Jwriting

Tobias Berggren was born in 1940 and published his first book of poetry, Det nödvändiga är inte klart (The necessary is not clear), in 1969. In the ensuing years he has published many works of poetry as well as political documents, and he enjoys a reputation as one of Sweden’s …

It turned into a wild party. Alain was in top form, and at three in the morning Elly had to come in with an ice pack for the commander of the destroyer, Captain Botev, who’d had so much to drink that he was hallucinating. Caroline was flirting with a navigation …

Jacques Werup was born in 1945 in Malmo in southern Sweden, where he still lives. He has published works in many different genres, including novels, works of poetry, musical compositions, and musical analyses. He made his literary debut in 1971 with Returbiljett Polen (Return ticket to Poland) but first gained …

I visit her, she stretches her bandaged arm toward me, has cut open her wrist with a knife; cut open her wrists with a knife, to saw into your own flesh, through the skin, sinews, veins. (Now they were walking along a picket fence in an area with lots of …

Edith (1851-1931) was the only one of Simon and Therese’s eight children who never got married. She wrote occasional verse and eulogies and acted in a drama in which the characters were called The Lie, A Deaf Citizen, A Jew, An Officer. She stood in front of the Tollare bazaar …

Joachim Israel was born in Germany in 1920 and spent his teenage years in Nazi Germany, planning to move to Palestine as soon as possible. In 1938 he was allowed to go to Sweden with an agricultural work permit. By 1946 he was able to publish his first book in …

It is a fine summer day in Stockholm. The afternoon sun, mirrored in the waters of Lake Mälaren, blinds the passers-by and brings perspiration to the foreheads of the panting cyclists. No one seems to be in a hurry as they cross the bridge. The only sound is the gentle …

Anita Goldman was born in 1953 to parents who had fled to Sweden in 1943. She grew up in a Jewish home in Göteborg, Sweden’s second city. ‘My sister and I were the only ones in the school who were dark and looked different,’ she has written. When she was …

The fragrance from the orange groves when they’re in blossom is the sweetest thing in the world, Motti thinks. Reaches all the way to the sea. In the winter the sea is quiet, doesn’t roar as it does in the summer. They called the winter sea Olja. As boys they …

During the so-called Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938, a few months after I landed in Sweden, the Nazis wrecked all the Jewish stores, plundered them, and burned down the synagogues. All the Jewish men were sent to concentration camps. My father landed in Dachau. He rarely talked about what he …