New Swedish Books, spring 2017 1
New Swedish Books 28 The Other Gardens Lennart Sj
ögren has written several books of prose, but is best known as a poet. In a long line of poetry collections, he has portrayed the parts of life that seem marginal, the things you only catch a glimpse of. The other gardens, ‘the ones abandoned/ that do not ask to be allowed to exist’ are the spaces between the busyness, between life and death, between the journeys to and fro. They are almost invisible, but they are necessary for the individual and the masses. The pauses, the absences, the things rarely seen, have always – in our creative work, in our lives with others, yes in life itself – been the tools we need to simply go on as human beings. And it’s not about crass economics or market thinking, it’s about life’s inner necessities: to feel, as a human, all the different parts of darkness, light, stillness and unease. Lennart Sjögren (b. 1930) The Other Gardens Publisher Albert Bonniers förlag info@abforlag.bonnier.se www.albertbonniersforlag.se Rights Albert Bonniers förlag helena.ljungstrom@albertbonniers.se Selected Works Världskråkan (Kabusa böcker 2010) Poetry Den stora munnen (Albert Bonniers förlag 2011) Poetry Kalla mig Noa, en dikt (Albert Bonniers förlag 2014) Poetry Literary Prizes (selection) Karlfeldtpriset 2001 Gerhard Nonniers pris 2004 Litteris et Artibus (medalj) 2007 Svenska Akademiens essäpris 2012 Aspenströmpriset 2014 Witness to Meaningless Events The poet Jasim Mohamed is dedicated to the work of helping refugees on the Greek island of Samos. Work such as this provides great and often overwhelming insights into both human misery and human strength. Himself a refugee from Iraq, he also has personal experience of what it means to live in such conditions. The witnesses in these poems are the people helping, and all those who risk their lives to flee war, placing themselves at the mercy of strangers’ willingness and ability to help, of humans’ capacity for solidarity and empathy. In the poems, resignation wrestles with hope, trust fights with the fear that the feeling of meaninglessness will spread, that the struggles will have been in vain. Jasim Mohamed (b. 1962) Witness to Meaningless Events Publisher/rights Bokförlaget Edda Lotte Sederholm info@bokforlagetedda.se www.bokforlagetedda.se Works Övningar in i ett annat språk (Fredlaer förlag 2005) Poetry I din mun (Bokförlaget Edda 2011) Poetry Literary Prizes Pris av Samfundet De Nio 2010 Svenska Akademiens pris för introduktion av svensk kultur utomlands 2010 Photo: Eva Finder Photo: Lotte Sederholm