Salon with a View: Amanda Svensson

Amanda Svensson (1987) was born and raised in Malmö, Sweden. She started writing at a very young age and her first novel Hey Dolly was published in 2008. She studied Comparative Literature at Lund University and Creative Writing at Skvode Folk College, and has translated works by Ali Smith, Tessa Hadley and Kristen Roupenian into Swedish. Her novel A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding won the Per Olov Enquist Prize for Young Authors and the Svenska Dagbladet Literary Prize, and was nominated for the Tidningen Vi Prize. It was longlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize, and translated into Slovenian in 2024 by Iva Klemenčič (Založba Pivec). 

When a set of triplets is born, and their father chooses to reveal his affair to their mother, pandemonium ensues. A butterfly effect takes place, setting in motion a monumental modern family saga, Amanda Svensson’s A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding. What does the London Neuroscience Institute have to do with the Easter Island cliffs? What does an eye in a peacock feather have in common with a photograph by Francesca Woodman? What does the colour blue have to do with the inability to see the world in three dimensions? And how do cicadas feature in all this?

This masterfully crafted and funny family saga about an unusual Swedish family, self-determination, forgiveness, and interconnectedness poses a question: are we free to create our own destinies or are we just part of a system beyond our control?