”It must be done in such condition that she can support herself and continue her craft as a poet.” So reads the poet Katarina Frostenson requirement to resign from the Swedish Academy, which her lawyer, Per E Samuelson in a week surrendered to the department.
the Requirements have caused a small – but fierce – debate about whether it is reasonable of the Miller to demand that the Swedish Academy should continue to support her, despite the fact that she is no longer participating in its work, or not.
Jönsons new collection of poems, ”Marginalia/Xterminalia” attracted attention for its focus on the poet’s economic conditions – between each paragraph in ”Marginalia” is a single, italicized line, with countless variations on the sentence ”I need to make more money”.
And the back of the cover Lina Rydén Reynols coming poesidebut ”Read my lips”, on start-up publisher Nirstedt/literature, is an accounting of the expenses for the book – including the poet’s own advances, sek 15 000.
”Capitalism is an inescapable reality, even for the supposedly transcendent art”, DN:s Rebekah Kärde wrote in his review of the ”Marginalia/Xterminalia”.
Malte Persson. Photo: Jonas Lindkvist
42 years. Poet, translator and cultural journalist. His latest poetry collection, ” poem ”, com 2018.
I wish it was more as on Nils Ferlins time: that you threw together a wit, poem on a krogservett, took it up to the DN’s editorial board, and got paid in cash. Now, I poems sometimes in Expressen, which pay excellent, but they forces me to bill. A true bohemian should not be forced to invoice.
the Actual poesiskrivandet costs nothing except time. So: enough money to pay rent and food, plus a little but not too much red wine, I guess.
No, but someone should try to get me to compromise! Brecht wrote in 1928 a reklamdikt for car brand Steyr and got a car as a reward. While I have no licence, but is open to other suggestions.
My latest collections of poetry have sold well in order to be poetry. If I would end up with something, then it should rather be the prose, which usually takes longer to write and not necessarily selling better.
Anna Hallberg. Photo: Caroline Andersson
44 years. Poet and literary critic in the DN. Her latest poetry collection, ” Chow chow ”, come 2017.
I do not. A collection of poems takes a few years to write and provide 15 000 sek before tax in the royalty. But I’m teaching, freelancing, writing criticism, juryläser and say yes to the readings and various assignments. And receives a ten-year working grant from the Författarfonden.
All poets need money, particularly in a small nation of culture as Sweden. There is a financial shame and the stress of many professionals in the cultural field, which also is a social policy klassfråga.
No, I refuse to compromise with my poems for commercial reasons. I do not think it is possible.
No, I have not, but during long periods, I can not prioritize my artistic writing, which tends to make me frustrated and uncertain.
Tua Forsström. Photo: Niklas Sundström
71 years. Poet, author, and former publishing editor. Her latest collection of poems, ” Notes ”, com 2018.
I have written so long that I’ve had time to live at all possible: scholarships, commissioning, and many other kinds of missions, förlagsjobb… It’s the support systems that have the greatest significance for the poets, but at least in Finland, it is next to impossible to live on the state konstnärsstipendierna even if they give a basic sense of security. You may fill in with another job.
How much money need what the professional at any time to earn a living? It is difficult to draw a fixed amount, the cost of living depends on many circumstances, for example, the supply of children. Incidentally, it is also about how to self-look at their standard of living: such as the one experience that the obvious needs stands out as the luxury for the other. In any case, it is hardly news to anyone that many poets incomes fluctuate around the poverty line.
I have tried to ensure that adapting the economy to the writing, not the other way around. I mean, I have tried to set up life so that I’ll be able to afford to write, keeping costs at a reasonable level. It will be to make the effort because I am wasteful. Indeed I have periodically received the job that interested me to cope with the economy, but do not think it has interfered. I write and read yet, not all of my waking time! It has even been useful to be reminded that not everything needs to be fun all the time.
Anna Axfors. Photo: Charles Louis
28 years. Poet, and writer. Her diktsamlingsdebut, ”I hate nature”, come 2018.
a Scholarship from the Författarfonden, which I got after my debut novel ”love letter” in 2016, so maybe it counts as prose… But for me, it goes together. The money, however, is the end of long time no see. Readings and panel discussion perhaps six times per year, if you knock it out, then usually you get a fee after Författarförbundets recommendations. The actual books, I have scored between 7 000 and 10 000 sek with the f-tax for at the time of publishing. In addition to this I write kulturartiklar in the newspaper sometimes as well as working with other, so-called ”brödjobb”.
It all depends on one’s standard of living, and even potential/ability to write on the side of a brödjobb. Really you need a full-time salary, if one is to be able to write seriously, but it is a rare luxury. But for example, if I had 10 000 dollars in the hand each month so would I be able to write full time, because I don’t have expensive habits, and do not live in Stockholm.
No, then there are other things you can do that provide more money.
No, on the contrary, a lot of time spent looking for new job/thinking about the future, time that you would had put on to write.
David Väyrynen. Photo: Daniel Olausson
35 years. Poet and musician. His debutdiktsamling, ”Ground”, come 2017.
the sale of books, författarframträdanden, scholarships, journalistic assignments, and other ancillary activities.
It depends of course on how the poet lives, for everyday use, but as default you need to the food in the stomach, and a so lot of time. All the other bad habits you accumulated over the years, you can’t force someone else to pay for. The vast majority of people who begin to write the poem, know that it is a chore that rarely or never leads to something further extravagant life.
Poetry rhymes pretty bad with growth. It seems to be difficult to make it saleable, and thus, it is not very often subject to pressure. I have never seen that someone tried to affect the texts with a view to better aligning them.
To write poetry is nothing I do for economic reasons. It would therefore be strange if I suddenly had to stop because of the money.
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