VIKTOR DONOVAN: September 2010

Thursday, September 23, 2010

GOTHENBURG BOOK FAIR 2010

For book lovers, The Gothenburg Book Fair is a paradise that lasts from Thursday to Sunday. It is one of the biggest events of the year and it is packed!
"No other book fair in the world offers such a comprehensive conference programme as the Göteborg Book Fair. In 2009 it included 448 seminars with more than 800 participants from 27 countries, running over four days. In addition to the seminars, there are events on the different stages and activities in the exhibition stands throughout the whole Fair. The Book Fair 2009 offered more than 2,700 different programmes and events with more than 2,100 participating speakers.
More then 800 exhibitors cover most sectors of the book trade, including fiction, non-fiction, books for children and young adults, educational books, picture-books, magazines, comic books, libraries, art and much, much more."

The Gothenburg book Fair is the largest in Scandinavia

Here is a discussion going on on the subject of translating the American poet Emily Dickinson into Swedish

The much loved Alexander McCall Smith will appear in
various discussions and seminars.

Ralp Nader will make an appearance here at the Book Fair this year.

On the weekend, there will be long lines to get in.

Monday, September 20, 2010

FINISHED !

The Swedish election (parliament and local government) is over. The temporary wooden houses, placed downtown, where the various parties handed out information, are being hauled away. The present "conservative" (they are to the left of American Democrats) alliance continues to have the power, so there will not be much of a change. People can go on with their lives and enjoy the common pastime, a visit to one of the many, many, coffee places in downtown Gothenburg.

In Sweden there is no need to register to vote. If you are a resident of Sweden, you get a voting card in the mail well advance and you simply vote earlier or on the day of the election which is always on a Sunday to make voting possible for everyone. The voting is done with paper ballots and all very efficient and peaceful. Electronic voting has never even been discussed. Far too risky.

Friday, September 17, 2010

SEPTEMBER BY THE CANAL

This seagull had two chicks that kept pecking on her for food. They'd better grow up fast, winter can come early!

This strange sculpture is by the old moat, canal in Gothenburg, Sweden

Saturday, September 4, 2010

MORE VINTAGE TRAMS

This vintage tram driver sells postcards of the old trams.
See earlier entry on vintage trams.

He was proud of his tram badges from Australia and San Francisco

Note the practical ventilation at the top of the roof. No overheated trams in the summer!

Even the electric fuses are nice to look at.

The lamp fitting is lovely in its simplicity

The brass handle-bar has a functional beauty

Even the handles are beautiful

NEW BOOK!

Much of human activity is centered around food. We think of food whether we’re hungry or not. We spend a great deal of time buying it. We take hours preparing it (well, some do). We talk about it. We read about it in cook books. We watch television when chefs talk about it (sometimes to excess). When we socialize, it is often centered around the communal intake of it. We give it as gifts. Food, we can’t escape it! Some people become keenly interested in preparing food for themselves and others; many have become what we call “good cooks”. Usually a degree of creativity is involved together with a keen interest to entertain and a need to take care of others, to be a good host. It is such people that one remembers, and that is how I got started on Food & Folk, remembering, for example that excellent couple, Beatrice and Clayburn La Force on their ranch in Alpine California. After that I just kept going.

MY HOMETOWN GOTHENBURG

A series of closeups (224 photos) of Gothenburg, Sweden. Language: English and Swedish.----- This book consists of a series of closeups of Gothenburg. It is no history book but, hopefully, it will generate some curiosity about our city. When you walk in a city like London you are struck by Britain’s colonial past and its enormous wealth which manifests itself in buildings and institutions all over the city. When you walk in “Little London” as Gothenburg is often called, one is keenly aware of its importance as the best fortified city in Northern Europe. Two forts still watch over it. Remnants of the seventeenth century wall, and the meandering moat are a reminder of the city’s military past. Positioned on the West coast of Sweden, Gothenburg was once a world leader in ship building and shipping and evolved naturally into a merchant’s city. The English and Scottish heritage here is very important. There are clues and traces everywhere. One has only to look.

A GARDEN IN MY HOMETOWN

A book in English and Swedish about the Garden Society of Gothenburg--TRÄDGÅRDSFÖRENINGEN -----The Garden Society of Gothenburg is one of the best preserved early 19th century parks in Europe. It is situated directly downtown, offering lovely walks in the park or in the shaded woodland areas along the canal/moat, waterfront. The garden recently went through a major renovation under the auspices of Ulf Nordfjell, the internationally known landscape designer. The aim was to bring the garden back to its old nineteenth century glory. Carpet bedding returned and five new woodland areas were designed by five international garden designers. A superb new rose park was added, a successful blending of historical roses and perennials.

Love letters from my Swedish grandfather Folke to my American grandmother Olga 1909 - 1961

My American grandmother, Olga, met my Swedish grandfather, Folke Jonsson, in Brussels in 1909. Olga was 18 and Folke, 23. They settled in Gothenburg and Särö, Sweden. Olga, being American, had her family in Florida, and Folke soon came to realize that if you marry a woman from another continent, and this woman is charmingly independent, innovative and brave, and has her own means to boot, she is bound to want to visit her native country some time -- or several times -- or more than several times. To Folke, a sensitive soul, the long separations were quite painful and he suffered till his darling Olga returned. He “talked” to her in his frequent letters. Olga saved all his letters, in their original envelopes, in neat little bundles held together with different coloured ribbons. They were a treasured lifelong testament of his love. Olga and Folke corresponded in English as Olga was American and preferred writing in English. Had my grandfather Folke married a Swedish woman who had stayed at home, there would not be this stack of his letters today. He never intended the letters to be shown to others, but more than one hundred years have passed since Folke wrote them to his darling Olga. I have enjoyed getting to know my grandfather in this manner and I think others, not only relatives, should also share that privilege.

A pictorial Companion to the letters in the book above: 150 pictures of Olga & Folke 1909-1978

NEW BOOK BY DONOVAN O'MALLEY

REVIEW: "...O'Malley continues to prove that he is one of the more important writers around, a writer who with every book brings into our lives some very strange, often exceedingly humorous, and now, frequently very lonely people. His ability to create language for each of his characters is sharp, well studied and written, and without belittling anyone he, in language, shows the difference between class, and education, and exposure. Likely that comes from his experience in writing plays where characters are alive and moving, but with his considerable literary skills he makes his written page people morph into real life folks. He is in top form here ... " Grady Harp, June 12 (Hall of Fame reviewer)