Kajsa Norman (författare)"brunstämplad" av MSM efter boksläpp

Alla som känner mig vet att jag inte är högerextrem. Jag har ägnat min karriär åt att kämpa för demokrati, yttrandefrihet och jämställdhet. Gemene man vet förmodligen inte ens om att jag existerar.

Swedish noir comes in many shapes and sizes, but this is the first time I’ve read it as non-fiction. Although popular crime writers such as Henning Mankell (who has been a mentor to the author of this book) and Stieg Larsson investigated the darker sides of Swedish society — to the extent that the king of Sweden felt compelled to remark that he didn’t appreciate such negative portrayals of his kingdom — it is really the non-fiction writers who have consistently reported on the country’s downside. And they have generally got away with it since they are not widely read outside the country and have only a limited local readership compared to the mass market crime fiction.

That might change now, as Kajsa Norman, a Swedish expat war correspondent expects to be made persona non grata in a country known for its high-ceilinged tradition of debate. She starts her book by quoting a former prime minister promising to stigmatise or brand with an iron (brännmärka) those ‘who speak ill of Sweden abroad’. She continues, ‘The more I dug, the more warnings I received: “Aren’t you afraid?” “You realize you’ll never be able to work in Sweden again.”’ This, then, seems to be a book that no Swedish publisher has dared to touch and so rather unusually for a Swedish writer, her book is first published outside the country in English.