Swenglish/Svenglish is now complete!

Swenglish/Svenglish is now out in both Swedish and English. When some people see the cover they think I've written a dictionary. Perhaps that will be my next project.

For more info about the English book please click here.

För mer info om den svenska boken, klicka här.

The Swenglish/Svenglish project on Facebook

Swenglish has a big sister!

At Klubb Aktersalongen in Gothenburg I met an author who has written a "sister book" to Swenglish. 

Jakten på den perfekta puben ("The Hunt for the Perfect Pub") is the name of Kristina Svensson's masterpiece. It's set in Wales and describes her experience of living and working there. She also visits quite a few pubs. Obviously. 

The book is a masterpiece in my point of my view because I recognise so many British quirks. 

Messy backyards, page 36:

Kristina writes about the backyards of houses that you see from train windows. She wonders why nobody has ever thought of having two "fronts" of the house. As if they were oblivious to people on trains who can look straight at their backyard mess.

Unreasonable showers, page 64:

The author feels cheated by the expression "power shower". Your only choice is a "forceful cold shower" or a "hot trickling shower".

Lack of signposts, page 211:

If you go hiking in Britain it's easy to get lost as the signposts are usually well hidden. Something Kristina experiences in Usk valley. (This makes me think of when I was going to take my mum for a walk to Beachy Head and we had to call a taxi to even find the starting point from the bus stop.)

Queuing without clothes, page 255:

The author and I agree that people in Britain seem to lack outer garments like jackets. Especially when they queue outside night clubs.

Thank you, Kristina for an entertaining read!

And please don't be offended, we do love you, Britain!

The Swedish version of my book Svenglish which contains similar anecdotes will be out in November. Click here to see the invitation to my launch party. 

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Reader Reactions to Swenglish

"I have almost finished reading it and wish it was longer - I don't want it to end!"

"I’ve now read Swenglish and was really impressed. Two sentences I loved: ‘The fans seemed quite bored; to win so easily has no meaning. ‘A woman who keeps interior design magazines under her mattress as if they were porno mags.’ I liked the section up near Umeå a lot. You’re less of a naïve writer now, I think, but still an unsentimental one."

"Our mate X stayed over last night, this morning he's flicking through Swenglish and chuckling away! He's thinking of going online and getting his own copy."

Above are some quotes from friends and acquaintances who have read Swenglish - a journey through everyday life.Some writers say they only write for themselves. I don't believe them. If you're the kind of writer who keeps everything in a drawer fair enough, but if you go ahead and publish something, I think you secretly want reactions.

I'm very happy that someone has bothered to write an Amazon review and there's also a short review at Good Reads!

Thanks everyone for spreading the word so far!

You can read the prologue here. (By clicking on "Look inside")

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Swenglish in English media!

Interview with The Latest TV, please click on the film clip above

Interview in the Argus

Swenglish in The Brighton Source

Interview on CATV On The Radio show

Swenglish - a journey through everyday life 

is now available from Amazon

both in paperback and Kindle edition.

If you are in the Brighton area you can also find a copy at City Books.

Follow The Swenglish project on Facebook

Swenglish Documentary Trailer

Film maker Adriana Sabau followed me with her camera when I did my Swenglish project. Staying with 30 people for 30 weeks to celebrate my 30th. An odd celebration, I know. It was more of an escape... 

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Animation of my Swenglish poem

Adriana Sabau who is working on the documentary of the Swenglish project has made a cool animation of an extract from my "Swenglish-poem".

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Project Week 30 Revisited: The Heart, the Crisis

The last project week I stayed with an artist who I'd only met briefly a couple of times before. As I was supposed to live her life I spent some time with her in the studio and made my own painting. Then I had no idea that my work would be exhibited a few months later! 

This weekend I went to look at Laila Norss's (with Joakim Norss) exhibition The Big 5 and other fun things in Torkladan at Eksjö Museum. It was a good feeling to see my painting, The Heart, the Crisis (the one by the chair) on the wall and already the first day a woman wanted to buy it. I was so taken aback that I said it was not for sale. The painting is like a symbol for the whole Swenglish project and means a lot to me.

I also contributed to the chair that Laila has painted and decorated with a pistol and a toy car (there are some puns in Swedish that are impossible to translate, but think "car seat"). What I did to the chair was simply writing "Move your arse" on the seat. On top of that I've written a poem on the chest of drawers below.

This piece of furniture (in a different colour and without the writing and the Barbie doll) once stood in my gran's house (where the artist's son now lives) and now it has found a new home. And the chair. It will end up with me.

You can look at more of Laila's work here. The titles of her work are all in English, something I find interesting. Perhaps she wants to reach outside Sweden. She has already exhibited in France. Hopefully it will be England next time!

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The Making of Swenglish - the Documentary

For a whole week I've been followed by a film maker from Brighton. So now I've gained a greater understanding for how the participants in the Swenglish project felt when I invaded their lives. To have someone who's always there, observing every step you take is both exciting and exhausting. 

Adriana Sabau has previously worked for a TV company in Romania, made music videos for English bands and now she's working with Sean Creed for Brighton & Hove Community TV.

Apart from interviewing me and some of the people I stayed with during the project, she filmed Swedish environments in Stockholm as well as Småland. Everything from Västerbron ("The Western Bridge") to the last bit of snow that was left in the outskirts of Nässjö. 

In the English part of the documentary, Adriana filmed me when I had English breakfast and Sunday roast. Here in Sweden she filmed "Swedish" pizza, Swedish cheesecake and pytt i panna ("bits in a pan").

Other highlights included filming elks at Skansen Zoo (we weren't patient enough to wait them out in the forest) and partying in the City Hall of Stockholm - something that is normally reserved for Nobel Prize Winners, but we were lucky to be there for Culture Night.

There are 15 hours of film if you add up the English and Swedish part .... I'm looking forward to see the result that will be a 50 minute long documentary.

Photo 1 & 3: Daniel Halvardsson

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Thoughts after having finished the Swenglish project

Filmed and edited by Adriana Sabau

Interview made by Sean Creed

In 2012 novelist and performance poet Louise Halvardsson turned 30, but instead of throwing a big party, she embarked on a journey through everyday life of people in England and Sweden. She stayed with 30 different people during 30 weeks and asked each person 30 questions about nothing and everything all at once.

But she didn’t just stay with those people – she actually tried to live their lives, shadowing them at work as well as at play. The aim was to write a book about cultural differences, but in the end it turned out to be more of a personal quest – whether to settle in England or Sweden. At the time of the interview the author was yet to make her decision.

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2 Non Blondes - Evidence that all Swedes are Not Blonde

The best thing about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is that this film gave the world a new image of Swedish women.

Every week, at some point, I get asked "Where are you from?" And when I say "Sweden" people do look surprised and say "But you're not blonde!"

I try to come up with imaginative answers like "Actually I'm the only Swede in the whole universe who is not blonde, you have met a very unique person".

However since The Girl with the Dragon tattoo came out people tell me that I remind them of the main character, Lisbeth Salander (from the Swedish, original version of the film). I take it as a compliment even though we're not that similar, really.

I was damned when I found out that the actor Noomi Rapace's dad was Spanish, hence her darkish  looks. But as far as I know my own parents and grandparents and their grandparents are all Swedish born and bread. I admit that my hair is not naturally as dark as in the photo, but I'm definitely not blonde. Mousy brown is closer to the truth.

I read somewhere recently, perhaps in a Lonely Planet guide, that about a third of all Swedish girls are blonde. But then it depends on what you mean by blonde; there are a lot of people with ash blonde or light brown hair. (I wonder though, if Swedish men get the same hassle, being asked why they aren't blonde. I wouldn't think so.)

Funnily enough, before moving to England, I thought that all English people had ginger hair. Perhaps this notion was based on the pictures in my English text book at school. Now I'd say that most English people have different shades of brown hair, but I could be wrong. In this day and age of hair colour explosion it's hard to tell.