Wretchedness

Andrzej Tichý was born in Prague to a Polish mother and a Czech father and has lived in Sweden since 1981. In Sweden, Wretchedness was a finalist for the August Prize and won the Eyvind Johnson Prize, while Purity was a finalist for the 2021 Nordic Council Literature Prize. A translator Swedish and Norwegian literature, Nichola Smalley is also publicist at And Other Stories. In 2015 she finished a PhD exploring the use of contemporary urban vernaculars in Swedish and UK rap and literature at UCL. Her translations range from a Swedish book about Brazilian football (Jogo Bonito by Henrik Brandão Jönsson (Yellow Jersey Press)), to the latest novel by Norwegian superstar Jostein Gaarder, An Unreliable Man (Weidenfeld & Nicolson).

‘What can a survivor do with their history? Can you be loyal to the friends you left behind? Andrzej Tichý turns this wretched reality into something poignant. His polyphonic novel has a rough, rhythmic melody and a ferocious rage.’