Nobel Prize

Swedish 7 December 2007 Om att inte få Nobelpriset Jag står i dörren och ser genom yrande dammoln åt det håll där det ska finnas skog som fortfarande står orörd. I går körde jag kilometer efter kilometer genom kalhyggen och förkolnade brandrester efter en skog som 1956 var den vackraste jag någonsin sett men nu…

English Excerpt from The Grass is Singing MURDER MYSTERY By Special Correspondent Mary Turner, wife of Richard Turner, a farmer at Ngesi, was found murdered on the front veranda of their homestead yester­day morning. The houseboy, who has been arrested, has con­fessed to the crime. No motive has been discovered. It is thought he was…

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English December 7, 2007 On not winning the Nobel Prize I am standing in a doorway looking through clouds of blowing dust to where I am told there is still uncut forest. Yesterday I drove through miles of stumps, and charred remains of fires where, in ’56, there was…

Artist: Karin Mamma Andersson Calligrapher: Annika Rücker Photo reproduction: Fredrika Berghult

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Spanish Excerpt from El Hablador Conocí la selva amazónica a mediados de 1958, gracias a mi amiga Rosita Corpancho. Sus funciones en la Universidad de San Marcos eran inciertas; su poder, inconmensurable. Merodeaba entre los profesores sin ser uno de ellos y todos hacían lo que Rosita les pedía; gracias a sus…

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English Excerpt from The Storyteller I FIRST became acquainted with the Amazon jungle halfway through 1958, thanks to my friend Rosita Corpancho. Her function at the University of San Marcos was vague; her power unlimited. She prowled among the professors without being one of them, and they all did whatever she asked; thanks to her…

Brindis del Nobel Spanish Soy un contador de historias y, por lo tanto, antes de proponerles un brindis, voy a contarles una historia. Érase una vez un niño que a los cinco años aprendió a leer. Eso le cambió la vida. Gracias a los libros de aventuras…