Literature and writers

Swedish people read a lot. Each year, about 65 million books ars borrowed at public libraries. About 40 percent are children´s books. Adult fiction and adult non-fiction account for about 30 percent each.

The 2 000 public libraries and 130 book-mobiles in Sweden belong under local authorities. Books, talking books, records and CDs are borrowed free of charge. If a book cannot be found in a local library, it may always be ordered from the county library. In addition to providing books to the public, libraries often organize exhibitions, lectures and other activities.

The Royal Library in Stockholm is the national copyright deposit library, and a large library as well. It also collects and keeps the national bibliography.

The Swedish publishing business is dominated by a few publishing houses. A large part of their book-selling, mainly bestsellers, is translated from English. Among the Swedish authors that are still read are;Selma Lagerlöf, Harry Martinson, Ivar Lo-Johansson, August Strindberg, Vilhelm Moberg, Pär Lagerkvist and Astrid Lindgren

Swedish Writers

Selma Lagerlöf was born at the Mårbacka manor in the province of Värmland. She made her breakthrough in 1891 with the novel Gösta Berlings saga. At that time, she was still working as a teacher but after some years she was able to live from her writing. When she went on journeys to Italy and the Mideast, she met in Palestine some Swedish emigrants from the village Nås in the province of Dalarna. They inspired her to write the epos of Jerusalem (1-2; 1901-1902), which added to her fame. Her best known book is Nils Holgersson´s Travel through Sweden (1906-1907), which has been translated into many foreign languages. She received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1909. Some years later she became a member of the Swedish Academy.

Pär Lagerqvist (1891-1974) from Växjö in Småland is known as "the religious poet whitout faith". His doubt and ambivalence to the Church can be perceived in all of his works, for example Barabbas (1950).

Vilhelm Moberg (1898-1973) is most well- known for his books about Swedish emigrants settling in America. In the four-part series; The emigrants (1949), Unto a good land (1952), The settlers (1956), and The last letter home (1959) , he depicts a group of Swedes who emigrate to North America. He was also one of the founders of the Emigrant Institute in Växjö, which has an extensive archive about the emigration of Swedes during the 18th and 19th centuries.Many of Moberg's works depict the lives of farmers, crofters and soldiers in his home province, Småland. Moberg was a socialist and a diligent debator.

August Strindberg (1849-1912) grew up in a middle-class family in Stockholm. After having studied for one semester at the University of Uppsala he started working at the Royal Library in Stockholm. His first work was the historical drama Master Olof (1878). All in all he wrote more than 75 books. Recurrent themes in his works are power, the (problematic) relation between men and women, religious doubt and social problems. However, he could also be amusing in his writing, as in The People from Hemsö. Apart from being a writer, Strindberg was also a talented impressionist painter, whose works command fabulous prizes at auctions.

Strindberg´s last home has been turned into a museum, called Blå Tornet, where visitors can enjoy theater performances, concerts and lectures.

Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002) made a name for herself as an author in 1945 with a book about Pippi Longstocking (Pippi Långstrump). It was an enormous success. She has written a great number of books, many of them set at the place where she was born, Vimmerby, in the province of Småland. Quite a few of her works have been filmed and have been translated into 76 languages.

She has received a lot of literary prizes over the years, for example "Friedenspreis des deutscen Buchhandels" in Germany, the Albert Schweizer medal in USA, the Russian Leo Tolstoy medal and the Danish Karen Blixen prize. In Sweden she has been awarded Illis Quorum and the Swedish Academy's Gold Medal.

The Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prizes have been presented to the Laureates at ceremonies on December 10 each year. This day was chosen since it is the birthday of Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), the inventor of dynamite and the man who pays the piper (through the Nobel Foundation).

There are five prizes from the Nobel Foundation: Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Physiology, Literature and the Peace Prize.

In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank (The Bank of Sweden) established a prize for ecomomic science, dedicating it to the memory of Alfred Nobel. The prize is as prestigious as the Nobel Prize and is presented at the ceremony together with the others. The first Nobel Prizes were presented in 1901.

Despite the male dominance among the winners, the prize for literature has frequently been given to women and in the field of science Marie Curie has received the the Nobel Prize twice (the first time together with her husband)

Literature on Swedish Literature

Do you want to know more about Swedish writers and Swedish literature? There are some interesting books; A History of Swedish Literature by Lars G Warme. More books are listed here on Print Google.