Swedish author, translator and illustrator (1932?2014)
Birgitta Stenberg
|
---|
Stenberg in 2008
|
Born
| (
1932-04-26
)
26 April 1932
Engelbrekt Parish
, Sweden
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Died
| 23 August 2014
(2014-08-23)
(aged 82)
Smedsbolet,
Vastra Gotaland County
, Sweden
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---|
Occupation
| Author, translator, illustrator, politician
|
---|
Nationality
| Swedish
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---|
Spouse
|
Hakan Lagergren
(
m.
1974;
div.
1991)
Kerstin Bjarkstedt
(
m.
2012)
|
---|
Birgitta Alma Sofia Stenberg
(26 April 1932 ? 23 August 2014) was a Swedish author, translator and illustrator. She was the 2005 winner of the
Selma Lagerlof Prize
.
Life
[
edit
]
Birgitta Stenberg was born in
Engelbrekt Parish
in 1932. She was educated in
Visby
and finally in
Paris
. Stenberg spent a lot of time in southern Europe improving her language skills.
[1]
In the early 1950s, she lived in Paris, Rome and on the French Riviera, experiences that inspired her book,
Karlek i Europa
(
Love in Europe
), which detailed her various sexual adventures.
[2]
The book was later translated into English as
Manplay in Europe
.
For a time, she was the mistress of the Mafiosi
Charles "Lucky" Luciano
, who had been deported from the United States back to his native Italy.
[3]
Stenberg had been offered a job in New York by a travel agent who additionally added in a promise of a layover in Buenos Aires where she was to work temporarily as a model before going on to New York.
[4]
The Mafiosi Luciano, who knew much about the Italian underworld told her that the travel agent was a white slaver and if she went to Buenos Aires, she would be forced to work in a brothel instead of the promised modeling job.
[5]
Through Luciano Stenberg met his friend, the exiled King
Farouk of Egypt
, who was living in Italy and whose mistress she ultimately became.
[6]
Luciano had grown up in New York, having left Sicily at the age of 9, and found Naples, where he lived, to be a rather "foreign" place, causing him to regard himself as being in exile from America. The common feeling of exile had caused Luciano to bond with Farouk. At her first date with Farouk in an expensive Roman restaurant, she was impressed by Farouk's "sweet eyes" together with the aura of power as the king wore an expensive suit while being surrounded by his bodyguards who silently tended to his every need.
[7]
Farouk told her that he liked her because her blond hair and large breasts together with her age reminded him of his second wife, the teenage
Queen Narriman
, who likewise had blond hair and large breasts.
[8]
After following Farouk into exile in July 1952, Narriman had returned to Egypt in March 1953. Whenever she went out with the king, his burly Albanian bodyguards were always on hand to seize the cameras from any
paparazzi
, a task that they performed with much efficiency as they roughed up several
paparazzi
who tried to take photographs of the king with his latest mistress.
[9]
Farouk told her that this was cheaper than having to bribe newspaper editors from publishing any of the photographs the
paparazzi
might take of him.
[10]
Stenberg wrote about sex with Farouk: "I'm doing this with the king of twenty million people. This nice fat man was one of the world's symbols of power".
[11]
She described the king as very sexually aggressive, but in common with his other mistresses complained he had an abnormally small penis.
[12]
Stenberg lived in a Rome apartment with a gay American couple, which enraged the homophobic Farouk as he called her roommates "perverts" once he learned that the two men were more than just friends.
[13]
In the face of his rage, Stenberg did not dare tell Farouk that she was bisexual, fearing that would upset him even more. At Farouk's insistence, she moved into the Villa Dusmet that he rented outside of Rome to get her away from her "pervert" gay American friends.
[14]
She found the Villa Dusmet dark, gloomy and claustrophobic with the king's Albanian bodyguards imposing tight restrictions on where she could go while outside she always heard the barking of the guard dogs that were set loose on the grounds of the Villa.
[15]
She also found the king's jokes painfully unfunny such as: "Have you heard what one palm tree said to the other? Let's make a date".
[16]
Eventually, she tired of Farouk and despite his gift of an expensive diamond bracelet ended the affair.
[17]
Stenberg told Farouk "I'll miss you and life with you", leading the king to sadly say "Do you think it's something to miss".
[18]
Stenberg reflected that she could not answer that question.
[19]
She became a Swedish author, translator and illustrator. Stenberg was, during the early 1950s, a part of the literary assembly
Metamorfosgruppen
. She wrote the script for the film
Raskenstam
.
During the
Cold War
in the 1950s, Stenberg was named secretary of the Swedish department of the
Congress for Cultural Freedom
and editor for
Kulturkontakt
which was founded by the
CIA
under the cover name of
Ford Foundation
.
[20]
[21]
Stenberg's first novel
Fritt forfall
was refused by
Bonnier Group
in 1952 due to the novels "lack of literary quality". According to the author herself, the publishing house was put off by the novels controversial lesbian motive.
[22]
The novel was published in 2008 by
Normal
publishers.
[23]
Stenberg later wrote an autobiographical suit that deals with sex, drugs and art making, starting with
Karlek i Europa
in 1981
[24]
and continuing with
Apelsinmannen
(1983),
Spanska trappan
(1987) and
Alla vilda
(2004). In 2009, she argued for the legalization of cannabis during the live studio news show
Rapport
.
[25]
Stenberg's first published novel was
Mikael och Poeten
in 1956.
[26]
The novel dealt with the
Kejne Affair
, a topic that is further explored in the later work
Apelsinmannen
.
[27]
She worked at the radio interception at
the Ministry for Foreign Affairs
,
[28]
as a journalist at the magazine
Arbetaren
(The Worker), as an interpreter, fisherman and local politician for the
Left Party
.
[29]
[30]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Stenberg lived in
Astol
, Sweden and she was openly bisexual.
[31]
In 1974, she married Hakan Lagergren (1934?91).
[32]
In 2012, Stenberg remarried Kerstin Bjarkstedt (born 1953).
[33]
Stenberg died at her home in Smedsbolet,
Gullspang Municipality
,
Vastra Gotaland County
from hepatic cancer on 23 August 2014.
[34]
Awards
[
edit
]
Selected works
[
edit
]
- 1956 ?
Mikael och Poeten
(fiction)
- 1958 ?
Vit av natten
(fiction)
- 1961 ?
Chans
(fiction)
- 1963 ?
Valdgasten
(fiction)
- 1964 ?
De franvanda
(fiction)
- 1969 ?
Rapport
(fiction)
- 1973 ?
Skurkar
(short stories)
- 1976 ?
Klara Fardiga
(children's book)
- 1977 ?
Farval till havet
(easy-read)
- 1977 ?
Klara Fardiga och prins Hektor
(children's book)
- 1981 ?
Karlek i Europa
(autobiographical novel)
- 1983 ?
Raskenstam
(roman) (filmscripts the same years)
- 1983 ?
Apelsinmannen
(autobiographical novel)
- 1984 ?
Glatta livet
(shortstories)
- 1985 ?
Det skuddade stoftet
(poems)
- 1986 ?
Bodil
(easy-read)
- 1986 ?
Emily och Eddy
(children's book)
- 1987 ?
Spanska Trappan
(autobiographical novel)
- 1987 ?
Falkboet
(children's book)
- 1988 ?
Kaninmysteriet
(children's book)
- 1990 ?
Tusenbroderna
(fiction, part 1 of trilogy)
- 1991 ?
Mannen i havet
(poems)
- 1991 ?
Detta med Doris
(fiction, part 2 of trilogy)
- 1994 ?
Arabesk
(fiction, part 3 of trilogy)
- 1996 ?
Pagodernas drottning
(poem)
- 1997 ?
Mina oar
(essays)
- 1998 ?
Antligen av med liket
(fiction)
- 2001 ?
De 7 dodssynderna
(cook book)
- 2004 ?
Alla Vilda
(autobiographical novel)
- 2005 ?
Allt mojligt om bin
- 2005 ?
Atra och strid
(play, essays)
- 2006 ?
Fritt forfall
(first publication of refused debut novel from 1952)
- 2008 ?
Erotiska noveller
(shortstories)
- 2010 ?
Eldar och is
(autobiographical novel)
- 2013 ?
Syster Linda
(fiction)
- 2014 ?
Skriver mig ut ur varlden
(autobiographical novel)
- Children's books about Billy, in collaboration with
Mati Lepp
- Whistle
, 1989
- Billy on the country
, 1991
- Billy on new adventures
, 1994
- Billy and the monster
, 1994
- Billy's Strange Day
, 1995
- Billy and the new girl
, 1996
- Billy in school
, 1998
- Billy and Grandma
, 1999
- Billy and pigs
, 2001
- Billy and Lotta Runaways
, 2001
- Billy gets a visit
, 2003
- Billy and the Frog
, 2004
- Billy gets angry
, 2006
- Billy and the mysterious cat
, 2007
- Billy and ball
, 2009
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Birgitta Stenberg
Archived
2014-04-07 at the
Wayback Machine
, norstedts.se, retrieved 3 April 2014
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.336
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.336
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.336
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.336
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.337
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.336-337
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.337
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.337
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.337
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.337
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.33-338
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.337
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.337
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.339
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.338
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.339
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.340
- ^
Steadiem, William
Too Rich
p.340
- ^
"Jag jobbade ju ocksa for CIA"
.
Expressen
(in Swedish)
. Retrieved
2017-05-04
.
- ^
Radio, Sveriges.
"CIAs hemliga propagandakrig i Sverige - P3 Dokumentar"
.
sverigesradio.se
(in Swedish)
. Retrieved
2017-05-04
.
- ^
Lundberg, Johan.
"For samlare av stenbergiana"
.
SvD.se
(in Swedish)
. Retrieved
2017-05-04
.
- ^
"Fritt forfall av Birgitta Stenberg - LitteraturMagazinet"
.
LitteraturMagazinet
(in Swedish)
. Retrieved
2017-05-04
.
- ^
"Sjalvbekannaren - DN.SE"
.
DN.SE
(in Swedish). 2004-09-18
. Retrieved
2017-05-04
.
- ^
"
"Slapp loss haschet"
"
.
Aftonbladet
. Retrieved
2017-05-04
.
- ^
"Birgitta Stenberg"
.
www.norstedts.se
(in Swedish)
. Retrieved
2017-05-04
.
- ^
Gustafsson, Ida (23 August 2014).
"Forfattaren Birgitta Stenberg dod"
(in Swedish)
. Retrieved
13 May
2017
.
- ^
"Dokument: Halla dar! med Birgitta Stenberg 2010"
.
Goteborgs-Posten
(in Swedish)
. Retrieved
2017-05-04
.
- ^
Radio, Sveriges (23 August 2014).
"Birgitta Stenberg dod - Kulturnytt"
.
Sveriges Radio
. Retrieved
2017-05-04
.
- ^
catber (2012-03-06).
"Tre kvinnor om livets svara val"
.
Kommunalarbetaren
(in Swedish)
. Retrieved
2017-05-04
.
- ^
"Jag har sex med ett gift par"
(in Swedish). Expressen. 19 October 2004
. Retrieved
25 August
2014
.
- ^
Sveriges dodbok 1901?2009 (DVD-rom) (Version 5.0). Solna: Sveriges slaktforskarforbund
. Libris 11931231. 2010.
ISBN
978-91-87676-59-8
.
- ^
"Ankans sorg efter Birgitta Stenberg"
.
Expressen
(in Swedish)
. Retrieved
2017-05-04
.
- ^
"Birgitta Stenberg ar dod"
.
Dagens Nyheter
(in Swedish). 23 August 2014
. Retrieved
23 August
2014
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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International
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National
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Artists
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Other
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