At this year’s 33rd edition of The Bogotá International Book Fair (FiLBo), Sweden takes centre-stage as the guest of honour. To get into the spirit of things, we’ve taken the liberty of underlining the finer points of this year’s proceedings.
Few people will know that the first woman to win The Nobel Prize in Literature and be accepted into the Swedish Academy -- the very society that awards The Nobel Prize in Literature -- was indeed Swedish writer Selma LagerlÖf. Novelist and teacher, Author of novels and short stories and well-remembered for her work ‘The Wonderful Journey of Nils Holgersson.’ Which tells the story of a 14-year-old Nils, who is shrunken down to the size of a thumb and must travel throughout the Swedish countryside on the back of a goose. LagerlÖf mixed historical and geographical elements to create one of her most renowned works.
According to the World Economic Forum, Sweden is the second most egalitarian country in the EU, second only to Finland. Sweden has a long history of tabling public and foreign policies that seek to empower women with resources and representation wherever possible.
In that spirit, Ambassador Helena Storm has urged the Colombian publishing sector to work alongside the Swedish. “Betting on the publication of new titles with the financial aid we offer between Kulturrådet (Swedish Arts Council) and the Swedish Embassy,” stated Ambassador Storm. In preparation for the book fair, the Bogotá Portal has made a list of the Swedish writers that you should look out for at Filbo 2021:
Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde
The Persian-born writer is one of the most promising young voices in Swedish literature, Bonde has debuted with the novel She Is Not Me, a novel about the dis-enfranchisement of immigrants in a new land told from the perspective of an Iranian teenager trying to find a place in society. Golnaz Bonde is an activist against social marginalisation, and is the founder and director of Inkludera Invest, a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting young entrepreneurs.
Jujja wieslander
Native of Stockholm, novelist and writer of children’s stories, most notably Mama Muu. Her work has been adapted to fit other various media like radio, songs, animated series and feature films. Reaching a wide audience around the world.
Viveca Sten
Author of the worldwide hit crime saga, The Sandhamn Murder has recently been adapted for television. Once, a successful aviation industry attorney, now retired to pursue the thrill of writing bestsellers. The Sandhamn Murder series spans across ten books and seven seasons as it follows the story of Attorney Nora Linde and Inspector Thomas Andreasson. Unlikely partners who navigate through the criminal underworld of the moody Stockholm archipelago.
Anna Bågstam
Lawyer, amateur boxer, painter and writer Anna Bågstam is considered one of the revelations of the Nordic crime scene. She debuted in 2016 with the ‘Stockholm Psycho’ audiobook series. You can find her on YouTube on her channel What we talk about when we talk about books.
Maj SjÖwall
Alongside her husband Per Wahlöö, they have become one of the forerunners of the contemporary crime novel. They have breathed life into the detective Martin Beck, the main character of "The Story of a Crime," the first Swedish series of crime novels. It is composed of 10 titles that individually reveal a single crime, but over the course of the overall narrative develop a wider crime therein. Maj was awarded the Pepe Carvalho Prize for crime novels for revealing "The shortcomings and false appearances of the Swedish welfare society."
