Bodil Malmsten (19 August 1944 – 5 February 2016) was a Swedish poet and novelist. Malmsten was born in Bjärme, Östersund Municipality. Due to her parents' early separation, she grew up at her maternal grandparents and at

foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home (residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family mem ...

Vällingby Vällingby () is a suburban district in Västerort in the western part of Stockholm Municipality, Sweden. History The agricultural land where the modern suburb now stands, has a history stretching some 2,000 years back (i.e. at least twice ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. Her paternal grandfather was designer and architect

Carl Malmsten Carl Malmsten (December 7, 1888 – August 13, 1972) was a Swedish furniture designer, architect, and educator who was known for his devotion to traditional Swedish craftmanship (''slöjd'') and his opposition to functionalism. He "considered ...

. She debuted as author in 1970 together with Peter Csihas (1945–2011) with their children's book ''Ludvig åker''. Csihas and Malmsten had a relationship during the 1960s and 70s and have a daughter,

Stefania ''Stefania'' is a genus of frogs in the family Hemiphractidae. They are native to the highlands of the Guiana Shield in southern Venezuela, Guyana, and adjacent far northern Brazil. Most are restricted to the tepui highlands, but '' S. evansi'' ...

, born 1967, who is designer and actor. The English translation of her novel, ''Priset på vatten i Finistère'' (''The Price of Water in Finistère'', translated by Frank Perry), was selected as a ''Book of the Week'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

. In the novel, having decided to pack up and leave her country of birth, she recounts the story her settling into her new home in the

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'', in Brittany. It is told in a series of

vignette Vignette may refer to: * Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy * Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters * Vignette (literature), short, i ...

s about gardening, learning the language, dealing with French

bureaucracy The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

, and struggling with

writer's block Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...

. She was awarded a doctorate ''

honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

ad gradum'' (

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

) by the Faculty of Human Sciences at the

Mid-Sweden University Mid Sweden University (''Mittuniversitetet'') is a Swedish state university located in the region around the geographical center of Sweden, with two campuses in the cities of Östersund and Sundsvall. The university closed a third campus in H� ...

Östersund Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön, ...

in 2006. Malmsten died of cancer at her home in

on 5 February 2016, aged 71.

Published works

*Dvärgen Gustaf (1977) *Damen, det brinner! (1984) *Paddan & branden (1987) *B-ställningar (1987) *Svartvita bilder (1988) *Nåd & onåd Idioternas bok (1989) *Nefertiti i Berlin (1990) *Landet utan lov (1991) *Det är ingen ordning på mina papper (1991) *Inte med den eld jag har nu : dikt för annan dam (1993) *Den dagen kastanjerna slår ut är jag långt härifrån (1994) *Nästa som rör mig (1996) — ''The next one who touches me'' *Undergångarens sånger (1998) *Priset på vatten i Finistère (2001) (published in English as ''The Price of Water in Finistère'' ) *Det är fortfarande ingen ordning på mina papper (2003) * Kom och hälsa på mig om tusen år (2007) *Det här är hjärtat (2015)

References

External links

* 1944 births 2016 deaths People from Östersund Municipality Writers from Jämtland Swedish-language poets Litteris et Artibus recipients Swedish women poets Swedish women novelists 20th-century Swedish novelists 20th-century Swedish poets 21st-century Swedish novelists 21st-century Swedish poets 20th-century Swedish women writers 21st-century Swedish women writers {{Sweden-writer-stub

Published works

References

Further reading

External links