22 years later – Ramqvist recreates her Jamaica

A young woman becomes visible to herself – in loving, writing, but also as a white European. 22 years after the furious debut novel "More fire" Karolina Ramqvist recreates Jamaica, but now in a love novel.

» Updated:

» Published:

22 years later – Ramqvist recreates her Jamaica
Photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT

Share this article

As a 20-year-old, music writer Karolina Ramqvist traveled with a friend to the West Indies. 40 years after the revolution, they were supposed to go to Cuba, but made a detour to Jamaica, mainly to buy records, and stayed.

I traveled back and forth for maybe five years, it was a very long time. I had a life there, she says now.

The young woman in her new novel "The First Book" makes a similar journey – but alone – which also becomes crucial for her writing.

It probably reflects how it worked for me myself. A young woman in the world does not have unconditional access to all kinds of rooms. I could be in places and experience that I had the right to move around there because I wrote, but also that I betrayed something when I wrote about them.

Strongest Hold

The main character in "More Fire" becomes aware of Jamaica as a center for the transatlantic slave trade. Karolina Ramqvist has not read her debut novel again, but remembers the anger in the "report book" from the beginning of her writing career. In the new novel, the colonial history is more of a background. The young woman primarily experiences a passionate love affair with a black man.

Maybe this is the book I wanted to write then, but couldn't. I've never been trained as a writer, I've written and read my way to it.

Writing is a kind of law of maximum resistance – it's in the resistance that it burns. Last time it led to the autobiographical coming-of-age story "Bread and Milk", now to a fictional story about a young woman's growing up through a love that hurts but meets obstacles.

Love is always a kind of competition for power, but here it's perhaps a power relationship that is taken to its extreme, especially since she comes from Europe and is free to move around the world as she pleases, while he is not.

Real Violence

The main character's Swedish boyfriend on a tense visit fears the Jamaican violence – which, however, affects Jamaicans, not tourists like him. For the young woman, the violence becomes at least as real at home in the Swedish kitchen.

There are always parts that I may not want to write, but that write themselves, and it was very much so with this book, including this story about the white man's violence. In retrospect, I can see that it serves a function.

Erika Josefsson/TT

Facts: Karolina Ramqvist

TT

Born: 1976.

Background: Journalist, author.

Books: Debuted with "More Fire" (2002). Her novel "The Beginning of Everything" (2012) was selected as a Stockholm Reads book this year. Among her most notable novels are "The Girlfriend" (2009), "The White City" (2015), "The Bear Woman" (2019), and "Bread and Milk" (2022).

Currently reading: Eduardo Alfon, this year's Berman Prize winner, whose "Canción" is now being published in Swedish.

Tips for those who want to read about Jamaica: "A Brief Chronicle of Seven Murders" by Marlon James.

Tags

Author

TTT
By TTEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for local and international readers

More news

Lenin Prize Awarded to Climate Researcher Andreas Malm

Lenin Prize Awarded to Climate Researcher Andreas Malm

Monkees Songwriter Bobby Hart Dies at 86

Monkees Songwriter Bobby Hart Dies at 86

Shakespeare Drama Hamnet Wins Audience Award at Toronto Film Festival

Shakespeare Drama Hamnet Wins Audience Award at Toronto Film Festival

Brazilian Jazz Icon Hermeto Pascoal Passes Away at 89

Brazilian Jazz Icon Hermeto Pascoal Passes Away at 89

Coldplay's Chris Martin Urges Love for Charlie Kirk's Family After Tragedy

Coldplay's Chris Martin Urges Love for Charlie Kirk's Family After Tragedy

James Nelson-Joyce Eyed as Potential Next James Bond Actor

James Nelson-Joyce Eyed as Potential Next James Bond Actor

Israeli Military Storms Oscar Winner Basel Adra's Home in West Bank

Israeli Military Storms Oscar Winner Basel Adra's Home in West Bank

Jonas Hassen Khemiri Nominated for National Book Award in USA

Jonas Hassen Khemiri Nominated for National Book Award in USA

Dance Band VAT Reduction to 6 Percent Proposed for July 2026

Dance Band VAT Reduction to 6 Percent Proposed for July 2026

Malmö Art Hall Launches Inclusive Studio for Artists with Disabilities

Malmö Art Hall Launches Inclusive Studio for Artists with Disabilities

Ellerströms Wins Örnen and Kråkan Poetry Prize

Ellerströms Wins Örnen and Kråkan Poetry Prize

Record Number of Songs Submitted to Melodifestivalen 2026

Record Number of Songs Submitted to Melodifestivalen 2026

Netherlands Joins Eurovision Boycott Threat Over Israel's Participation

Netherlands Joins Eurovision Boycott Threat Over Israel's Participation

SVT's The Game: Swedish Celebrities Face Intense Drama in New Show

SVT's The Game: Swedish Celebrities Face Intense Drama in New Show

Swedish Actor Per Mattsson Passes Away at 77

Swedish Actor Per Mattsson Passes Away at 77

Suede Announces Two Sweden Concerts Next Year

Suede Announces Two Sweden Concerts Next Year

Munich Philharmonic Concert in Belgium Canceled Over Conductor's Views

Munich Philharmonic Concert in Belgium Canceled Over Conductor's Views

TV4 Play Streams Malin Åkerman's Hit Series The Hunting Wives

TV4 Play Streams Malin Åkerman's Hit Series The Hunting Wives

Karin Wiklund and Annica Styrke Win Birgit Cullberg Scholarship

Karin Wiklund and Annica Styrke Win Birgit Cullberg Scholarship

Dexter Returns as a Taxi Driver in New York in New Series

Dexter Returns as a Taxi Driver in New York in New Series