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Jonas Hassen Khemiri

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Jonas Hassen Khemiri
Khemiri in 2019
Khemiri in 2019
Born (1978-12-27) 27 December 1978 (age 45)
Stockholm, Sweden
OccupationWriter
Period2003–present
Notable worksEtt öga rött (2003)
Montecore (2006)
I Call My Brothers (2012)
Everything I Don't Remember (2015)
Notable awardsVillage Voice Obie Award (2011)
August Prize (2015)
Prix Médicis étranger (2021)
Website
www.khemiri.se

Jonas Hassen Khemiri (born 27 December 1978) is a Swedish writer.[1] He is the author of six novels, seven plays, and a collection of essays, short stories and plays.[2] His work has been translated into more than 25 languages.[3] He has received the August Prize for fiction[4] and a Village Voice Obie Award for best script.[1] In 2017 he became the first Swedish writer to have a short story published in the New Yorker.[5] Khemiri's novel The Family Clause (FSG) was awarded the French Prix Médicis[6] and was a finalist for the National Book Award.[7] Khemiri moved to New York in 2021 for a Cullman Fellowship[8] at The New York Public Library and currently teaches in the Creative Writing program at NYU.[9] In 2023 he was a Ben Belitt Distinguished Visiting Writer at Bennington College.[10]

Education

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Khemiri studied literature at Stockholm University and international economics at the Stockholm School of Economics.[11]

Career

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Novels

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Khemiri's debut novel, Ett öga rött (One Eye Red), was published in 2003. It sold over 200,000 copies in Sweden, was adapted into a movie and became the best-selling novel of any category in 2004.[12]

Khemiri's second novel, Montecore: en unik tiger (Montecore - The Silence of the Tiger), received the Sveriges Radio Award for Best Swedish Novel of 2007. It was a finalist for the August Prize and translated into more than 20 languages.[13] In the US, Montecore was translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles and published by Knopf and the New York Times described the novel as "funny, ambitious and inventive. Also black: rage and tragedy pulse beneath the fireworks."[14] In 2011, the novel was chosen by the critics at Dagens Nyheter as one of the top 10 works of fiction, published in Sweden in 2000–2010.[15]

In 2009 Khemiri released Invasion!, a collection of short stories, essays and plays.

Khemiri's third novel, Jag ringer mina bröder (I Call My Brothers), was published in 2012. It was adapted for television by SVT.[16]

Khemiri's fourth novel, Allt jag inte minns (Everything I Don't Remember) was published in 2015. It became a national best-seller and received Sweden's most prestigious literary award, the August Prize, for best fiction.[17] The novel has been translated into more than 25 languages.[18] Joyce Carol Oates chose it as one of her three favourite books of 2016, calling it "enigmatic" in the Times Literary Supplement.[19] Masha Gessen picked it as her favourite book of 2017 for Politico.[20]

Pappaklausulen (The Family Clause (FSG) was published in 2018. It was awarded the Prix Médicis,[6] France's highest honour for books in translation, and was a finalist for the National Book Award in the US.[7]

Khemiri moved to New York with his family in 2021, to write a new novel called The Sisters.

Plays

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Khemiri's first play, Invasion!, premiered at the Stockholm City Theatre in 2006.[21] It was chosen for the 2007 Swedish Theater Biennial and has since then been performed in 12 countries.[22] The first US production of Invasion! was produced by the Play Company, and in 2011, the play received a Village Voice Obie Award for best script.[1] It was published in English by Samuel French[23] and in German by Theater Heute.[24] The production at Thalia Theater in Hamburg ran from 2009–2016.[25]

Khemiri's second play Fem gånger Gud (God Times Five) toured Sweden in 2008[26] and the third play, Vi som är hundra (The Hundred We Are), premiered at Gothenburg City Theatre in 2009.[27] In Norway the play won the Hedda Award, Norway's top theatrical award, for best play of 2010.[28]

Apatiska för nybörjare (Apathy for Beginners), Khemiri's fourth play, premiered at the big stage of Folkteatern in Gothenburg in 2011 and has been performed in Italy, Norway and Germany.[29] SVT adapted the play for Swedish television.[30]

In 2013 Khemiri adapted the novel Jag ringer mina bröder (I Call My Brothers) into a play. It toured Sweden with the National Swedish Touring Theatre, had a second premiere at the Stockholm City Theatre and has been performed in Norway, Denmark, Germany, the UK and Australia. In the UK, the play was staged by Volta International Festival at the Arcola Theatre in 2015 and at the Gate Theatre in 2016.[31] It was published in English by Oberon Books.[32]

Khemiri's sixth play, ≈ [ungefär lika med] (≈[Almost Equal To]) premiered at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in 2014. In 2015, Khemiri received the Expressen Theatre Prize.[33] The play has been performed in Norway, Denmark, Germany (multiple versions), Iceland, Belgium and the US. It is currently being performed at the Schaubühne in Berlin, and at the Pillsbury House Theatre, in Minneapolis, US.[34][35]

Eld (Fire) is Khemiri's latest play, it opened on the big stage at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in 2022, directed by German director Antú Romero Nunes.

Other writing

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Khemiri's story "Unchanged, unending" was originally published in Aftonbladet, and won the Swedish Radio prize for best short story in 2008.[36] Later that year Khemiri met and interviewed the rapper Nas for a portrait in Dagens Nyheter.[37] In 2013 Khemiri started a writing workshop for people who are living or have experienced living as undocumented migrants in Sweden. Texts from three participants of the workshop were published in Swedish by Aftonbladet,[38][39][40] Norwegian by Klassekampen and English by the literary journal Asymptote.[41]

In 2013, Khemiri wrote an open letter to Sweden's Minister of Justice Beatrice Ask in response to a controversial police program, REVA. The letter, titled "Dear Beatrice Ask", started a debate about discrimination and racial profiling in Sweden. Originally published in Dagens Nyheter,[42] the letter became a social media phenomenon, with more than 150 000 shares on Facebook (summer 2014)[42] and more than half a million clicks on the article online.[43] It is one of the most shared articles in Swedish history.[44] According to social media analysts the letter reached more or less every Twitter user in Sweden.[45] The original text was translated into more than 20 languages,[46] and a version of the text was published by the New York Times in April 2013.[47]

In 2017, Khemiri's short story "Så som du hade berättat det för mig (ungefär) om vi hade lärt känna varandra innan du dog" ("As You Would Have Told It to Me (Sort Of) If We Had Known Each Other Before You Died") was published by the New Yorker.[48] Khemiri is the first Swedish writer to publish a short story in the magazine, although it has previously featured poetry by Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer.[49]

Personal life

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Khemiri is based in New York. His younger brother is actor Hamadi Khemiri.[50] Through his father, Khemiri is cousin of award-winning performance artist Slim Khezri.

Fiction

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  • Ett öga rött (One Eye Red, novel, 2003)
  • Montecore : en unik tiger (Montecore - the Silence of the Tiger, novel, Knopf, 2006)
  • Invasion! : pjäser, noveller, texter (Invasion! Collection of plays, short stories and essays, 2008)
  • Jag ringer mina bröder (I Call My Brothers, novel, 2012)
  • Allt jag inte minns (Everything I Don't Remember, novel, Atria/Scribner 2015), translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles
  • Så som du hade berättat det för mig (ungefär) om vi hade lärt känna varandra innan du dog (As You Would Have Told It to Me (Sort Of) If We Had Known Each Other Before You Died, short story, the New Yorker, 2017)[48]
  • Pappaklausulen (The Family Clause, 2018), translated by Alice Menzies
  • Systrarna (The Sisters, 2023)

Plays

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  • Invasion! (Invasion!, 2006)
  • Fem gånger Gud (Five Time God, 2008)
  • Vi som är hundra (The Hundred We Are, 2009)
  • Jag ringer mina bröder (I Call My Brothers, 2013)
  • Apatiska för nybörjare (Apathy for Beginners, 2011)
  • ≈ [ungefär lika med] (≈ [Almost Equal To], 2014)
  • Eld (Fire, 2022)

Awards

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  • 2004 Borås Tidning's Prize, best Swedish literary debut for Ett öga rött (One Eye Red)
  • 2006 Per Olov Enquist's Literary Prize for Montecore[51]
  • 2006 VI magazine Literary Prize for Montecore[52]
  • 2006 Sweden Radio Novel Prize for Montecore (2006)
  • 2007 Stipend from the Gerard Bonnier Fund of the Swedish Academy
  • 2007 The Bellman Prize[53]
  • 2008 Swedish Radio's Prize for best Swedish Short Story for "Oändrat oändlig" (2008)[54]
  • 2010 Hedda Award, best play (Norway) for Vi som är hundra (The Hundred We Are)[55]
  • 2010 John Fante Literary Prize (Italy) for Montecore[56]
  • 2011 Village Voice Obie Award (US) for best script: Invasion![1]
  • 2011 Swedish Ibsen Prize for playwriting.[57]
  • 2013 Swedish Library's Aniara Prize for Jag ringer mina bröder (I Call My Brothers)[58]
  • 2015 Expressens Theatre Prize for ≈ [ungefär lika med] (≈[Almost Equal To])[33]
  • 2015 August Prize for Allt jag inte minns (Everything I Don’t Remember)[59]
  • 2017 Premio Strega Europeo Award (Italy), finalist for Allt jag inte minns (Everything I Don’t Remember)[60]
  • 2020 National Book Award, Finalist for The Family Clause.[7]
  • 2020 Berns Prize by Swedish PEN[61]
  • 2021 Prix Médicis étranger for La clause paternelle (The Family Clause)[62]
  • 2022 Gustaf Fröding's Fellowship[63]

International residencies

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  • Ledig House, Hudson, New York (2004)
  • International Residency for Emerging Playwrights at Royal Court, London (2006)
  • DAAD, Writer in Residence, Berlin (2009)
  • The Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at The New York Public Library, New York (2021-2022)[64]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Grode, Eric (8 September 2011). "Jonas Hassen Khemiri, the Playwright Behind 'Invasion!'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  2. ^ "Jonas Hassen Khemiri: "Jag kan inte skriva en roman på tisdagen och ett politiskt inlägg på onsdagen"". DN.SE (in Swedish). 26 August 2022. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Jonas Hassen Khemiri om ordens makt - DN.SE". DN.SE (in Swedish). 5 September 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  4. ^ "KULTUR: Augustpriset till Khemiri". Aftonbladet. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  5. ^ "Hassen Khemiri publicerad i The New Yorker". Sydsvenskan (in Swedish). Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  6. ^ a b Meslée, Valérie Marin La (26 October 2021). "Découvrez Khemiri, le Prix Médicis étranger". Le Point (in French). Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  7. ^ a b c "Jonas Hassen Khemiri". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  8. ^ "Past Fellows 1999-2023". The New York Public Library. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  9. ^ "Faculty". as.nyu.edu. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  10. ^ "Bennington College Welcomes 2023 Ben Belitt Distinguished Visiting Writer Jonas Hassen Khemiri | Bennington College". www.bennington.edu. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  11. ^ "Jonas Hassen Khemiri: "Jag vill skapa förståelse och förvirring" - DN.SE". DN.SE (in Swedish). 18 September 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  12. ^ "Ett öga rött belönad med pocketpris". HD (in Swedish). Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  13. ^ "SR:s romanpris till Khemiri - DN.SE". DN.SE (in Swedish). 2 March 2007. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  14. ^ Monson, Ander (25 February 2011). "Book Review - Montecore - By Jonas Hassen Khemiri". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  15. ^ "Sara Stridsberg: "Drömfakulteten" är som en gammal passion - DN.SE". DN.SE (in Swedish). 27 September 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  16. ^ Sweden, Sveriges Television AB, Stockholm. "Jonas Hassen Khemiris Jag ringer mina bröder". svt.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2 October 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ "KULTUR: Augustpriset till Khemiri". Aftonbladet. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  18. ^ Förlag, Albert Bonniers. "Jonas Hassen Khemiri - Albert Bonniers Förlag". www.albertbonniersforlag.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  19. ^ "Books of the Year 2016 – TheTLS". www.the-tls.co.uk. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  20. ^ "The Politico 50 Reading List". POLITICO Magazine. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  21. ^ "KULTUR: Subversivt". Aftonbladet. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  22. ^ "I rasismens gränsland". Sydsvenskan (in Swedish). Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  23. ^ "Invasion!". www.samuelfrench.com. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  24. ^ Theaterverlag, Michael Merschmeier, Der. "Theater heute - Archiv". Der Theaterverlag (in German). Retrieved 3 October 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ "Invasion!". Thalia Theater (in German). Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  26. ^ "Alla är Jonas". Aftonbladet. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  27. ^ "Vi som är hundra - Göteborgs Stadsteater". www.stadsteatern.goteborg.se (in Swedish). 18 September 2009. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  28. ^ "Vinnere 2010". Heddaprisen. 3 April 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  29. ^ Khemiri, Jonas Hassen (30 August 2011). "Apathy for Beginners – Jonas Hassen Khemiri". Jonas Hassen Khemiri. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  30. ^ "Apatiska för nybörjare avslutar Riksteaterturné på Folkteatern Göteborg den 27, 28 och 29 mars med efterföljande samtal och turnéavslutningsfest öppen för alla!". Mynewsdesk (in Swedish). Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  31. ^ "I Call My Brothers". Arcola Theatre. 19 January 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  32. ^ "I Call My Brothers". Oberon Books. Archived from the original on 4 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  33. ^ a b "Teaterknarkaren". Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  34. ^ "≈ [approximately equal]". Schaubühne Berlin. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  35. ^ "September 16 - October 22 ≈[ALMOST EQUAL TO] by Jonas Hassen Khemiri at Pillsbury House". AO International. Archived from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  36. ^ Radio, Sveriges (24 August 2011). "2008 och 2005 års novellprisvinnarnoveller: Oändrat oändlig och En kniv i ryggen - Radioföljetongen/Radionovellen". Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  37. ^ "Yo Nas - du fick möta Jonas - DN.SE". DN.SE (in Swedish). 4 November 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  38. ^ "KULTUR: "Jag bad att få låna ett tält för att sova i en park"". Aftonbladet. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  39. ^ "KULTUR: "Fick en bild på en vallmo – och min hemby i ruiner"". Aftonbladet. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  40. ^ "KULTUR: "Jag minns hur sadistens händer darrade"". Aftonbladet. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  41. ^ "I Remember - Asymptote". www.asymptotejournal.com. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  42. ^ a b "Bästa Beatrice Ask - DN.SE". DN.SE (in Swedish). 13 March 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  43. ^ "Björn Wiman: Kom ihåg Khemiris ord inför valet - DN.SE". DN.SE (in Swedish). 15 March 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  44. ^ ""Bästa beatrice" på väg att slå alla rekord i antal delningar". Ajour. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  45. ^ "A writer who dared a minister to get in his skin". 14 March 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  46. ^ "An Open Letter to Beatrice Ask - Asymptote". www.asymptotejournal.com. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  47. ^ Khemiri, Jonas Hassen (20 April 2013). "Opinion | Sweden's Closet Racists". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  48. ^ a b Khemiri, Jonas Hassen (18 September 2017). "As You Would Have Told It to Me (Sort Of) If We Had Known Each Other Before You Died". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  49. ^ "Hassen Khemiri publicerad i The New Yorker". Göteborgs-Posten (in Swedish). Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  50. ^ anna.angstrom@svd.se, Anna Ångström |. "Jag förklarar mina pjäser när jag spelar". SvD.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  51. ^ Linus Larsson, "Khemiri får årets P O Enquist-pris: Årets P O Enquist-pris går till författaren Jonas Hassen Khemiri för såväl 'språklig förnyelseförmåga som modet att gestalta oerhört centrala erfarenheter i dagens svenska samhälle'", Dagens Nyheter 19 May 2006 (in Swedish)
  52. ^ "Vi:s litteraturpristagare 1947-2009", Vi, retrieved 21 February 2011
  53. ^ Eva-Karin Gyllenberg, "Bellmanpriset till Jonas Hassen Khemiri", Dagens Nyheter 2 May 2007 (in Swedish)
  54. ^ "Jonas Hassen Khemiri vann novellpris", Svenska Dagbladet 27 September 2008 (in Swedish)
  55. ^ "2010 | Heddaprisen". Heddaprisen (in Norwegian). Heddaprisen. 3 April 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  56. ^ "Premio John Fante: Khemiri vince nella categoria 'Autore tra due mondi'", FuturoComune.it 19 July 2010 (in Italian)
  57. ^ anna.angstrom@svd.se, Anna Ångström |. "Hassen Khemiri fick Ibsenpriset". SvD.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  58. ^ "Aniarapriset till Khemiri". SVT Nyheter. 3 September 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  59. ^ "Fiction Book Review: Everything I Don't Remember by Jonas Hassen Khemiri, trans. from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles. Atria, $25 (272p) ISBN 978-1-5011-3802-7". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  60. ^ "Home". Premio Strega (in Italian). Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  61. ^ TT (28 January 2021). "Pen-pris till Jonas Hassen Khemiri". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). ISSN 1101-2412. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  62. ^ Contreras, Isabel; Faidherbe, Thomas (26 October 2021). "Le prix Médicis 2021 couronne Christine Angot". Livres Hebdo (in French). Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  63. ^ "Jonas Hassen Khemiri vinnare av Gustaf Frödings stipendium 2020 - Uppsala studentkår". www.uppsalastudentkar.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  64. ^ "Past Fellows 1999-2023". The New York Public Library. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
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