\New Swedish Books, spring 2019 1
New Swedish Books 12 Kalle Hedström Gustafsson (b
. 1986) Grandma Order, Mirage Islands, poetry, 93 p. Publisher Norstedts www.norstedts.se Rights Norstedts Fredrik Andersson fredrik.andersson@norstedts.se Debutant Kalle Hedström Gustafsson is a poet and translator. He has attended Biskops Arnös School for Writers and studied Literary Composition at the Valand Academy in Gothenburg. Grandma Order, Mirage Islands Kalle Hedström Gustafsson made an impression some years ago as the congenial translator of Danish poet Amelie Smith’s debut novel Marble. Now he has made his own debut as a poet with Grandma Order, Mirage Islands, a melancholy poetry collection about a young man’s first encounter with ageing, dementia and death. A young man’s grandmother has played an important role in his life: she has been comfort, wisdom, and a loving source of strength. Since his childhood, they have explored the coastal landscape together; she has taught him everything he knows about its flora and fauna. As dementia ravages her mind, the roles are reversed and he suddenly becomes her everything. His grief intensifies as he watches her transform into a shadow of her former self. Hedström Gustafsson uses words and graphics to convey the grandmother’s mental dissolution and his own sorrow. The book oscillates between disintegrating, fragmentary poems and narrative prose poems. The result is beautiful and moving. Photo: Kajsa Göransson