Is this for real? says Tony Samuelsson to TT, holding the heavy statuette.
During his 35 years as an author, he has never been nominated for the August Prize before – now he suddenly stands on the Dramaten stage with the prize in his hand. What the prize means to him, who appreciates his anonymity in the countryside outside Orsa, he does not yet know.
"The King of Nostratien" begins with a proletarian author being commissioned to fill in strange gaps in a best-selling author's manuscript.
Language, class, friendship, and a little love are probably what the book revolves around, says Samuelsson in an attempt to summarize the book that took ten years to write.
"Without selling out"
The seed was sown when he heard a publisher's editor lamenting over a manuscript. In his novel, the best-selling author is named Göran Frid.
He is a kind of ideal author, an ideal author who may not exist in Sweden. He can combine this with writing for many without selling out himself.
The August Prize in the children's and young adult category is awarded to "Chop chop. A brave earth dweller's tale" by Linda Bondestam. It was the fourth time she was nominated for the prize – but the first time she gets it.
I can't understand it, I think I'm dreaming, she says.
A "masterpiece"
The dystopian robot epic is a "masterpiece" made with equal parts humor and subtle social criticism, according to the jury. In her book, she describes a future that is very close to our own. What happens to the robot Chop Chop when everything has to go at rocket speed?
The world is spinning even faster than today, it's an inhuman pace, it's hard to be human, simply, she says.
Faster's suicide
The August Prize in the non-fiction category goes to Christian Rück, professor of psychiatry, for "A life worth living". According to the jury, a book written with "a liberating self-evidence".
Based on his aunt's suicide and several other patient cases, Christian Rück leads the reader through difficult and uncomfortable questions. In his book, he also manages to get "beyond and through all the taboos surrounding the subject", the jury emphasizes.
I didn't even think I would be nominated, this is a subject that people are so afraid of, even journalists. I hope it makes it a little easier for people to read a book about this difficult subject, that it becomes a kind of "sign of approval", a recommendation to read it, he says.
This year's fiction book:
"The King of Nostratien" by Tony Samuelsson,
.
This year's non-fiction book:
"A life worth living. Why suicide became humanity's companion" by Christian Rück
.
This year's children's and young adult book:
"Chop chop. A brave earth dweller's tale" by Linda Bondestam
.
The Little August Prize:
"Desert swindle" by Marcus Hägglund
