Acclaimed author Steve Sem-Sandberg has secured two places on Expressen’s list of Sweden’s 25 best books of the 2000s. The selection celebrates literary works that have made a lasting impact over the past 25 years.

Sem-Sandberg is honoured for both W. and The Emperor of Lies. In W., he revisits the real-life story behind Georg Büchner’s play Woyzeck, capturing the loneliness of the individual against the backdrop of a crumbling Europe. Meanwhile, The Emperor of Lies offers a harrowing and detailed portrayal of life in the Jewish ghetto of Łódź during the Holocaust.

Valerie Kyeyune Backström praises W. for its powerful imagery and haunting prose, quoting:

“W. holds his hands in his lap. When he opens them, he feels they are like two open wounds. What do you do with your hands, if they are wounds?”

Steve Sem-Sandberg