Marit Kapla (b. 1979) is an author and a journalist living in the small village of Osebol, in the mid-western part of Sweden. In 2019, she debuted with the book Osebol, in which she interviewed all the forty or so residents of her hometown. This work would grant her the 2019 August Prize for Best Fictional Book, the 2020 Borås Tidning Debutant Prize, as well as a shortlist placement for the 2022 British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding.

Her non-fiction work Love in Swedish was published in autumn 2022 and was made into a feature-length documentary of the same name by filmmaker Staffan Julén. The book was nominated for the EU Prize for Literature 2023.

In autumn 2026, she returns with her latest book Barnsäng (Childbed). 

Agent: Erik Larsson

Osebol is a village near the river Klaraälven in northern Värmland, a forest dense landscape known for its astonishing nature. Since the middle of the last century, many have left as the lumber industry has become automated and an increasing number of people have moved to the cities.

The shops have closed, the ski slope has grown thick with weeds, and the bridge across the river is closed to traffic. But still, life occurs. Both those who have inherited their farms for generations, as well as those who have come from near and far, live here. People age and children grow up.

Osebol is an interview book by the journalist Marit Kapla, who grew up in Osebol. She has interviewed close to all of the approximately forty inhabitants between the ages of 18 and 92 who live in the village today. Their life stories convey a multi-faceted account of the everyday life in a small village, both from the past, the present, and with thoughts of the future. People’s grief, joy and humour paint a detailed, personal and living depiction of Swedish and global contemporary history.

REVIEWS

“What makes this book so captivating and so strangely engaging? It's probably just that OSEBOL bears witness to destinies of completely ordinary lives.”
- The Observer

“A grand and deeply moving elegy.”
- Dagens Nyheter

“An amazing and lyrical book full of life!”
- Aftonbladet

Published Teg publishing, 2022
Genre NON Fiction
Pages 592

Renowned Swedish author Marit Kapla returns with a new title in the same form as her August Prize-winning book Osebol. This time she leaves village life for a greater subject – perhaps the greatest of all – namely, love. In Love in Swedish, Kapla interviews a range of people of different ages, genders and backgrounds on the subject of love and what it means to them.

In her signature style, Kapla marries prose poetry with investigative journalism. Kapla speaks to people from all over Sweden, from the most southernmost point to the icy norths – proving that even Swedes, known to the world as private and bleak, can open our hearts to the complexities and cyclonic feelings of love. The unique experiences and formulations of the people interviewed become the poignant portrayal of the conditions of love in our time.