\New Swedish Books, spring 2019 1
New Swedish Books 28 Per Nilsson (b. 1954) I Don’
t, I Do YA novel, 12–15 years, 215 p. Publisher Rabén & Sjögren www.rabensjogren.se Rights Rabén & Sjögren Agency Lillevi Cederin lillevi.cederin@rabensjogren Works Du & Du & Du, YA novel, 1998 Solprinsen, YA novel, 2004 Damaskus Sölvesborg, YA novel, 2017 Literary Prizes Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis 1997 Astrid Lindgren-priset 1999 Augustpriset 2006 I Don’t, I Do The Young Adult novel is a difficult genre. Who are its readers? What are the motifs and narrative styles that belong specifically to this genre and not to adult fiction, which young people tend to want to graduate to increasingly quickly? Per Nilsson, with his many years of experience as an author in this genre, questions this dilemma in his book I Don’t, I Do as he turns up in the text as a character himself. He describes an author visit in a school class, how he slightly wearily tells the audience for the thousandth time about how inspiration strikes him, and what it is like to sit down and write. The Young Adult novel only exists within the classroom, he states, but appears contented with this. This is in fact not the plot of the novel but its background. A girl in the class seeks out the author in order to tell him her story. Per Nilsson, the character in the novel, reluctantly listens to what she has to tell. It’s a story that contains most of the classical tropes of the Young Adult novel: the really terrible first time, the close friend of the opposite sex it should have happened with, the supportive girlfriend and so on. Elements of conflicts that have arisen due to different ethnic backgrounds and a well planned revenge at the end of the book makes it a captivating read. And Nilsson's ability to create prose you can’t wait to read is still absolutely superb. It makes him rather unique in the context of contemporary young adult writers. Photos: Lena Ehrin