GLORIA RAY KARLMARK is one of the “Little Rock Nine”, a group of black students who, in 1957, enrolled at the previously all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, following the historical Supreme Court decision that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. This made them prominent figures in the history of the American Civil Rights movement, and they were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for selfless heroism in 1999, and the Spingarn Medal in 1958. 

SHE WAS BORN in 1942 as the third child to Harvey C Ray and Julia Miller. She graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology in 1965 and shortly after moved to Europe where she married Krister Karlmark. She has worked for IBM and Phillips and co-founded the journal Computers in Industry, for which she was editor-in-chief until 1991. 

ELISABETH ÅSBRINK, BORN 1965, is one of Sweden’s most prominent non-fiction writers. She has written several praised books on historic and current topics, and has reached a widespread audience, especially with 1947. When Now Begins and And in the Vienna Woods the Trees Remain.

ÅSBRINK WAS NOMINATED for The August Prize for her first three books and won it for best non-fiction book 2011 for And in the Vienna Woods the Trees Remain. In addition to The August Prize, the book has been awarded the Danish-Swedish Cultural Foundation Culture Award in 2013, and Rychard Kapuscinski Award for best literary reportage in 2013.

AS A WRITER, Åsbrink is extremely loyal to the ideals that guide her: seeking the truth, respecting the people she writes about as well as their stories, and smoking out oppression and hypocrisy.

Books

Non-Fiction