Eva Bonnier was Kristina Lugn's publisher for many years.
They used to meet at the Grand hotel to drink tea, eat scones and see how the writing was going.
Shortly before her death, Kristina Lugn told about a folder with poems she had found:
- Kristina said this to me, which became the book's title: And "it wasn't bad at all".
But there wasn't a real binder then, but I think it was her way of expressing that she found a stack of papers or poems she thought worked.
After Kristina Lugn passed away in May 2020, her daughter, the author Martina Montelius, told us that there was a lot of unsorted paper in the apartment.
Later, she handed them over in a large box to Eva Bonnier and the publisher Lina Rydén Reynols.
- Martina said: "Do what you can with this", says Eva Bonnier.
Darker poems
It took two years to go through the collected transcripts and compile the collection of poems.
From fragments and drafts, they have sorted out a selection.
- I would like to say that it is a darker collection of poems, death is closer, says Eva Bonnier.
- It's about death and about loneliness a lot, but what also repeats is this enormous love for the "children", or grandchildren, says Lina Rydén Reynols.
Hard to let go
Kristina Lugn published seven poetry collections.
"Hello, have a good time", was the last one to be published in 2003. When Eva Bonnier met her, they drank lap songs and talked, but seeing the poems she wrote was more difficult.
- We carried that conversation back and forth and several times she said "next week...".
Once she had her computer with her and was going to send me something, but she never succeeded.
Sometimes she asked: "You have to push me a little".
And then I did but nothing happened.
There was an inherent anxiety that she wouldn't be good enough.
- What you definitely recognize is the drastic humor, the simplicity that it appears to be, that it is so easy to take in.
And that is also why she is such a popular poet, says Lina Rydén Reynols.
In the clip below, Eva Bonnier and publisher Lina Rydén Reynols talk about the work behind the poetry collection.
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In the clip, Eva Bonnier and publisher Lina Rydén Reynols talk about the work behind the poetry collection.
Photo: TT