A number of previous August Prize winners published books this year, notes the Publishers' Association CEO Mikaela Zabrodsky, who calls it "a heavy book year". Among 514 submitted proposals, others such as Lydia Sandgren, Patrik Svensson, Oskar Kroon and Bea Uusma have now been sifted out.
But Klas Östergren, who has been nominated three times before, was not selected for the critically acclaimed "Klenoden". On the other hand, August Prize winner Lina Wolff gets a third chance, with "Liken vi begravde".
I'm starting to get a little used to the life of writing books and these cycles, with total solitude for many years and then total exposure for a few months, she says.
Children's and youth author Oskar Kroon is almost ashamed of his third nomination.
There are plenty of good authors and books that should also get to come forward. People will come forward anyway, but this is an arena where you are seen. And that I should stand there time after time...
Evil sudden death
Among this year's fiction books, there is a graphic novel about a father with ALS and poetry about the loneliness of being a couple. Several books also depict evil, sudden death. Lina Wolff writes about two twins in a small Scanian community – actually, the novel is about growing up in the shadow of the notorious Helén murder in Hörby.
The deed occurred when Lina Wolff was 16 years old and strongly affected the village. She has long wanted to write about it, without daring to.
Every time this is brought up again, it becomes difficult for everyone, that's why I have portrayed it as I have done. But I have still poked my finger into the wound, she says.
In the midst of the raw and dirty, humor and warmth still shine through. Mikael Yvesand is also praised for his humor, in the depiction of an incomprehensible act of violence. He is nominated for the first time, for "Våran pojke".
It feels really weird, he says, still amazed that there were those who liked his debut "Hang city".
Books about class
Yvesand writes about a young man who kills a mother and a little boy.
I wanted to get to know that type of people, who you never get close to in life.
Patrik Svensson also writes about a brutal act in "Den barmhärtige mördaren": a man who kills his children. Like several of this year's nominees in the non-fiction genre, it's about class – here, particularly the statarsystemet.
This kind of strictly regulated poverty and inequality creates a kind of fatalism, and an inability to see that another reality is possible. I think that hopelessness is literally life-threatening in a society.
Elin Swedenmark/TT
Vera Leijonklo/TT
Fact: This year's nominees
TT
This year's fiction book
"En inre angelägenhet" by Kristian Fredén
"Tomhet och ömhet" by Isabella Nilsson
"Artens överlevnad" by Lydia Sandgren
"Ett år av apokalyptiskt tänkande" by Linda Spåman
"Liken vi begravde" by Lina Wolff
"Våran pojke" by Mikael Yvesand
This year's non-fiction book
"Stinas bästa vän. En hundägares glädje, sorg och förundran" by Göran Greider
"Historien om Norrland. Framtidens land: träpatroner, världskrig och nya drömmar" by Robin Olovsson
"Bruno Liljefors. En biografi" by Fredrik Sjöberg
"Tvätten. En bok om kvinnor och klass" by Lena Sohl
"Den barmhärtige mördaren. En berättelse om de sista statarna" by Patrik Svensson
"Vitön" by Bea Uusma
This year's children's and youth book
"Hur låter djuren? Mitt första bestiarium" by Clara Dackenberg
"Klara – Tvättbjörnarnas stad" by Fabian Göranson
"Osynligt" by Annica Hedin and Karin Cyrén
"Det finns inget paradis" by Oskar Kroon
"Jenka och jag" by Elin Lindell
"Vi måste ha ketchup!" by Pija Lindenbaum and Anna Åkerström
Little August Prize
"Flamman hon bär" by Ella Cronsten
"Göta Lejon" by Sixten Englund
"Ett par leriga skor" by Adam Green
"Ketchup" by Maja Grönroos
"Nordisk vår" by Svante Lingdén
"Kemiskt" by Astrid Rimm
