Book Alchemy
The Secret Library Podcast
#95 :: Translation and the Mystery of Swedish Crime Novels | Henning Koch + Lars Kepler
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#95 :: Translation and the Mystery of Swedish Crime Novels | Henning Koch + Lars Kepler

This week, we dive into the mysterious lure of Sweden and its literature.   As a lover of languages, I have long been fascinated with the art of translation. I am delighted to have Henning Koch on this week, who has translated Fredik Backman's work including A Man Called Ove as well as the acclaimed Every Moment We Are Still Alive. In addition to working as a translator, he's also a writer himself and has published two books. We explore Henning's beginnings in translation, the relationship it gives him with language, and why he can't possibly write and translate at the same time. We also touched on something that has become a phenomenon recently: the worldwide obsession with Swedish crime fiction.   In order to explore the topic of Swedish crime further, this week's episode continues with the couple that writes together under the pseudonym Lars Kepler: Alexandra Coehlo Ahndoril and Alexadner Ahndoril. Their book, The Sandman kept me up at night for days, furiously turning pages. We discussed how they came to write together as a couple, what they believe makes Sweden uniquely capable of writing dark crime stories, and their incredible method of writing together.   I love these two conversations as a pair, because both of them center on finding connection with others through language and the love of books. If you've ever dreamed of seeing your work appear in another language or considered collaborating, this episode is for you.


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Book Alchemy
The Secret Library Podcast
Most people believe that books are created in cabins all alone, where authors pound away on some manner of keyboard. Then they hand this masterpiece off to a publisher and it feels very much like it goes down a tube and comes out the other side as a book. By speaking to authors and other book lovers, I'm diving into the mystery that is the book world today.