New Swedish Books, Autumn 2017 1
37 Autumn 2017 Hum Agnes Gerner writes about all
the fragile lives we humans assume responsibility for. We care for, breed, slaughter, process, consume, and eat animals. They are living creatures but also capital, and we are the almighty deciders of their value and fate. Hum is a poetry collection about this, continuing the theme of Gerner’s previous collection Skall [Bark]. Through a sparse and direct narrative, the poems follow the animals from their point of conception to the slaughterhouse, with the writing’s matter-of-factness actually reinforcing the absurd heartlessness of the whole business. The hum is the micro-sound that we have within us, the personal, private noise in your ear that only you can hear. It’s proof that you’re alive, and that you’re conscious of being aware of what’s happening to your body. Its whisper speaks of all that is transient in life, and of the cruelty of turning slaughter into an industry. Agnes Gerner (b. 1984) Hum Publisher Albert Bonniers www.albertbonniersforlag.se Rights Albert Bonniers charlotte.aquilonius@ albertbonniers.se Works Skall Poems 2015 Literary Prizes Katapultpriset 2015 The Tapes Sea Gunnar D Hansson (b. 1945) The Tapes Sea Gunnar D Hansson is a poet, essayist, and literary scholar. In his poems he moves freely, with a sense of great knowledge, humour and affection, between the deeply personal and the universal. There’s nothing like it in Swedish poetry. The collection crosses genres, its foundation set in both the present and Old Norse times, and even further back. The Tapes Sea takes its title from the name of an ancient shoreline on the west coast of Sweden. After the most recent ice age the shoreline shifted dramatically, something confirmed by the many traces from humans and sea creatures. Gunnar D Hansson explores the coastal region, its history and nature, and the remains of its cultures. Right before the reader’s eye the book unfurls its own, obstinate and fascinating landscape. Geographic and topographic description meets stories, poetry, biography and cultural history. Publisher Albert Bonniers www.albertbonniersforlag.se Rights Albert Bonniers eva.bonnier@albertbonniers.se Selected Works Lyckans berså Essays 2008 Lomonosovryggen Poems 2009 Var slutar texten Essays 2011 Selected Literary Prizes Tidningen Vi:s litteraturpris 1994 Sveriges Radios Lyrikpris 2000 Svenska Akademiens essäpris 2013 Photo: Sofia Runarsdotter Photo: Jäger Arén