New Swedish Books, Spring 2020 1
9 Spring 2020 The Yearbook Sven Olov Karlsson’s c
ollection of short stories, The Yearbook, came out in solitary majesty on 2nd January, marking the New Year. But it is obvious why: the book contains twelve short stories, one for each month. Karlsson has gone from clarity to clarity since making his debut in 2003 with a depiction of his father’s illness and death. Since then, he has become one of the most confident writers describing the Swedish countryside fighting to survive in the era of urbanisation. Karlsson commutes between reportage and artistic prose, and while the short stories in The Yearbook may be fiction, it is the driven and acclaimed reporter’s gaze that characterises dairy farmers and car nuts, lay-bys and summer houses, life and death in a Sweden that is both familiar and foreign. But he does not only look to the countryside. The short story for the bitter month of March is about a freelance right-wing populist and his glaring need for validation. Familiar nowadays, but still oh so strange... Sven Olov Karlsson Selected works En tur på sjön, short stories, 2009 Porslinsfasaderna, novel, 2013 Awards Samfundet De Nios pris 2009 Ivar Lo-priset 2018 Short stories, 251 p. Sven Olov Karlsson (b. 1971) Publisher Natur & Kultur www.nok.se Rights Agentur Literatur Gudrun Hebel gudrun.hebel@agentur-literatur.de Photo: Moa Karlberg