Monika Fagerholm was born in Helsinki, Finland, in 1961, grew up in the suburbs and writes in Swedish. Her first published books were collections of short stories, Sham (1987) and Patricia (1990), which were followed by the novels Underbara kvinnor vid vatten. En roman om syskon (1994), Diva. En uppväxts egna alfabet med docklaboratorium (en bonusberättelse ur framtiden) (1998), Den amerikanska flickan (2004) and Glitterscenen. Og flickan hon går i dansen med röda gulband (2009). In collaboration with Martin Johnson, she wrote Havet. Fyra lyriska essäer (2012); her latest book is Lola uppochner (2012).
Works by Monika Fagerholm have been translated and published in more than seven countries. Literary awards received include Runebergsprisen (the Runeberg Award), Augustprisen (August Prize), Aniara-prisen (Aniara Prize) and Göteborgs-Postens litteraturpris (Gothenburg Post Award).
In her article about Monika Fagerholm, literary scholar Pia Ingström writes:
In one book after another and in an unusual way, the Finnish-Swedish writer Monika Fagerholm combines reader-friendly characteristics – plot, strong local colour, and interesting characters – with a bold revival of storytelling in traditional prose. She can entertain as well as experiment; she has her cake and eats it, too. In other words, she can win the ordinary reader’s heart and, at the same time, appear as a writer of interest to literary research on many levels – queer, subversive, an innovator of literary form.
Further reading
Kaisa Kurikka: ”To use and abuse, to write and rewrite: metafictional trends in contemporary Finnish prose”, i Metaliterary Layers in Finnish lLiterature, red. Samuli Hägg, Erkki Sevänen og Risto Turunen, Studia Fennica Litteraria 3, 2008
Kristina Malmio: ”Phoenix-Marvel Girl in the Age of fin de siècle – Popular Culture as a vehicle to Postmodernism in Diva by Finland-Swedish Author Monika Fagerholm”, u Nodes of Contemporaru Finnish Literature, ed. Leena Kirstinä, Studia Fennica Litteraria, SKS 2012
