Cracks in our everyday life – portraying horror – dialogue with John Ajvide Lindqvist

John Ajvide Lindqvist is a Swedish author, born in 1968. He grew up in Blackeberg, a suburb of Stockholm. He wanted to become something awful and fantastic. First he became a conjurer and came in second in the Nordic card trick championship. Then he was a stand-up comedian for twelve years, before writing Let the Right One In in 2004. The novel became a phenomenal international bestseller and was made into both a Swedish film (Let the Right One In, 2008) and and an American one (Let Me In, 2010). Known as “the Stephen King of Sweden”, his books are published in 31 countries. His short story collection Paper Walls (2006) includes the story ‘Border’, which was made into a film in 2017 with his own screenplay and won the top prize in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard competition.

Translator of Swedish literature into Japanese. Recent work: a new translation of Astrid Lindgren’s Ronja the Robber’s Daughter. Lives in Malmö, Sweden since 2006.