Göranson, Birgitta

Birgitta Göranson was born in Lund in 1947. Both parents were first-generation academics and educators. After studying natural sciences in Kristianstad, she went on to study at Lund University, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in 1969 in literary studies and sociology. The next few years were marked by freelance cultural work and international justice issues. During travels on the continent, Göranson came into contact with the Emmaus Movement's efforts at local organisation and then worked on literacy and popular organisation in Colombia from 1970 to 1972. This work was followed by a couple of books on Latin American development issues. Göranson was employed as a teacher of international studies and later also as an education director at the Development Education Board (Sandöskolan) outside of Kramfors 1972-1988. It was during the preparation of the first curricula at Sandöskolan that she began working with Ivo Iliste.

In 1975 they published a book each: Ivo's poetry collection Lergods, Birgitta's diary-based Ett kvarter i Bogotá. In 1977-1980 they worked on local environmental work and peasant co-operation in South India for a local Emmaus organisation. At the same time, they completed their first joint translation assignment: a collection of Estonian Short Stories, published in Tallinn in 1981, containing works by classic authors such as Eduard Vilde and Friedebert Tuglas. They now settled in the countryside just outside Lund, although Iliste's main professional base was in Stockholm.

The political situation in the Baltic States created new opportunities for translations from Estonian into Swedish from the early 1980s. From 1981 to 2002, the Iliste-Göranson couple published 18 titles, three of which were reprinted, and translated some twenty journal issues. They were particularly active during the years when Iliste worked at the Baltic Institute in Stockholm. The pair devoted themselves mainly to the literature of contemporary writers who had emerged during the Soviet era, which was facilitated by the gradual opening of borders, enabling Estonian writers in exile to establish contacts with their colleagues and compatriots on the other side of the Baltic. At the same time, Göranson wrote a number of works on development issues.

The couple's most important translation work was undoubtedly to make Jaan Kross's prose available to Swedish readers. First, Iliste would familiarize himself with the work linguistically and historically and deliver a rough translation, lined with question marks and comments. Göranson would then go through and rewrite the manuscript, fine-tuning the nuances, after which the translators would jointly compare the translation sentence by sentence with the original. Another writer the couple worked on was Jaan Kaplinski, of whom they translated two collections of poetry, a correspondence (with Johannes Salminen) and an art book in 1982-1990. The translations by Kaplinski - one of Estonia's most notable contemporary writers and himself a translator of works such as Tomas Tranströmer into Estonian - constitute a legacy of great importance. In addition to these authors, Iliste and Göranson translated two collections of poetry by Viivi Luik and a series of plays by Merle Karusoo and Paul-Erik Rummo, among others. Poems by Ilmar Laaban, Andres Ehin, Enn Vetemaa and others have been published in journals such as Baltic Review or performed at poetry readings. Their last translation was the collection of poems Nådatid (2001) by Doris Kareva.

Filip Laurits

Westerdahl, Christer

Christer Westerdahl, born in Stockholm 1945, studied various disciplines of the Humanities there and other places and went on as freelance or as a museum curator to archaeological and ethnological fieldwork, mainly in Northern Sweden and other parts of Scandinavia.
He specialized in maritime archaeology and was called in as an Associate Professor of this subject at Copenhagen University, Denmark. His next academic appointment was at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. From here he retired from active lecturing in 2015 as a professor emeritus.
His main approach is the maritime cultural landscape which he launched as a strategy in the late 1980's. Among his book publications are: Samer nolaskogs. Örnsköldsvik 1986; Norrlandsleden I. Källor till det maritima kulturlandskapet. En handbok i marinarkeologisk inventering. The Norrland Sailing Route I. Sources of the maritime cultural landscape. A handbook of maritime archaeological survey. Arkiv för norrländsk hembygdsforskning XXIV. Härnösand 1987 and Norrlandsleden II. Beskrivning av det maritima kulturlandskapet. Rapport från en inventering i Norrland och norra Roslagen 1975-1980. The Norrland Sailing Route II. Description of the maritime cultural landscape. Report from a survey in Norrland and northern Roslagen, Sweden, in 1975-1980. Arkiv för norrländsk hembygdsforskning XXIII. Härnösand 1987

Nord, Malin

Malin Nord lives in Jämtland, Sweden, on an island close to Östersund. She is a writer, cultural journalist and editor, and she is part of the Council for Sami Literature within the Swedish Writers' Union. In 2020, she was editor of the literary magazine Provins.
Her latest novel, Barmark (Bare ground), was published in 2017 at Albert Bonniers förlag Stockholm. Most recently she has written a play about the circus artist Elvira Madigan for the performing arts association Undantaget, which is scheduled to have premiere in Jämtland in the summer of 2021. The play is a free fantasy about the fate of Elvira Madigan.

Labba, Elin Anna

Elin Anna Labba is a journalist and former editor of Nuorat magazine. She now works at Tjállegoahte, the Sápmi Writers’ Centre in Jokkmokk, Norrbotten, Sweden, with a mission to strengthen and emphasise Sámi literature.

In 2020 her book Sirdolaččat was awarded Sweden's most distinguished literary prize, the August Prize, for best non-fiction title. The book, a historical reportage with a lyrical tone, describes the deportation of Scandinavia's indigenous people, the Northern Sámi, during the early 20th century, thus highlighting a hidden part of Nordic history.  The settlement, a forced displacement – referred to as a “dislocation” by the authorities – initiated a long period of deportations of reindeer-keeping Northern Sámi from their homes in Norway to new lands in Sweden, and in Finland. Elin Anna Labba hails from a family that lived on a land that was seized by the authorities. This is her way to tell her own family’s story.    

Blomkvist, Nils

Nils Blomkvist was born in Motala – a small-town by Lake Vättern in central Sweden – in 1943, and after humanistic studies at the University of Uppsala, he graduated in 1979 on a monography of the medieval city of Kalmar up until the mid-fourteenth century. After that he was working as an archivist for some 10 years (head of Archives at Nordiska museet, Stockholm) followed by some 8 years at Riksantikvarieämbetet (National Board of Antiquities) and went finally (1996) to Gotland University, sharing his time between Gotland Centre for Baltic Studies (a scholarly institute) and the Department of History (teaching), being appointed Professor of History in 2004.

As a researcher he has focused on the Europeanisation process of the Baltic Rim, covering the period AD 750-1500. Already his doctoral thesis awoke some interest among researchers of the Hanse, and he is a member of the Hansischer Geschichtsverein since 1980. By generous support from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation he was able to form the multinational and interdisciplinary research project Culture Clash or Compromise, subtitled The Importance of Regional Survival Strategies in the Europeanisation of the Baltic Rim (AD 1100-1400). This so called CCC-project was occupying some 20 scholars – archaeologists, historians and geographers representing seven countries on the Rim and its results are presented in 11 volumes of CCC papers.

For Blomkvist's central contribution to the project, see The Discovery of the Baltic (Brill, The Northern World, Leiden & Boston 2005, 775 pp.). After retirement in 2010, his interests remain the same. From later years a fully commented Swedish translation of Första Novgorod-krönikan (First Novgorod Chronicle) in co-operation with Gun Eile and Gotland museum is to be highlighted (2016), as well as a monography of – “Sveriges första författare” – the Gotlandic 13th-century Dominican friar Petrus de Dacia (Norma 2019).

Nyberg, René

René Nyberg, born in 1946, was raised in a bi-lingual environment in Helsinki. In addition to Swedish and Finnish, he learned German at an early age. He attended the specialized Deutsche Schule, where he completed both his Finnish matriculation exams and the German Reifeprüfung in 1965. Upon graduation from the University of Helsinki with a master’s degree in political science, he took a post with the Finland’s Ministry of Education. In autumn 1971, he moved on to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He devoted most of the 1970s to mastering Russian and working with the Soviet Union. His formal Russian language studies included intensive summer courses in Leningrad in 1971 and 1972, as well as daily contact with Russian in his work at the Finnish embassy in Moscow (1973–1975) and at the Finnish Consulate General in Leningrad (1976–1977). He served as the assistant secretary for the Finnish-Soviet Economic Commission (1977–1979).
Upon returning to the foreign ministry’s political department, he got involved in Nordic Security policy, and published the book “Finland and Nordic Security” in 1984, which he finalized during a sabbatical at Cornel University.
As head of the foreign ministry’s security policy department, he launched an initiative to abolish the sovereignty restrictions of Finland’s 1947 Paris Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union. 
In autumn 1990 Finland unilaterally declared the restrictions concerning the Finnish armed forces as null and void.
Nyberg served as Finland’s ambassador in Vienna, head of Finland’s CSCE delegation (1992–1995), ambassador in Moscow (2000–2004) and ambassador in Berlin (2004–2008).
He left diplomatic service in 2008 after he was invited to lead a newly formed organization for promoting the interests of Finnish industry in Russia, the East Office of Finnish Industries. He has served as East Office CEO 2008 -13.

In 2015 he published his family novel "Viimeinen juna Moskovaan" (Last Train to Moscow) that has been translated to Estonian, German, Latvian, Russian and Swedish.