Göran Sonnevi

Göran Sonnevi
Göran Sonnevi reading from The Ocean in 2006.
Born	Göran Sonnevi (1939-10-03) 3 October 1939 Lund, Sweden
Nationality	Swedish
Alma mater	University of Lund
Period	1961–
Notable works	The Ocean

Göran Sonnevi (born 3 October 1939 in Lund, Skåne County) is a Swedish poet and translator. Sonnevi grew up in Halmstad; he studied literature and linguistics at the University of Lund, also getting librarian training. For many years he has lived in Järfälla outside Stockholm.

Sonnevi is one of the most esteemed poets of modern Sweden and is known as well as a successful and conscientious translator (e.g. of Osip Mandelstam, Ezra Pound and Friedrich Hölderlin). Some of his poems look into topical and political matters of the contemporary scene: the Vietnam War, the Cold War and its ending phases, globalization, immigration and ethnic/cultural conflicts, 9/11 and the Iraq War (both mentioned in the long titular suite of Oceanen), but his conclusions are more searching than easy. The rhythmic and musical qualities of his free verse, with sharp line breaks in the middle of phrases or long, flowing and building lines, are present even when he brings in formal or highly specialized scientific expressions. His work has been translated into several languages.

Awards and honors

In 2005, he won the Swedish Academy Nordic Prize, known as the 'little Nobel'. In 2006, he won The Nordic Council's Literature Prize for his collection Oceanen (the Ocean).

Bibliography

Outfört (1961)
Abstrakta dikter (1963)
ingrepp-modeller (1965)
och nu! (1967)
Det gäller oss. Dikter 1959-1968 (1969)
Det måste gå (1970)
Det oavslutade språket (1972) ('The unfinished language')
Dikter 1959-1973 (1974) ('Poems 1959-1973')
Det omöjliga (1975) ('The Impossible')
Språk; Verktyg; Eld (1979) ('Language; Tools; Fire')
Dikter 1959-1972, rev. utg. (1981) ('Poems 1959-1972, revised edition' - two poems which were later included in Det omöjliga have been edited out)
Små klanger; en röst (1981) ('Tiny sonorities; a voice')
Dikter utan ordning (1983) ('Poems without order')
Oavslutade dikter (1987) ('Unfinished poems')
Trädet (1991) ('The Tree')
Mozarts tredje hjärna (1996) ('Mozart's third brain')
Klangernas bok (1998) ('Book of Chords')
Oceanen (2005) ('The Ocean')

External links

Göran Sonnevi – the poet who won the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize 2006

Poems by Göran Sonnevi in the online journal Typomag - translated from the Swedish by Rika Lesser

Nordic Council Literature Prize winners

1960s	1962: The Days of His Grace – Eyvind Johnson 1963: Under the North Star 3: Reconciliation – Väinö Linna 1964: The Ice Palace – Tarjei Vesaas 1965: From Hell to Paradise – Olof Lagercrantz and The Good Hope – William Heinesen 1966: Diwan on the Prince of Emgion – Gunnar Ekelöf 1967: Nye noveller – Johan Borgen 1968: Flight of the Eagle – Per Olof Sundman 1969: The Legionnaires – Per Olov Enquist

1970s	1970: Anna, I, Anna – Klaus Rifbjerg 1971: Coast of Slaves, Ships of Slaves & Islands of Slaves – Thorkild Hansen 1972: Sju ord på tunnelbanan – Karl Vennberg 1973: Kersantin poika – Veijo Meri 1974: Uden mål – og med – Villy Sørensen 1975: Siinä näkijä missä tekijä – Hannu Salama 1976: Að laufferjum & Að brunnum – Ólafur Jóhann Sigurðsson 1977: I de mörka rummen, i de ljusa – Bo Carpelan 1978: Dalen Portland – Kjartan Fløgstad 1979: Pubertet – Ivar Lo-Johansson

1980s	1980: Vredens barn – Sara Lidman 1981: Hauströkkrið yfir mér – Snorri Hjartarson 1982: Samuels bok – Sven Delblanc 1983: Om fjorten dage – Peter Seeberg 1984: The Christmas Oratorio – Göran Tunström 1985: A Day in Ostrobothnia – Antti Tuuri 1986: Líkasum – Rói Patursson 1987: Hudløs himmel – Herbjørg Wassmo 1988: Justice Undone – Thor Vilhjálmsson 1989: Roman 1987 – Dag Solstad

1990s	1990: For the Living and the Dead – Tomas Tranströmer 1991: The Sun, My Father – Nils-Aslak Valkeapää 1992: Night Watch – Fríða Á. Sigurðardóttir 1993: Byen og verden – Peer Hultberg 1994: Blackwater – Kerstin Ekman 1995: Angels of the Universe – Einar Már Guðmundsson 1996: Hva skal vi gjøre i dag og andre noveller – Øystein Lønn 1997: Bang. En roman om Herman Bang – Dorrit Willumsen 1998: After Having Spent a Night Among Horses – Tua Forsström 1999: Queen's Gate – Pia Tafdrup

2000s	2000: Drømmebroer – Henrik Nordbrandt 2001: The Discoverer – Jan Kjærstad 2002: The Half Brother – Lars Saabye Christensen 2003: Revbensstäderna – Eva Ström 2004: Juoksuhaudantie – Kari Hotakainen 2005: The Blue Fox – Sjón 2006: The Ocean – Göran Sonnevi 2007: Drömfakulteten – Sara Stridsberg 2008: Bavian – Naja Marie Aidt 2009: I Curse the River of Time – Per Petterson

2010s	2010: Purge – Sofi Oksanen 2011: Between the Trees – Gyrðir Elíasson 2012: Days in the History of Silence – Merethe Lindstrøm 2013: The Prophets of Eternal Fjord – Kim Leine 2014: Mirage 38 – Kjell Westö

List of Nordic Council's Literature Prize winners and nominees

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 113532157 LCCN: n80049758 ISNI: 0000 0000 8314 6160 GND: 11898621X SUDOC: 028460677 BNF: cb12029198v (data)