"Bygdedjuret", by Sven Olov Karlsson.

The new novel Bygdedjuret of Swedish author Sven Olov Karlsson is now published by Natur och Kultur.

The village in Västmanland with its special mentality, a kind of grumpy envy, is the setting for this swinging, harsh and funny autofictional novel about an artist's life.

Do not be afraid. It's a sunshine story.

That's how the narrator Sven Olov begins this novel about his life. Do we believe him?

In his youth he sometimes had unexplained blackouts. Nowadays, in the middle of his life, they happen all the time, and he covers them up with comic book stickers and directions, excuses and white lies. More and more often he has to guess where he has been or where he is going. He is there, and not there. Owning books he doesn't remember writing, meeting a stranger on the underground who claims to be an old friend; life is starting to become as eerily vague as that ancient rumour of a secret treasure hidden in his childhood village.

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Read one of many reviews about the book at Göteborgs-Posten, by Oscar Westerholm

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Sven Olov Karlsson

Järna, 2023

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All the portraits of Sven Olov Karlsson are available at the Opale Agency.

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"Årsboken", by Sven Olov Karlsson.

I set in motion the translation of the short story collection Årsboken, written by the Swedish author Sven Olov Karlsson (Natur och Kultur, 2020).

The collection includes 12 short stories, each related to a month of the year, in which the author describes snapshots of the lives of various characters in the contemporary Sweden.

Sven Olov Karlsson, born in 1971, has published eight books and is considered as one of Sweden's most talented contemporary author. He grew up in the countryside in Västmanlands region and worked as a metal worker, assistant nurse, farmer and journalist before becoming a writer.

His novels, short stories and reportage are often about the modern Swedish countryside and its marginalized inhabitants.

Prizes and nominations in selection: nominated for the August Prize for the best fiction book of the year 2013, nominated for the August Prize for the best non-fiction book of the year 2017, Ivar-Lo Prize 2018, De Nios Winter Prize 2020, Tidningen Vi's literature prize 2021.

I am now looking for a French publisher which would be interested in introducing Karlsson's literary work to French readers.

Sven Olov Karlsson is represented by the literature agency Gudrun Hebel (Berlin).

Contact: gudrun.hebel@agentur-literatur.de

You can read a brief synopsis of the story (in French) and even read more about Sven Olov Karlsson here.

The Swedish Institute in Paris presents also Årsboken on its website.

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Sven Olov Karlsson

Stockholm, 2020 (above)

Järna, 2023 (below)

All the portraits of Sven Olov Karlsson are available at the Opale Agency.

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Håkan Lindquist.

Håkan Lindquist's last book was the children's book Ariel tjugofyra/sju (Opal, 2020), a beautiful and dark story about a ten-year-old child who finds a new community with his foster parents.

He made his debut in 1993 with the novel Min bror och hans bror (Rabén & Sjögren, 1993) which was translated into several languages, and wrote also short stories, articles and reviews.

Håkan wrote also the libretto for the opera William with music by the composer B. Tommy Andersson.

He worked even as a translator, mostly from French.

Håkan Lindquist passed away at the end of december 2022, at the age of 64.

I met Håkan both in France (during the MEET literary festival in Saint-Nazaire) and Sweden on different occasions, and started to translate into French Ariel tjugofyra/sju for a year ago.

Håkan Lindquist is represented in the book "Portraits d'Auteurs / Author Portraits" (Carlssons, 2020).

All the portraits of Håkan are available at the Opale Agency.

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Håkan Lindquist

clockwise:

Stockholm, August 2006

Saint-Nazaire, November 2010

Järna, February 2021

Järna, November 2021

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