New Swedish Books, Spring 2020 1
29 Spring 2020 Lennart Hellsing, but the second,
Rain, has a more solemn tone to it. Here every double spread is dedicated to a special place in the world, where the rain falls while various activities take place. The text is in the form of Haiku poems, short but very picturesque. It is a wonderful, poetic celebration of all things similar and different in our world. Picture books for older children and young adults In recent years, we have seen a number of picture books for older children and young adults. Anna Höglund’s unique books Whereof One Only Speaks With Rabbits and To Be Me speak to young teenagers in a voice that’s at the same time gentle and extremely funny. This lets her capture creeping anxiety and blossoming joy, both parts of what life has to offer. A somewhat later example is The Bird Within Me Flies Wherever It Wants, made by Sara Lundberg, one of the most gifted Swedish illustrators of today. It is based on a true story about the artist Berta Hansson, who grew up in the north of Sweden in the early years of the last century. With a confident brush Sara Lundberg guides us to a distant past, where a young woman’s everyday life, almost a hundred years ago, is brought to life in front of our eyes. In images often flowing with colour, we follow Berta’s work at home on the farm and how art gives this young person space and light in an otherwise humdrum existence. Her longing for something else and her grief for her mother exist side by side with the joy she experiences when her drawings are praised, or with the sense of security she feels when being with the cows in the barn. This is all framed within a spectacular landscape setting. Kristina Hoas has an MA in Literary Studies and serves on the Swedish Arts Council’s Grants Committee for Swedish literature in translation. She has experience in the world of children’s publishing and also previously worked as a librarian specialising in children and young people. Sara Lundberg. Illustration fromThe Bird Within Me Flies Wherever It Wants