Jonas Hassen Khemiri (born 27 December 1978) is a Swedish writer.[1] He is the author of six novels, seven plays, and a collection of essays, short stories and plays.[2] His work has been translated into more than 25 languages.[3] He has received the
August Prize for fiction[4] and a
Village Voice Obie Award for best script.[1] In 2017 he became the first Swedish writer to have a short story published in the
New Yorker.[5] Khemiri's novel
The Family Clause (FSG) was awarded the French
Prix Médicis[6] and was a finalist for the
National Book Award.[7] Khemiri moved to New York in 2021 for a Cullman Fellowship[8] at
The New York Public Library and currently teaches in the Creative Writing program at
NYU.[9] In 2023 he was a Ben Belitt Distinguished Visiting Writer at
Bennington College.[10]
Khemiri's debut novel, Ett öga rött (One Eye Red), was published in 2003. It sold over 200,000 copies in Sweden, was adapted into a movie and became the best-selling novel of any category in 2004.[12]
Khemiri's second novel, Montecore: en unik tiger (Montecore - The Silence of the Tiger), received the
Sveriges Radio Award for Best Swedish Novel of 2007. It was a finalist for the
August Prize and translated into more than 20 languages.[13] In the US, Montecore was translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles and published by
Knopf and the
New York Times described the novel as "funny, ambitious and inventive. Also black: rage and tragedy pulse beneath the fireworks."[14] In 2011, the novel was chosen by the critics at
Dagens Nyheter as one of the top 10 works of fiction, published in Sweden in 2000–2010.[15]
In 2009 Khemiri released Invasion!, a collection of short stories, essays and plays.
Khemiri's third novel, Jag ringer mina bröder (I Call My Brothers), was published in 2012. It was adapted for television by
SVT.[16]
Khemiri's fourth novel, Allt jag inte minns (Everything I Don't Remember) was published in 2015. It became a national best-seller and received Sweden's most prestigious literary award, the
August Prize, for best fiction.[17] The novel has been translated into more than 25 languages.[18]Joyce Carol Oates chose it as one of her three favourite books of 2016, calling it "enigmatic" in the
Times Literary Supplement.[19]Masha Gessen picked it as her favourite book of 2017 for
Politico.[20]
Khemiri moved to New York with his family in 2021, to write a new novel called The Sisters.
Plays
Khemiri's first play, Invasion!, premiered at the
Stockholm City Theatre in 2006.[21] It was chosen for the 2007 Swedish Theater Biennial and has since then been performed in 12 countries.[22] The first US production of Invasion! was produced by the Play Company, and in 2011, the play received a
Village Voice Obie Award for best script.[1] It was published in English by
Samuel French[23] and in German by
Theater Heute.[24] The production at
Thalia Theater in Hamburg ran from 2009–2016.[25]
Khemiri's second play Fem gånger Gud (God Times Five) toured Sweden in 2008[26] and the third play, Vi som är hundra (The Hundred We Are), premiered at
Gothenburg City Theatre in 2009.[27] In Norway the play won the
Hedda Award, Norway's top theatrical award, for best play of 2010.[28]
Apatiska för nybörjare (Apathy for Beginners), Khemiri's fourth play, premiered at the big stage of
Folkteatern in Gothenburg in 2011 and has been performed in Italy, Norway and Germany.[29]SVT adapted the play for Swedish television.[30]
In 2013 Khemiri adapted the novel Jag ringer mina bröder (I Call My Brothers) into a play. It toured Sweden with the
National Swedish Touring Theatre, had a second premier at the
Stockholm City Theatre and has been performed in Norway, Denmark, Germany, the UK and Australia. In the UK, the play was staged by Volta International Festival at the
Arcola Theatre in 2015 and at the
Gate Theatre in 2016.[31] It was published in English by
Oberon Books.[32]
Khemiri's sixth play, ≈ [ungefär lika med] (≈[Almost Equal To]) premiered at the
Royal Dramatic Theatre in 2014. In 2015, Khemiri received the
Expressen Theatre Prize.[33] The play has been performed in Norway, Denmark, Germany (multiple versions), Iceland, Belgium and the US. It is currently being performed at the
Schaubühne in Berlin, and at the Pillsbury House Theatre, in Minneapolis, US.[34][35]
Eld (
Fire) is Khemiri's latest play, it opened on the big stage at the
Royal Dramatic Theatre in 2022, directed by German director Antú Romero Nunes.
Other writing
Khemiri's story "Unchanged, unending" was originally published in
Aftonbladet, and won the
Swedish Radio prize for best short story in 2008.[36] Later that year Khemiri met and interviewed the rapper
Nas for a portrait in
Dagens Nyheter.[37] In 2013 Khemiri started a writing workshop for people who are living or have experienced living as undocumented migrants in Sweden. Texts from three participants of the workshop were published in Swedish by
Aftonbladet,[38][39][40] Norwegian by
Klassekampen and English by the literary journal
Asymptote.[41]
In 2013, Khemiri wrote an open letter to Sweden's Minister of Justice
Beatrice Ask in response to a controversial police program, REVA. The letter, titled "Dear Beatrice Ask", started a debate about discrimination and racial profiling in Sweden. Originally published in
Dagens Nyheter,[42] the letter became a social media phenomenon, with more than 150 000 shares on Facebook (summer 2014)[42] and more than half a million clicks on the article online.[43] It is one of the most shared articles in Swedish history.[44] According to social media analysts the letter reached more or less every Twitter user in Sweden.[45] The original text was translated into more than 20 languages,[46] and a version of the text was published by the
New York Times in April 2013.[47]
In 2017, Khemiri's short story "Så som du hade berättat det för mig (ungefär) om vi hade lärt känna varandra innan du dog" ("As You Would Have Told It to Me (Sort Of) If We Had Known Each Other Before You Died") was published by the
New Yorker.[48] Khemiri is the first Swedish writer to publish a short story in the magazine, although it has previously featured poetry by Swedish poet
Tomas Tranströmer.[49]
Personal life
Khemiri is based in New York. His younger brother is actor
Hamadi Khemiri.[50] Through his father, Khemiri is cousin of award-winning performance artist
Slim Khezri.
Invasion! : pjäser, noveller, texter (Invasion! Collection of plays, short stories and essays, 2008)
Jag ringer mina bröder (I Call My Brothers, novel, 2012)
Allt jag inte minns (Everything I Don't Remember, novel, Atria/Scribner 2015), translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles
Så som du hade berättat det för mig (ungefär) om vi hade lärt känna varandra innan du dog (As You Would Have Told It to Me (Sort Of) If We Had Known Each Other Before You Died, short story, the
New Yorker, 2017)[48]
Pappaklausulen (The Family Clause, 2018), translated by Alice Menzies
Systrarna (The Sisters, 2023)
Plays
Invasion! (Invasion!, 2006)
Fem gånger Gud (Five Time God, 2008)
Vi som är hundra (The Hundred We Are, 2009)
Jag ringer mina bröder (I Call My Brothers, 2013)
Apatiska för nybörjare (Apathy for Beginners, 2011)
≈ [ungefär lika med] (≈ [Almost Equal To], 2014)
Eld (Fire, 2022)
Awards
2004
Borås Tidning's Prize, best Swedish literary debut for Ett öga rött (One Eye Red)
^"Invasion!". www.samuelfrench.com. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
^Theaterverlag, Michael Merschmeier, Der.
"Theater heute - Archiv". Der Theaterverlag (in German). Retrieved 3 October 2017.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^"Invasion!". Thalia Theater (in German). Retrieved 2 October 2017.