Sara Lövestam is a well-known author and a young rising star in Sweden with very different novels under her belt, translated to several languages. All her novels stand out for her quirky antihero characters, and for a very unique imagination and creativity.
With one of her most recent novels, Truth is a Personal Matter (#1 in the Kouplan series eaturing a gender- and identity- bending illegal refugee protagonist from Iran), Sara Lövestam has won the distinguished Deckarakademin's Award (Swedish Crime Writers' Academy) for the Best Debut Crime Novel 2015. This is a very prestigious award in Sweden, won by authors such as Åsa Larsson and Johan Theorin at the start of their careers! The series have been acquired by Rowohlt in Germany, and Robert-Laffont in France.
The Swedish Crime Writer’s Academy says: «The debut award winner Sara Lövestam actually made her debut in 2009 with the novel Different, but Truth is a Personal Matter is her first crime novel and the first in a series about the illegal private detective Kouplan. The second part of the series, Wishes Are Free, has just been published. It’s a multilayered drama with a detective that finds human truths rather than clues.» More about this award (in Swedish) here.
On a parallel note, Flatiron (USA) and Allen & Unwin (UK & Australia) are teaming up for Sara Lövestam's novel Heart of Jazz in English language. This edition is coming out at the end of 2016, with a new title: This is What Wonderful Feels Like. This novel has already been translated into Spanish (Suma de Letras/Penguin Random House) and German (Rowohlt). Heart of Jazz / This is What Wonderful Feels Like is a very compelling “feel-good novel” from an up-coming author that could be Sweden’s answer to The Perks of Being a Wallflower: a celebration of being a bit odd, a bit of a nerd, of taking a different route in life. It also rescues the figure of jazz composer Povel Ramel, who provides a lively soundtrack to this fresh and original story.
Sara Lövestam has also just published her first Young Adult novel under great acclaim by the press, readers and booksellers. Like Fire is a sweeping story of first love between two teenage girls, as if written by the teenagers themselves. Can you be fifteen and fall in love with a girl, even if you always thought you’d marry a man? How do you face it with your family, with your friends, and the world? This YA novel has already been acquired by Rowohlt (German), Turbine (Denmark), Czarna Owca (Poland) and Gyldendal (Norway), and there's a very strong interest from film producers!
Sara Lövestam is one of Sweden’s biggest young rising stars and most original and charming authors, and has written both both adult and young adult fiction, as well as humor books about grammar. She recently left her job as a Swedish teacher for immigrants to dedicate herself full time to writing. A one to watch, with no doubt, and for whom the Pontas Agency is honored to be working for internationally!