Not once in the August Prize's over thirty years of history has a comic book novel been nominated in the category of this year's Swedish fiction book.
Until now.
- We have fought for this in the series industry for ten, twenty, thirty years.
As long as the August price has existed.
And now it happens, and I was still not prepared, you could say, says Mats Jonsson.
Sami roots
Mats Jonsson is nominated for his seventh comic novel When We Were Sami, which is about his own, sometimes dark, Sami family history.
- I have learned so much in recent years.
It has changed my life, for better or worse, he says.
Other nominated books in the genre include Euphoria - A Novel about Sylvia Plath by Elin Cullhed, Revival by Kjell Espmark and The Singularity by Balsam Karam.
Weight Training
In the non-fiction genre, the former August Prize winner Magnus Västerbro's new book Tyrannens tid, about Sweden under the dictatorial regime of Charles XII during the early 18th century, can be seen.
Freelance journalist Sara Martinsson, who wrote the book Knäböj, is making her book debut about women who do strength training.
- I'm obsessed with strength training.
And when it comes to women, there are many stereotypical images of who can be strong, and what typical male and female bodies should look like, she says.
More Sami
Nominated in the children's and youth book category are picture books by, among others, the sisters Adbåge, Linda Bondestam and Emma Virke.
The youth book Himlabrand by 23-year-old debutant Moa Backe Åstot is about the Sami Ánte, with environments taken from the author's own life in Jokkmokk.
- Ánte's story is not my story, but I also have reindeer and the environmental descriptions I wrote when I sat in the mountains, she says.