There is a great international interest in Swedish literature. The Swedish Arts Council is the government agency with responsibility for promoting Swedish literature in translation. Through Swedish Literature Exchange we coordinate a number of efforts within the field.
This grant promotes international exchange and skill improvement activities among translators of Swedish literature and drama.
This grant aims to promote the international dissemination of high-quality Swedish literature and Swedish drama and to enable international exchanges in the field.
This grant aims to make it possible for more Swedish theatre plays in translation to be performed on stage abroad.
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Fundig schemes and lists over allocated grants
How we promote Swedish literature in translation
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Funding schemes for translation and promotion
Find out more about our grants and activities for translators
This booklet is for everyone interested in what’s happening in contemporary Swedish literature. You will discover promising debut authors as well as established voices. What they have in common is that they are all deemed to have the potential to reach more readers beyond Sweden’s borders.
In our new publication we introduce you to exciting children’s and YA authors writing in Swedish today. They are authors who have already found readers in other languages and have the potential to reach even more. The publication is a standalone follow-up to the edition from 2020.
In the first application round 2026 for grants for translators, we approved 25 applications. In this round we received many applications for sample translations, as well as travels to participate in Översättargruvan (the Translators’ Mine) at Hästbäcks gård.
The first funding round of grants for 2026 aimed at the international promotion of Swedish literature and drama has now been concluded. In this round, grants have been awarded 23 applications featuring a diverse range of literary events.
In connection with the Sámi National Day, we contacted Françoise Sule, who translates into French, and asked her to share her thoughts on translating Sámi literature. Sule has translated Je suis la mer (Far inte till havet) and Vies de Samis (Herrarna satte oss hit) by Elin Anna Labba.
In The House with the Two Towers (Huset med de två tornen), Maciej Zaremba dissects the events of his parents’ lives and how their war experiences led to an inevitable separation. Janny Middelbeek-Oortgiesen, who translates into Dutch, recommends a book that draws a finely nuanced portrait of childhood in post-war Poland.
Who Does Suzanne Osten Think She Is? is more than a magnificent and colourful portrait of one of the greatest theatre and film directors of our time. It is a portrait of a zeitgeist. Ana Valdés, who translates into Spanish, recommends Suzanne Osten’s autobiography published in 2021.
Emöke Andersson Lipcsey, who translates into Hungarian, recommends a book based on the life of the historical figure Johann Christian Woyzeck. The author Steve Sem-Sandberg uses W.’s fate to paint a shocking, true picture of how the brutality of war can affect and warp the character of the individual.