New Swedish Books, Spring 2018 1
29 Spring 2018 Beata Arnborg (b. 1950) Look at Me
! A Biography of Zarah Leander Publisher Natur & Kultur www.nok.se Rights Partners in Stories henrik@partnersinstories.se Selected Works Professor Vivi. Den sagolika botanisten 2008 Krig, kvinnor och gud. En biografi om Barbro Alving 2010 Kerstin Thorvall. Uppror i skärt och svart. En biografi 2013 Literary Prizes Lotten von Kraemers pris 2011 Birger Schöldströms pris 2016 Look at Me! A Biography of Zarah Leander Zarah Leander (1907–81) was the Swedish singer and diva who bewitched audiences with her low alto voice and her flame-red hair – and who had a brilliant music and film career in Germany under the Nazi regime. Leander associated closely with those at the top of the party, in particular the propaganda minister Goebbels, and made a lot of money, both for herself and for the German war machine. After the war, she returned to Sweden, where she was frozen out socially and banned from the radio, judged more harshly than male musicians who’d also served the Nazi regime. But was she an active Nazi or “just” a sympathiser? The author and critic Beata Arnborg gets to grips with the controversial performer in this well-written, complex biography that depicts Zarah Leander and the time she was living in, through the years. Photo: Sofia Runarsdotter