Sara Brita Stridsberg (born 29 August 1972) is a Swedish author and playwright. Her first novel, Happy Sally, was about Sally Bauer, who in 1939 had become the first Scandinavian woman to swim the English Channel.
Her big international breakthrough came with the publication of The Faculty of Dreams/Valerie in 2006. The novel received the Nordic Council Award in 2007, and was nominated to the Man Booker award when published 2019 in the UK and US. Her novels are today translated into 25 languages.
In 2007, she was awarded the Nordic Council Literature Prize for her novel Drömfakulteten (Valerie, or The Faculty of Dreams),[1] which is her second novel and a fictitious story about Valerie Solanas, who wrote the SCUM Manifesto, which Stridsberg has translated into Swedish. The English translation by Deborah Bragan-Turner was longlisted for the 2019 International Booker Prize.[2]
Svenska Dagbladet called Stridsberg "one of our foremost nature poets" and considered her among the best in contemporary Swedish literature while noting that Stridsberg's novels are always discomforting to read.[3]
In 2016, Stridsberg was elected to the 13th chair on the Swedish Academy previously occupied by Gunnel Vallquist.[4] She was inducted into the Academy on 20 December 2016.[5] On 27 April 2018 she left the Academy, in solidarity with Sara Danius.[6]
