New Swedish Books, Spring 2020 1
New Swedish Books 34 The Club: A Chronicle of Pow
er and Abuse at the Heart of the Nobel Scandal Matilda Gustavsson Awards The Swedish Publicists’ Association 2016 Golden Pen The Swedish Grand Prize for Journalism 2018 (Stora journalistpriset) in the category ‘Scoop of the Year’ There were few countries in which the #metoo movement had a greater impact than in Sweden. The attention aimed at women who had been sexually exploited led to several revelations, but none of them had consequences that were anywhere near as far-reaching as the report by the journalist Matilda Gustavsson in Dagens Nyheter on 22nd November 2017. By interviewing 18 women who testified that they had been raped, threatened and harassed by a man with close ties to the Swedish Academy – one of the finest cultural institutions in both Sweden and the world – her reporting helped to provide insight into systematic abuse that had been going on for decades. In The Club, Matilda Gustavsson empathetically portrays the time leading up to and following the publication of her news story, the consequences for the man who was convicted of rape, the testimony of the women and the effects of possibly the most grave crisis in the history of the Swedish Academy on its members. A shocking piece of contemporary history that has its finger on the pulse of a number of ethical issues. 227 p. Publisher Albert Bonniers förlag www.albertbonniersforlag.se Matilda Gustavsson (b. 1987) Rights Ahlander Agency Astri von Arbin Ahlander astri@ahlanderagency.com Photo: Thron Ullberg