International Authors' Stage: Andrzej Tichý (SE) in conversation with Matthias Dressler-Bredsdorff

Swedish-Czech author Andrzej Tichý has been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize four times. Most recently in 2025 for "The Book of Events" – a 700-page mosaic of our time that breaks with the conventional novel form and delivers sharp critique of Western civilisation. Through an impressive and multi-voiced gallery of characters, the book paints a portrait of a humanity is under pressure.

World literature from Malmö

Tichý is known for giving voice to society's most vulnerable and marginalised people. In insistent and sometimes furious language, he confronts the reader with the dark sides of the welfare state.

The author himself grew up in a social housing estate on the outskirts of Malmö – “at the bottom of Swedish class society,” as he describes it. Drawing on his personal experiences, he connects them to the rest of the world with references to political events, aesthetic theory and literary history. In doing so, he links his own story to a broader global narrative of violence, inequality and social hierarchy.

Reviewer Johann Sten Nielsen wrote about "The Book of Events" in the Danish newspaper Information:

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“Tichý shows that 'world literature' can easily emerge from the outskirts of southern Malmö.”

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Renewal of the novel genre

With his uncompromising and form-experimental novels, Tichý has been named as part of the new avant-garde of Swedish literature. He is particularly noted for his ability to write multi-voiced narratives that renew the novel form with a wide stylistic range.

With "The Book of Events", he challenges the idea that it is possible to tell a common story about our time. There is no central protagonist, no plot, and no unifying thread. Instead, the novel is a multi-voiced collage of anecdotes, statements, confessions, absurd dialogues, and quotes that bear witness to the fragmented reality of the 21st century.

In this way, the book becomes an event in itself: an attempt to piece together meaning out of meaninglessness. This is precisely what gives Tichý's writing its sense of hope and force.

Participants

Andrzej Tichý

Andrzej Tichý (b. 1978) is a Swedish-Czech writer who has lived in Malmö since 1981. He made his debut with the novel "Six liters of air" in 2005, for which he received the Swedish debut prize. Since then, he has received several major awards and has most recently been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize for the novel "The Book of Events".

Matthias Dressler-Bredsdorff 

Matthias Dressler-Bredsdorff (b. 1988) is a critic and cultural journalist at Information, and the author of, among other works, "Efter Faldet" (2025). He lived in Paris for several years, where, from his position as a lecturer at Sorbonne University, he sought to understand contemporary French culture and history.