As The Fire Charmer becomes my first novel to be published in English, I look back on more than two decades writing for Swedish-speaking readers in Finland.
Seventeen books have appeared in Swedish, with one translated into Finnish and another into Polish.
They span very different genres, but if there is a thread running through much of my writing, it is probably this: people, history, the archipelago – and stories worth preserving.
For more than twenty years I published my Swedish-language books through Vingpennan, the publishing house I founded in 2001.
BOOKS IN SWEDISH.
Seventeen books. More than two decades of writing in Swedish.
MEETING MY READERS
Over the years, my books have taken me far beyond my writing desk.
I have taken part in numerous book fairs in Gothenburg and Helsinki and travelled throughout Finland to meet young readers in primary schools. I stopped counting after I had met more than 20,000 children in over 200 schools.
I have also given hundreds of talks about my archipelago books in Finland, Sweden and Germany.
One particularly memorable recognition came when my illustrator, Thomas Lindberg, and I received a literary award from the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland for our children's book Johanssons och Silverligan.
HISTORY AND LIVES FROM THE ARCHIPELAGO
PIGA, KLOCKARE, INHYSING, LOTS – SKÄRGÅRDSÖDEN 1669–1809
Piga, klockare, inhysing, lots grew out of extensive historical research into the lives of real people in the archipelago of south-western Finland between 1669 and 1809.
The book weaves major historical events together with fictionalised stories about people who actually lived in Kyrkosundsskär, when Finland was still part of the Swedish realm. We meet islanders trying to survive war, famine, plague and the dangers of life by the sea – while still finding room for weddings, christenings, shipwreck salvage and the occasional dispute taken to court.
The research behind this book was every bit as extensive as the research I later undertook for The Fire Charmer.
STRANDSATTA – KVINNOÖDEN FRÅN FINSKA VIKEN TILL ISHAVET
Strandsatta was my breakthrough as an author, published in 2001 after three years of travelling and research.
Together with illustrator Sinikka Siekkeli, I travelled along the coasts of Finland, Estonia, Sweden and Norway, interviewing eleven women whose lives had been shaped by the sea.
Their stories took us through war, storms, poverty and personal tragedy, but also through resilience, humour and the small joys of everyday life. They had worked as sailors and servants, lived through prison camps and raised families in remote island communities where life demanded both strength and ingenuity.
One of the women lived on the island where I had spent my childhood summers – adding another thread to my own lifelong connection with the archipelago.
BOOKS FOR CHILDREN
VINDEN VÄNDER PÅ TROLLSKÄR
My best-selling children’s book, Vinden vänder på Trollskär, takes readers to a remote island far out at sea, home to an old fisherman and a tomte – and to a world where the unexpected is never very far away.
The book was illustrated by Inge Löök, who also created a life-size version of the tomte.
Inge’s image of what a tomte looks like goes back to her own childhood. She has told me that she saw tomtar when she was a little girl – and this is what they looked like.
The Johansson Family
The first of my two children’s book series follows the Johansson family across four books – a family of four with two highly creative daughters, where almost anything can happen.
The stories draw on my own childhood and those of my daughters, and although they may sometimes seem rather unlikely, almost everything in them is true.
KALLE KNASTER AND MIRANDA
My second series follows Kalle Knaster and Miranda across four books. Kalle and his parents move into a dilapidated old house that once served as a hotel. Before long, strange things begin to happen.
When Kalle and Miranda discover an old dumbwaiter, they find that it can carry them not only between floors, but back in time to the eighteenth century. And as if that weren’t enough, the house is crowded with ghosts.
and then came crime…
Together with Swedish author Gudrun Wessnert, I ventured into yet another genre: crime comedy. The three novels were published by Libraria.
We wrote three novels for adults, filled with improbable mysteries, unexpected twists and a generous dose of humour.
Writing them gave us the freedom to play with the conventions of crime fiction – and, above all, to have enormous fun along the way.
Have you ever seen a stiletto heel look good embedded in someone’s forehead?
Can an entire basketball team be brought to its knees by a group of elderly ladies and their knowledge of herbs?
What is an eccentric aristocrat hiding in his old manor house – besides a record of his female conquests filed alongside the pedigrees of his breeding bulls?