Review
Kalle Kniivilä, Sovjets barnbarn. Ryssarna i Baltikum. Reportage (Grandchildren of the Soviet Union: Russians in the Baltic States. Reportage)
Bokförlaget Atlas, 2016.
Reviewed by Darcy Hurford ▸Read Review
Therese Uddenfeldt, Gratislunchen (The Free Lunch)
Albert Bonniers förlag, 2016.
Reviewed by Dominic Hinde ▸Read Review
Lena Frölander-Ulf and Hannele Mikaela Taivassalo, Sagan om Prinsessan Bulleribång (The Tale of Princess Hullabaloo)
Schildts & Söderströms (Finland), 2006.
Reviewed by Martin Murrell ▸Read Review
Marie Hermanson, Mannen under trappan (The Man Under the Stairs)
Albert Bonniers förlag, 2005.
Reviewed by Fiona Graham ▸Read Review
Current Issue: 2018:2
- Johanna Nilsson, from The Greener Abyss
- Karin Boye, from Astarte
- C Claire Thomson, Love Without Lovers, Words Without Images: On Ingmar Bergman's Unrealised Screenplays
- Robin Fulton Macpherson, Remembering Östen Sjöstrand
- Charlotte Berry, Nordic Literary Translators Joan Tate and Patricia Crampton
- Jan Holmberg, from The Writer Ingmar Bergman
- Ingmar Bergman, from Work Diaries 1955-1974
- Jenny Jägerfeld, from Comedy Queen
- Ingmar Bergman, Writing Through a Glass Darkly
- Bookshelf, edited by Fiona Graham
- Just Out and Coming Up