An interview in with Swedish cli-fi novelist Jesper Weithz, author of ''Det som inte växer är döende''

''Det som inte växer är döende''

1. Have you heard of the cli fi term yet in Sweden? 

 

Indeed. I’ve read what you and others have written in English. Also I have written briefly about it i a swedish climate magazine kalled Effekt. (But it’s in Swedish,)

2. Is your novel ''Det som inte växer är döende,''  a cli fi novel or sci fi novel? 

 

I consider it a cli fi novel, rather than sci fi, although it’s placed in a near future. You can read a little more about it (and me) in a PDF I’ll attach. It’s from a catalogue produced by my (former) literary agent.

3. Does media in Sweden talk about cli fi yet there?

 

See answer number 1. Apart from that nothing that I know of except for a special in a literature magazine called 10-tal. But I don’t remember if the cli fi-term where used there. And then there’s the article you found me through. And I know there will be a piece in autumn in a magazine called Vi Läser (We Read). I think it will be about why cli fi is big in Norway, but not in Sweden. (I have been interviewed for it, that's how I know.) There where also a short piece on public service television – on cli fi – when ”Det som inte växer är döende” was released and Effekt published an issue on Climate and Culture. But unfortunately it’s not online any more.

4. Tell me more about your novel and is it in English yet or soon, and is there news in English about  YOU?]

 

You’ll find answer on that in the attached PDF :-) The translation by Dominic Hinde is from the same part of the novel that’s in the PDF (he did a British English version for the British book market). There is no plans of a English version, although I’m searching for means to finance a version myself.

The novel did fairly good – and got stunning reviews. Which, of course, was nice. But it didn’t, sad to say, contribute to or ignite any public (i.e. in media) discussion on the climat crisis.