STEVE SEM-SANDBERG (b. 1958) is one of Sweden’s foremost literary fiction writers. He lives in Stockholm and writes literary criticism for Dagens Nyheter in addition to his novels. He was awarded the August Prize for his 2009 novel The Emperor of Lies, which portrays a Jewish ghetto in the Polish city of Łódź during the Holocaust. The novel has become an international success, sold to more than twenty-five countries.
SEM-SANDBERG BROKE THROUGH with Theres (1996), Only the Images Remain (1999), and Ravensbrück (2003), a fictionalized trilogy following three prominent women writers of the 20th century – Milena Jesenská, Ulrike Meinhof and Lou Andreas Salomé – met with great critical acclaim throughout Scandinavia. He continued with From Here to the Great Commons (2005) exploring suburban life in 1970s Stockholm, after which he received Samfundet De Nio’s Grand Prize.
SEM-SANDBERG’S DEFINING OUTPUT has made him one of the most important contemporary voices in Scandinavia. He was awarded a scholarship for great literary contributions from Natur & Kultur in 2018, the Delblanc Prize in 2021, and the Selma Lagerlöf Prize for Literature in 2024. His 2019 novel W. was shortlisted for the August Prize and Swedish Radio’s Literature Prize, as well as the Nordic Council Literature Prize, marking his third time on this list.
IN 2020, SEM-SANDBERG was elected into the Swedish Academy, taking seat number 14.
Books
Fiction
