Majgull Axelsson (born 1947 in

Landskrona Landskrona is a town in Scania, Sweden. Located on the shores of the Öresund, it occupies a natural port, which has lent the town at first military and subsequent commercial significance. Ferries operate from Landskrona to the island of Ven, an ...

) is a Swedish journalist and writer. She grew up in

Nässjö Nässjö () is a locality and the seat of Nässjö Municipality, Jönköping County, Sweden with 31,782 inhabitants in 2024. History For many years, Nässjö was a rural village with agriculture as the dominant occupation. The turning point wa ...

and completed her education in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

Life and career

Her first book was non-fiction, and focused on the problems of

child prostitution Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child ...

and

street children Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids, or urchins; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policymakers ...

in third world, and poverty in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. ''April witch'' is her second novel, and one that was well received in Sweden. With over 400,000 copies sold in hardcover, it landed on several bestseller lists for months and received important Swedish literature awards including the Moa Martinsson Prize and Jörgen Eriksson's Prize. It addresses themes of mother-daughter relationships, competition between women, and the failures of Sweden's postwar welfare state. She made her debut as a novelist in 1994 with Långt borta från Nifelheim, and has since written several novels. For her writing, Majgull Axelsson has been awarded the Guldpocket for the sales success of Aprilhäxan and the August Prize for the same novel. She has been translated into 23 languages. In Sweden she is published by Brombergs bokförlag. She made her debut as a playwright in 2002 with Lisalouise, which premiered that year at the Dramaten and was followed in 2007 by the play Helgonlegender, a "mourning song about the dismantling of the Swedish people's home". Majgull Axelsson also wrote the text for a musical work of art, Holocene, which was performed in the Berwaldhallen in connection with the 2008 Baltic Sea Festival. In the fall of 2011, she participated in SVT's Sommarpratarna. Axelsson lives with her husband on

Lidingö Lidingö (), also known in its definite form Lidingön and as Lidingölandet, is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, northeast of Stockholm, Sweden. In 2023, the population of the Lidingö urban area on the island was 48,162. It is the ...

Bibliography

Non-fiction

* 1986 – ''Our Smallest Brothers'' (''Våra minsta bröder'') * 1989 – ''Rosario Is Dead'' (''Rosario är död'') * 1991 – ''They Kill Us'' (''De dödar oss'') * 1996 – ''And Those Who Don't Have'' (''...och dom som inte har'')

Fiction

* 1994 – ''Far away from Nifelheim'' (''Långt borta från Nifelheim'') * 1997 – '' April Witch'' (''Aprilhäxan'') * 2000 – ''Random House'' (''Slumpvandring'') * 2004 – ''The Woman I Never Was'' (''Den jag aldrig var'') * 2008 – ''Ice and Water, Water and Ice'' (''Is och vatten, vatten och is'') * 2011 – ''Moderspassion'' ("Mother's Passion") * 2014 – ''Jag heter inte Miriam'' ("My Name Is Not Miriam") * 2017 – ''Ditt liv och mitt'' ("Your Life and Mine")

Plays

* 2002 – ''LisaLouise''

External links

*
April Witch review

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Axelsson, Majgull 1947 births Living people Swedish-language writers Litteris et Artibus recipients August Prize winners Moa Award recipients Writers from Jönköping County People from Nässjö