The Acclaimed Swedish writer Ia Genberg talks about writing truly about things other from herself, coming from journalism and working as a nurse and her passion for writing.
In this video Ia Genberg explains how she never wants to write about herself “I’m not really that interesting. Why would I write about myself? And why would anyone want to read it? It’s super uninteresting. I can write about my experiences, but I have to be a good liar to make it appear true.”
She talks about how she started working as a nurse, coming from journalism originally, but while writing The Details she needed a bread-and-butter job “combining fiction with journalism was hard for me. I use the same fuel no matter what I write. It’s the same letters, and they are exhausted per se in journalism. Lots of writers can combine the two. I can’t.”
Genberg goes to explain how as a nurse she finds value, that she can’t find in writing “by definition, nursing is meaningful. After moving a comma around for three weeks I sometimes think “what am I doing?” But being a nurse is always meaningful. You help people and that’s always rewarding.”
Ia Genberg (b. 1967) is a Swedish novelist, journalist and nurse. In 2012 she debuted with her first novel, Sweet Friday – in Swedish Söta fredag. The fourth novel of Genberg’s The Details – Detaljerna, won the August Prize in 2022. The English translation was shortlisted for the 2024 International Booker Prize.
Ia Genberg was interviewed by Klaus Rothstein at the Louisiana Literature festival at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark in August 2023. In the video Ia Genberg is reading an excerpt from her novel The Details in Swedish Detaljerna, 2021.
Camera: Rasmus Quistgaard
Produced and edited by: Astrid Agnes Hald
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2024.
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