Ann Jäderlund is the 2023 Brunnslock poet of the year

“I’m very happy for this commission. It feels so humanly noble, as if I’ve been given the task of ascribing something to this earth, perhaps? To write something on a cover that will lie directly on the ground,” Ann Jäderlund says.

Brunnslock poetry is spreading around the country

The initiative behind Brunnslock poetry was taken in Gothenburg in 2018, as part of the city’s anniversary celebrations. Since then it has spread to several other cities in the country, from Umeå in the north to Malmö in the south. This year is Brunnslock poetry’s fifth, and the goal is to continue spreading poetry to places and readers it otherwise rarely reaches.

At the same time it creates an awareness of the hidden infrastructure below ground, which provides us with clean water as well as leading away rain and sewage water to be treated and finally returned to our lakes and seas.

The jury’s award statement 2023

”Ever since her debut in 1985, Ann Jäderlund has laid claim to her very own place in Swedish poetry. From the meadows and gardens of the early collections to the most recent monologue with Paul Celan, her tone is unmistakable, and italics and spacing make the reader sharpen their gaze on the words and the page. With titles such as I en cylinder i vattnet av vattengråt [”In a cylinder of the water of water cried”] and Vad hjälper det en människa om hon häller rent vatten över sig i alla sina dagar [”What does it help a person if she pours clean water over herself for all of her life”], there are few poets better suited to filling a manhole cover’s compact format with a poem across which rays of sun as well as reams of rain will soon flow. We are very proud to be presenting a new Brunnslock poem, written this year by one of Sweden’s most beloved, significant and influential poets.”

The poem written by Ann Jäderlund will be made public at the Gothenburg Book Fair in September.

Facts about Ann Jäderlund

Ann Jäderlund was born in 1955 and lives in Stockholm. Her first collection of poetry, Vimpelstaden, was published in 1985, and since then she has published nine collections of poetry and two children’s books. A volume of collected works, Dikter 1985–2019, was published in 2022. She has also translated poems by Emily Dickinson. She is the recipient of many awards, including De nios stora pris, Aftonbladets kulturpris, Gerard Bonniers lyrikpris, Bellmanpriset and Sveriges Radios lyrikpris.

Facts about Brunnslock poetry

The idea behind Brunnslock poetry came up in 2018, when the City of Gothenburg’s anniversary initiative Rain Gothenburg was given the opportunity of doing something with the manhole covers which are cast and placed on manholes around the city.

Brunnslock poetry has now become established and has spread to other parts of Sweden. In addition to Gothenburg, VA SYD – which includes the municipalities of Burlöv, Eslöv, Lomma, Lund and Malmö in Skåne – joined in 2021. In 2022, Vakin in Umeå and Uppsala Vatten also became partners in Brunnslock poetry.

Previous Brunnslock poets are Lina Ekdahl (2019), Gunnar D Hansson (2020) who chose to step aside to give the honour to Anna Greta Wide, Malte Persson (2021) and Mariam Naraghi (2022).

About Rain Gothenburg

It rains about every three days in Gothenburg, and because of climate change that will increase. What would happen if you turned rain into an opportunity with the vision of becoming the “Best city in the world when it rains”? These efforts go under the collective name Rain Gothenburg, an initiative that is part of Gothenburg’s 400-year anniversary. Rain Gothenburg is managed by the project owner, Gothenburg’s water department Kretslopp och vatten, in close collaboration with Göteborg & Co.