Linda Olsson writes from Sweden

I am now in Sweden where my third novel was published 5 August. It is now number 5 on the national booksellers’ chart, with over 20,000 hardback copies sold in three weeks. So, huge relief in many ways. This is my most New Zealand book yet, and it is a pity I won’t be back in NZ for the release there in October – as nerve racking in a sense as waiting for the first, very Swedish book to be released in Sweden.

This book is different from my other two in another way, too. This time I have written two originals – one in English, one in Swedish. What started as therapy to take me out of a bad case of writers’ block became a technique that added to both versions, I think. But neither is a translation, so inevitable they will read a little differently.

The title of the new book is ‘The kindness of  your nature’ which in Swedish became ‘Det goda inom dig’, literally ‘That which is good within you’. So far, the US, German, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish rights have been sold.

 In Sweden, all hell broke loose recently when internationally renowned Swedish crime writer Håkan Nesser had the nerve to respond to a bad review of his new novel, Himmel över London (Sky over London). The reviewer posted his comment on her blog and the media circus kicked in. I don’t understand why it is such a no-no to respond to a poorly written review. Why should authors be expected to suffer bigoted, sloppy, stupid reviews in silence? Lately, I have come to think that it would be a good thing if reviewers received the manuscripts anonymously. Then, at least, the association between the text and the author would be broken. It would be such a relief to see the text reviewed on its own merits. Wishful thinking, I guess, but still. Also, a volume of examples of excellent and really bad review writing would be refreshing. Let them feature as objects for once!