New Swedish Books, autumn 2019 1
45 Autumn 2019 TRANSLATOR'S CHOICE Lene Ewald Hes
el What books from contemporary literature deserve to be re-discovered? We ask three translators to name books particularly close to their hearts. Jakob Wegelius’ The Murderer’s Ape is one of the most wonderful and richly detailed children’s books I have ever translated. The story is set around 1920, and in it we encounter weapons and violins, Fado music and flying machines, monsoons and malaria but also turbans and three-humped camels. The narrator is none other than the thoughtful, bright and lovable gorilla Sally Jones - surprisingly easy to identify with. Her human friend has been imprisoned, accused of a murder he hasn’t committed, and in her search for the real murderer Sally Jones heads out alone into the big world. Wegelius is a fantastic storyteller, a master of thinking outside the box and going beyond geographical or literary constraints, taking the reader on a voyage of discovery through space and time. A novel I would love to translate: Lisa Bjärbo’s In My Head I’d Make Anyone Laugh affords the reader an exceptional look into the life of a young woman governed by social phobia and panic attacks. Together with her super sociable father seventeenyear-old Liv has moved from Stockholm to the countryside of Småland and the novel charts her struggle to create a new life there. But it’s difficult when you’re all wrong; boring and unsure of yourself and when your only friends are characters in films and TV series. It’s a super important book, both for young people who can identify with Liv and for everyone else who wants to understand how it is being a teenager and struggling with mental health issues. Lisa Bjärbo gives introverts a voice. As she has said herself: “We need to become better at understanding those who are shy”. Jakob Wegelius (b. 1966) The Murderer’s Ape, 2014, 619 p. Publisher Bonnier Carlsen Bokförlag www.bonniercarlsen.se Rights Bonnier Rights Danish edition ABC Forlag 2015 Lisa Bjärbo (b. 1980) In My Head I’d Make Anyone Laugh, YA Novel, 2018, 270 p. Publisher Rabén & Sjögren www.rabensjogren.se Rights Rabén & Sjögren Agency Lene Ewald Hesel Translates from Swedish to Danish, lives in Copenhagen, Denmark