Translator's Choice 2020 1
23 Translator’s choice Why does this book deserve
to be translated? Even before I knew that Marit Kapla would end up winning the August Prize for her lyrical novel Osebol, I had booked her to speak at the release of my own newly published novel, Haren slår en kullerbytta. Marit joined me in a very inspiring conversation, still accessible online, on the shared themes in our books. One such motif is Värmland, the Swedish county covered by enormous forests and with the Klarälven river twisting its way through the landscape. Osebol is a tiny village in Värmland. Kapla has interviewed all its residents: men and women, young and old, and weaved their life-stories into a poetic text. A text that swells into a torrent of stories, twisting and turning through space and time, just like the Klarälven. It is no longer the individual residents that tell the story but the village as a collective voice. As such the author succeeds in creating a tale reminiscent of the Odyssey – where everything the heroes say or do become the stuff of legends. “A text that swells into a torrent of stories, twisting and turning through space and time” Emoke Andersson Lipcsey Emoke Andersson Lipcsey is a writer, musician and graphic designer who translates into Hungarian. She lives in Gothenburg, Sweden. Two other favourites amongst books she has previously translated are: Kerstin Ekman Mordets praktik, novel, 2009 Egy gyilkos praxisa, Orpheusz, 2012 Swedish publisher: Bonniers Rights: Bonnier Rights Kerstin Ekman Händelser vid vatten, novel, 1993 A víznél történt, Orpheusz, 2018 Swedish publisher: Bonniers Rights: Bonnier Rights