Swedish Contemporary Fiction 1
Balsam Karam (b. 1983) Balsam Karam was born into
a Kurdish family in Iraq. Like many other Kurds, her family was deported from Iraq to Iran in the early 1980s as part of the Saddam regime’s purges. When war broke out between the two countries, the family was forced to flee. They had to relocate frequently around the region. Karam’s early years were marked by war, with no opportunity to put down roots before it was time to move on again. Experiences of persecution, resistance and being a refugee form a dark foundation in the two books she has published so far. Balsam Karam works as a librarian. Her first novel, published in 2018, is a work of science fiction entitled Event Horizon (‘Händelsehorisonten’). The title refers to the boundary around a black hole. Anything that passes an event horizon can no longer be observed because the black hole’s gravitational field is so powerful that nothing can escape, not even light. In the story, a 17-year rebel named Milde is captured and sent on a deadly mission right into a black hole. Another astronomical phenomenon lent its name to Karam’s second novel, The Singularity (‘Singulariteten’, 2021). A singularity is the point in a black hole where all matter is compressed together. Gravity is so intense at that point that nothing can resist it. In this book, though, the characters are not in outer space. Instead, the gravitational force consists of a shared grief, an inherited loss, that binds a number of women together. Balsam Karam, who grew up speaking Kurdish, Persian and Arabic, writes painfully beautiful, linguistically innovative prose. She has said that she endeavours to transgress the norms of language in her aim to write from the perspective of the oppressed. She also bends and stretches literary forms. Event Horizon is in the form of a fragmented existential saga, written in evocative, poetic language. The Singularity is an elegant composition in three quite distinct but intertwined parts. But when you examine the sentences, they seem slightly ‘off’ – despite being grammatically correct. It is as if the language is in the process of breaking down or imploding. It is a language of desperation, spoken by someone struggling to keep control of their world, even as they know they cannot. With just two books out so far, Balsam Karam is already a major voice in contemporary Swedish literature. Yukiko Duke Rights sold to: 5 countries 11 Swedish Contemporary Fiction The Singularity 228 p. 2021, Norstedts Rights: Norstedts Agency What kind of mother could keep on living after the disappearance of her child? Balsam Karam’s novel is an emotionally powerful and political work of grief and can be read in conjunction with her radiant debut novel Event Horizon. Event Horizon 250 p. 2018, Norstedts Rights: Norstedts Agency Milde is arrested, imprisoned, tortured and eventually presented with a final choice: to face execution in the city or to be sent into space, into a black hole, into the Mass, as part of a research project. Milde chooses space – and eternity. Foto: Carla Orrego Veliz