[SKRIVA] Stig Larsson-priset
- From: Ahrvid <ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "skriva@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <skriva@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 17:31:15 +0100
(Skrev på engelska då det kanske finns visst internationellt intresse. -_AE)
The Stieg Larsson Prize
The Stieg Larsson Prize was presented Monday November 10th, in cooperation with
the public benefit foundation Teskedsorden ("Order of the Teaspoon"), which
promotes openness and tolerance, and they also presented their own
scholarships. It was a nice evening in the Eric Ericson Hall, a former church
with an impressive cupola you can see all over Stockholm harbour. Presenter was
Lill Lindfors, a top artist in Swedish music life for many decades. (Quite
famous is her dress gimmick as host of the 1985 Eurovision Song Contest, which
you can see here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZJlFIdG8R8 .)
There was high-class entertainment during the evening too. Henrik Mawe played
Franz Schubert on piano, Anna Salameh read a monologue and Emil Jensen a long
and very clever poem about tolerance and diversity. The entertainment highlight
was an excerpt of a stage show about the life of Sammy Davis Jr, performed by
Rennie Mirro and Karl Dyall - a wonderful piece with song and dance.
The Teskedsorden scholarships (worth ca 4500 euros) went to Ebba Åkerman for
a project bringing immigrants and Swedes together over meals. It was shared
with the artist Jason "Timbuktu" Diakité, for his anti-racist work, which he
has done in writing and speeches - beside this he is a top artist in Swedish
hip-hop and some of the girls gathered around him afterwards. We also had
something to eat and drink, for this evening vegetarian food. I'm not fond of
vegetarianism - the idea we can't eat animals is ethically a misconception! -
but I must say that the soup served was rather good (I took a second bowl of
it).
But for me of course, The Stieg Larsson Award was the main thing. I used to
know Stieg when he was active in the local sf club SFSF, approx 1977-1981. He
edited their newsletter (together with Eva Gabrielsson) and was even chairman
for a period. The club had lots of meetings, mincons etc, you bumped into him
weekly and some evenings we had long debates in the famous SFSF cellar. He then
more or less disappeared from the science fiction horizon and concentrated on
writing about and working against neonazis and racism. This is also what the
prize in his name is awarded for.
This year's Stieg Larsson Award (worth ca 18 000 euros) went to Soraya Post
and Thomas Hammarberg, for work with anti-ziganism, ie against discrimination
of the Romani people. It is a very hot topic in Sweden today, where many Romani
can be seen begging ourside shops. Post is Romani herself and new Swedish
Member of the European Parliament for the feminist party. Hammarberg has a long
humanitarian career, eg work with the UN and Amnesty International. See more
here: http://www.stieglarssonfoundation.se/the-annual-stieg-larsson-prize/
It all became rather interesting after entertainment and awards. The family
Larsson, father Erland and brother Joakim, was there as well as David
Lagercrantz, the author who has been given the task of writing the new
Millennium novel. I have met them before (I attended one earlier Stieg Larsson
Prize evening) and had some chats with them.
Everyone is of course curious about the new Millennium book. Lagercrantz has
now produced a draft of it and editing has begun. The novel is not based on the
partial fourth manuscript Stieg left behind (due to controversies between the
Larsson family and Eva Gabrielsson - google for info) but is a new story in the
same "universe" and of course Lisbeth and Mikael. I catched him for a few
minutes. He couldn't give me the title of his book, since it wasn't decided,
but agreed on that the US title will certainly begin "The Girl Who...". The
novel will be launched in August 2015, simultaneously in several major
languages! After editing it will be translated during the spring. The launch
will probably be a major, international event.
Lagercrantz isn't allowed to spill many details, but the said he worked very
hard with the plot. Stieg was very good at it, he said, so he had to really be
on his toes to try to match him. On TV he has said that he has worked like a
dog with the book, but here he also said that once the work begun it was a
rather comfortable flow. Lagercrantz is known for eg biographies. He has
written books about Alan Turin and the Swedish inventor Håkan Lans, and his
biggest success was a book about the Swedish football star Zlatan Ibrahimovic,
which also made him a lot of money. He thus doesn't need to write the
Millennium novel for the money - it was the challenge that attracted him. He
also said he tried to develop the characters, especially Lisbeth Salander, and
he has introduced some new ones.
He doesn't have a contract for a fifth book yet. Everything hangs on how the
fourth book will be received. It may be totally cut down by reviewers or people
may love it and ask for more. It's a risky project.
And then I bumped into Kurdo Baksi, friend of Stieg, and he remembered me
from the previous Stieg Larsson Prize I went to and said Hi! He stood by a
table with Erland Larsson (Stieg's father) so I joined, and soon Stieg's
brother Joakim joined us. Erland now around 80, complained that his strength
isn't what it used to be. They both live in normal houses (no huge palaces
built) and of course have a lot to do with the Stieg Larsson legacy. Travelling
around, fixing things, contracts, contacts, but despite their prominence they
can still walk around on the streets of Umeå, their northern hometown, without
being molested or attract undue attention (but there have been some Stieg
Larsson events during the Umeå Cultural Capital Year). People up in the north
aren't easily impressed. Like: "So, you have 100 million and are Stieg's
relatives. Do you want to go fishing tomorrow..."
I didn't ask anything about the relations with Eva Gabrielsson, an infected
story so many have written so much about, but I got the impression there is
nothing new happening around this. I do hope some sort of agreement can be
reached one day. It's a painful story. Joakim told me that they've tried to
contact Rune Forsgren who was Stieg's co-editor of many of the fanzines they
made in the 1970's, but Forsgren now seems to be a bit reclusive and hasn't
responded. I have wondered myself what has happened to him, but it remains a
mystery - he was one of the more active sf fans in the 1970's.
There is nothing new about a possible Hollywood film of books two and three.
Søren Stærmose, who produced the three Swedish film adaptons, was there and
said problem was money and Daniel Craig, who has been quite occupied - and also
is rather expensive. Contrary to some rumours the American version of book one
wasn't a loss, though it perhaps made a little bit less money than some
Hollywood moguls had counted on. If Lagercrantz's fourth novel becomes a
success, it is quite possible there will be a fourth Swedish film, even if
Noomi Rapace has now risen to a status of major international film star (that
may be an advantage, even).
Aside from walking around and chatting and taking pictures with my mobile, I
also sat down for a while at Lill Lindfors' table. I was totally numb from
starstuckenness, because she is a living legend, and just to be in her presence
for a few minutes is a memory for life...
I left the Eric Ericson Hall with lots of impressions after a superb,
entertaining evening.
--Ahrvid Engholm--
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