Elisabeth Åsbrink is a writer and journalist.

She worked for 15 years at the Swedish television network SVT as a reporter and editor. Her articles have been published in renowned publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and Dagens Nyheter. She has authored eight nonfiction books, a novel, a collection of essays, and four plays. Her work has been translated into more than 25 languages, including Polish.

As a writer, she made her debut in 2009 with the publication of her book Smärtpunkten (“The Tender Point”). In it, she describes the story of the play “Sju tre” (“Seven Three”) by the famous Swedish playwright and director Lars Norén, who decided to stage a performance featuring prisoners. For this production, he selected three hardened criminals, two of whom were Nazis. The day after the final performance, one of them, Tony Olsson, participated in a bank robbery in Kisa and the murder of two police officers in Malexander. Elisabeth Åsbrink interviewed the actors, obtained access to their correspondence, and reviewed declassified prison documents. The book marked the first publication of excerpts from the play “Sju tre” along with a scene containing Nazi propaganda. For Smärtpunkten, the author was nominated for the August Prize in 2009.

Elisabeth Åsbrink’s reputation was further bolstered by her report Och i Wienerwald står träden kvar (“In the Viennese Forest, the Trees Still Stand”), published in 2011. This work tells the story of two protagonists. The first is Otton Ullmann, an Austrian boy of Jewish descent who, at the age of 13, was sent to Sweden by his parents when Nazi-led Austria became too dangerous for Jews. Over the next five years, until his parents’ death in Auschwitz in 1994, Otton received more than 500 letters from them. One day, he found work on the Kamprad family farm in Agunnaryd, where he met the second protagonist, Ingvar Kamprad—the future founder of IKEA. A friendship developed between them despite the fact that Kamprad held fascist views. In 1943, Kamprad was a member of the Swedish Nazi party SSS and actively supported Per Engdahl, one of Sweden’s most prominent fascists. The revelations in Åsbrink’s book sent shockwaves around the world. In 2012, she received the August Prize for Och i Wienerwald står träden kvar, followed by the Danish-Swedish Cultural Foundation Award in 2013 and the Ryszard Kapuściński Award in 2014.

In 2017, her book 1947 (“1947. The World Begins Now”) was published. This time, Elisabeth Åsbrink writes about many significant events from around the world that took place in the titular year 1947. Seemingly unrelated stories intertwine to create a picture of a world in flux, where the old order is collapsing and a new one is emerging. Interwoven into the narrative is the story of the author’s own family, especially her father, who, as a 10-year-old, spent time in a German facility for children whose parents had been murdered by the Nazis. 1947 has been translated into 20 languages, was nominated for the August Prize, and earned Åsbrink the Letterstedska Författarpriset from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2017.

In a slightly different tone is her book Orden som formade Sverige (“Made In Sweden. 60 Words That Created a Nation”).

In it, Elisabeth Åsbrink examines the history of Sweden—its values, its people, and its language. She describes many intriguing personalities and reveals uncomfortable facts that somewhat tarnish the common image of liberal and tolerant Sweden. The author does not shy away from difficult and controversial topics that are sometimes even considered embarrassing by contemporary Swedes. Orden som formade Sverige is a personal, humorous, and provocative account of the Swedish nation and is available in our store in its original language version.