Sara Stridsberg

Sara Brita Stridsberg (born 29 August 1972) is a Swedish author and playwright. Her first novel, Happy Sally, was about Sally Bauer, who in 1939 had become the first Scandinavian woman to swim the English Channel.

Sara Stridsberg
Stridsberg in 2018
Born	Sara Brita Stridsberg (1972-08-29) 29 August 1972 (age 52) Solna, Sweden
Period	1999–
Notable works	Drömfakulteten Darling River Beckomberga. Ode till min familj.
Notable awards	Nordic Council Literature Prize (2007) European Union Prize for Literature (2015)
Member of the Swedish Academy (Seat No. 13)
In office 20 December 2016 – 7 May 2018
Preceded by	Gunnel Vallquist
Succeeded by	Anne Swärd

Her big international breakthrough came with the publication of The Faculty of Dreams/Valerie in 2006. The novel received the Nordic Council Award in 2007, and was nominated to the Man Booker award when published 2019 in the UK and US. Her novels are today translated into 25 languages.

In 2007, she was awarded the Nordic Council Literature Prize for her novel Drömfakulteten (Valerie, or The Faculty of Dreams),^[1] which is her second novel and a fictitious story about Valerie Solanas, who wrote the SCUM Manifesto, which Stridsberg has translated into Swedish. The English translation by Deborah Bragan-Turner was longlisted for the 2019 International Booker Prize.^[2]

Svenska Dagbladet called Stridsberg "one of our foremost nature poets" and considered her among the best in contemporary Swedish literature while noting that Stridsberg's novels are always discomforting to read.^[3]

In 2016, Stridsberg was elected to the 13th chair on the Swedish Academy previously occupied by Gunnel Vallquist.^[4] She was inducted into the Academy on 20 December 2016.^[5] On 27 April 2018 she left the Academy, in solidarity with Sara Danius.^[6]

Stridsberg is interviewed at Bokmässan in Gothenburg, 2014

Awards

• 2004 The Sveriges Essäfond Prize
• 2006 Aftonbladet's Literature Prize
• 2007 Nordic Council Literature Prize^[7]
• 2013 Dobloug Prize
• 2010 Visiting professor Free University of Berlin
• 2015 European Union Prize for Literature (Sweden) for Beckomberga: Ode till min familj (The Gravity of Love)^[8]

Translated works in English

• Valerie, or The Faculty of Dreams: A Novel (2019)
• The Antarctica of Love (2021)

Bibliography in Swedish

• Juristutbildningen ur ett genusperspektiv (non-fiction, 1999)
• Det är bara vi som är ute och åker (non-fiction, 2002)
• Happy Sally (novel, 2004)
• Drömfakulteten (novel, 2006)
• Darling River (novel, 2010)
• Mamman och havet (children's book, 2012)
• Beckomberga: Ode till min familj (novel, 2014)
• Kärlekens Antarktis (novel, 2018)
• Dyksommar (children's book, 2019)

Plays

• 2006 – Valerie Jean Solanas ska bli president i Amerika
• 2009 – Medealand
• 2012 – Dissekering av ett snöfall
• 2015 – Beckomberga
• 2015 – Konsten att falla
• 2016 – American Hotel