Honor and Valuable Support

Buying time for research and contemplation: That’s what stipends from Bonnier foundations can mean for writers, illustrators and translators, not to mention the honor.

For over a century, hundreds of authors, artists and journalists both up and coming and well-established have been the recipients of support from a range of Bonnier-based foundations. This year alone over SEK 1.5 million was awarded from five stipend funds.

For example, the Albert Bonnier Foundation 100th Anniversary Stipend Fund established in 1937 to celebrate the hundredth birthday of Albert Bonniers Förlag, supports writers who already have a body of work but deserve extra support that the fund can give.

The roster of past recipients is an honor roll of writers whose work is now part of the canon of Swedish culture, from novelist Hjalmar Söderberg and children’s author- illustrator Elsa Beskow, to ground-breaking journalist and feminist Barbro Alving, troubadour Evert Taube and Tove Jansson of Moomin fame. And years before they each received the Nobel Prize for Literature, Pär Lagerkvist, Harry Martinson and Tomas Tranströmer all received the stipend – in fact all three received it twice.

The stipendium means extremely much to me as a hardworking translator,” says Natalie Lantz, one of ten who received the stipend this year. A translator of Hebrew to Swedish, her most recent work is David Grossman’s Sus echad nikhnas le-bar (A Horse Walks Into a Bar) or En häst gå in på en bar in her translation. The generous stipend buys me time for research, time to listen to texts with sensitivity. It’s an honor to be acknowledged for the results of the delicate craft that the process of translation requires.”

Translator Natalie Lantz, Albert Bonnier Foundation 100th Anniversary Stipend Fund recipient (photo: Karl Gabor)

The Albert Bonnier Stipend Fund for Swedish Authors...

…given out annually since 1901 to authors who have had a significant literary work published during the year. Recipients for 2017:

 

  • Sigrid Combüchen for Sidonie och Nathalie (Sidonie and Nathalie), Norstedts
  • Tove Folkesson for Ölandssången (The song of Öland), Weyler Förlag
  • Gunnar D Hansson for Tapeshavet, (The Tapes Sea), Albert Bonniers Förlag
  • Nils Håkanson for Ödmården, Albert Bonniers Förlag
  • Agneta Pleijel for Doften av en man, (The scent of a man) Norstedts

The Albert Bonnier Foundation 100th Anniversary Stipend Fund...

…founded in 1937, provides awards annually to Swedish writers, journalists, illustrators and translators with an established body of work. Recipients for 2017 are:

 

  • Jan Erik Bornlid, translator
  • Jonas Brun, author
  • Cecilia Grönberg, illustrator
  • Johanna Holmström, author
  • Jesper Högström, popular science writer
  • Natalie Lantz, translator
  • Ola Larsmo, author
  • Hanna Nordenhök, author
  • Torgny Nordin, journalist
  • Oline Stig, author

The Albert Bonnier Stipend Fund for Young and New Writers...

…established in 1947. Recipients for 2017 are:

 

  • Marit Furn
  • Nanna Johansson
  • Thom Lundberg

The Gerard Bonnier Essay Prize...

…established in 1993, was awarded in 2017 to Per Molander for “Allt är vågor – Virginia Woolf och den moderna fysiken”, (Everything is waves – Virginia Woolf and modern physics), Weyler Förlag.

The Gerard Bonnier Poetry Prize...

…established in 1978, was awarded in 2017 to Johan Jönson for dit.dit-hään., Albert Bonniers Förlag.