When our world has been a troubled place and we have not been able to travel or meet our loved ones, many have instead traveled into the world of fiction.
The book publisher Polaris has recently seen an increasing trend of family stories and time travel back in time.
The fact that several authors portray their family right now may be due to the fact that many have had more time to reflect on their lives during the pandemic, believes editor Sofia Brattselius Thunfors.
Another genre that is very popular is the historical novel, where the reader is moved far away in time and space.
- We have previously seen success with stories that take place in the 18th century, but I think we will see much more of it in the future as well.
And it is noticeable among the scripts that are sent in, that there are a lot of historical stories, says Sofia Brattselius Thunfors.
What do you think it depends on?
- I have a feeling that, when it looks like it does in the world, that we both need the escapism that it is to look back, but also to understand our future.
The comforter's comeback
Bonnier's publishers have also noticed an increased need for an escape from reality.
An example is the popular genre cozy crime, the cozy detective story, which offers the reader a fair amount of suspense.
The books often take place in a safe and idyllic place, not infrequently in the English countryside.
- I think there will be more stories in the Agatha Christie direction that are as far from the dystopian as we can only imagine, says Daniel Sandström, literary director and publisher at Albert Bonnier's publishing house.
Pandemic in contemporary literature
The pandemic has not only affected what we want to read right now, but also what the stories of our own time will look like.
Håkan Bravinger, literary director at Norstedt's publishing house, compares the pandemic with the fall of the Berlin Wall and how contemporary German literature changed afterwards.
There was a clear before and after.
- It can probably happen after the pandemic as well, that our contemporary literature changes.
And now the whole world has also been affected, the pandemic is an international trauma, says Håkan Bravinger at Norstedt's publishing house.
- It is something that all authors will have to relate to in the next few years if you are to write contemporary novels.
Should you bring the pandemic or not, and if so, how should you relate to it?
says Sofia Brattselius Thunfors at the book publisher Polaris.
She is supported by Daniel Sandström at Albert Bonnier's publishing house:
- Gradually, I also think that there will be stories that handle or process long-term covid but also what the isolation does to us, he says.
In the clip: Hear the publishers about how the pandemic has affected the literature.