Here are this year's August favorites

The resurrection after the Nobel Prize has not even been able to settle before it is time to look at the next literary prize, which is one of Sweden's most prestigious. On Monday, October 21, the nominations will be presented at this year's August Prize.

One of the most touted writers is Steve Sem-Sandberg, with his portrayal of a soldier's death in 19th-century war-torn Europe. The novel "W" deals with vulnerable people and can be translated at any time, says critic Sara Abdollahi.

-He does not write about Instagram, Tinder and the Swedish contemporary but has a bigger perspective, she states.

Also Sara Meidell, cultural editor at Västerbotten Courier, believes that Steve Sem-Sandberg is among the nominees, as well as "Testament" by Nina Wähä. At least one of her favorites also has a good chance, she believes: Monika Fagerholm with "Who killed the bamboo".

- I really hope so. She is back in her best shape and gives us this amazing language world and these suggestive places. And she also manages to put in a very important theme, about group psychology, violence, abuse and the gray zones in it, she says.

She would also like to see David Vikgren nominated, and thinks that "Materialvägenägen" is written with an "original language where he gets mythology, regional politics and the polyphonic story" in the same work.

-And what a shame it would be if poetry got the prize two years in a row, she says.

Sara Abdollahi also looks forward to the lyrics being highlighted this year as well, "so last year wasn't just an alibi". She hopes for Ann Jäderlund's "Lonely Talk", which she calls "grand".

-It describes the impossibility of talking to each other, and to hear each other. It may be needed today when everyone screams loudly but no one understands the other.

Her other favorite is the already award-winning Lina Wolff, who has written "Meat Time". Mikaela Blomqvist, a critic at the Gothenburg Post, also believes that it is a typical August book. But her personal favorite is Katarina Frostenson's "K".

-I think it is a very beautiful book that shows the power of literature and the difference between a literary truth and a journalistic truth, she says.

Jonas Eklöf, editor at We Read sees no obvious winner in the fiction class, but he also believes that Lina Wolff, Nina Wähä and Steve Sem-Sandberg are among the nominees. As other candidates he highlights Amanda Svensson's "A system so magnificent that it dazzles", Sara Villius "Madonna" and Monika Fagerholm's "Who killed the bamboo?"

In the category of children's and youth books, he believes in two picture books: Pija Lindenbaum's "We have to go to work" and "Just buttocks" by Annika Leone and Bettina Johansson.

Another frequently tipped book is "Diving Summer" by Sara Stridsberg and Sara Lundberg. Sara Meidell thinks that the book is "picture book art at its finest" and Sara Abdollahi thinks that the depiction of a lonely man lies in time.

"It is not educational but points to a fragility," she says.

Jonas Eklöf sees Patrik Svensson's "Ålevangeliet" as a likely winner in the trade book class, which is otherwise dominated by biographies: Anna-Karin Palm's book on Selma Lagerlöf is mentioned, as is Ingrid Carlberg's book on Alfred Nobel: "Nobel. The enigmatic Alfred, his world and his prize ”.