Håkan Sandell (born 16 February 1962 in Västra Skrävlinge) is a Swedish poet.

Life and career

Håkan Sandell emerged in the 1980s as a member of ''Malmöligan'', a group of poets based in

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

, consisting of Sandell, Clemens Altgård, Per Linde, Kristian Lundberg,

Lukas Moodysson Karl Fredrik Lukas Moodysson (; born 17 January 1969) is a Swedish filmmaker, novelist, and short story writer. First coming to prominence as an ambitious poet in the 1980s, he had his big domestic and international breakthrough directing the 1 ...

and Martti Soutkari. Although diverse in style and subjects, the members were inspired by

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

, the Danish poet Michael Strunge and differed from the politicised poetry that had dominated Sweden in the 1970s. The group disbanded in 1993 after which Sandell moved to Denmark, Ireland and eventually Norway. In the 1990s, Sandell and Altgård wrote the pamphlet ''Om retrogardism'' ("on retrogardism"), in which they advocated a literature rooted in traditional expressions. Sandell has mentioned the painter

Odd Nerdrum Odd Nerdrum (born 8 April 1944) is a Norwegian Figurative art, figurative painting, painter. A controversial figure in Norway, he is known for his anti-modernist stance. Themes and style in Nerdrum's work reference anecdote and narrative. Primar ...

as an important influence for this direction away from

modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

. The first Nerdrum painting he saw was '' Return of the Sun'', through which he realised which qualities modernism was missing: "the pathetic, the heroic, the sentimental, the nostalgic, the decadent, the Luciferian, the declamatory, the dramatic, the Dantean! (Dantesque?), the Gothic, late

Manierism Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it. ...

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...

symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

, etc." A volume of Sandell's poetry titled ''Dog Star Notations: Selected Poems 1999 - 2016'' appeared in English in 2016, translated by Bill Coyle and published by

Carcanet Press Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom. Originally a student magazine devised by undergraduates collaborating between Oxford and Cambridge, it was refounded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt. In 2000 it was nam ...

Selected bibliography

* 1981 – ''Cathy'', poetry * 1982 – ''Europé'', poetry * 1983 – ''En poets blod'', poetry * 1984 – ''Efter sjömännen ; Elektrisk måne'', poetry * 1986 – ''Johnny – en bokfilm'', prose * 1988 – ''Flickor'', poetry * 1990 – ''Skampåle'', poetry * 1991 – ''Dikter för analfabeter'', poetry * 1992 – ''Bestiarium'', privat print * 1994 – ''Fröer och undergång'', poetry * 1995 – ''Om retrogardism'', pamphlet (with Clemens Altgård) * 1995 – ''Mikkel Rävs skatt'' * 1996 – ''Sjungande huvud'', poetry * 1999 – ''Midnattsfresken'', poetry * 2002 – ''Traditionens uppvaknande'', essays * 2002 - ''Så som skymningen älskar dig'', translations from Amanda Aizpuriete * 2003 – ''Oslo-Passionen'', poetry * 2003 – ''Gåvor : valda dikter 1984-2002'', poetry * 2004 – ''Begynnelser : en barndom i tjugotvå dikter'', poetry * 2006 – ''Skisser till ett århundrade'', poetry * 2009 – ''Gyllene dagar'', poetry * 2012 – ''Jag erkänner att jag levde upp mitt liv'', translations * 2013 – ''Ode till demiurgen'', poetry

Accolades

* 2004 – Kallebergerstipendiet from the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy (), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body t ...

* 2007 – Sveriges Essäfonds pris from Föreningen för Sveriges Kulturtidskrifter * 2010 – De Nios Vinterpris from

Samfundet De Nio Samfundet De Nio (''The Nine Society'' or ''Society of the Nine'') is a Swedish literary society founded on 14 February 1913 in Stockholm by a testamentary donation from writer Lotten von Kraemer. The society has nine members who are elected for ...

References

External links

Presentation
at the Swedish publisher's website
Presentation
at the British publisher's website {{DEFAULTSORT:Sandell, Hakan 1962 births 20th-century Swedish poets 21st-century Swedish poets Writers from Malmö Swedish male poets Swedish-language poets Living people 20th-century Swedish male writers 21st-century Swedish male writers