Writers you can meet through Litteraturkartan include Sophie Elkan (1851–1923), Viktor Rydberg (1828–1895), Evert Taube (1890–1976) and Karin Boye (1900–1941).

Litteraturkartan celebrates poets and writers from the city’s past


Publicerad 12 juni 2023

Litteraturkartan  Göteborg 400 år is the result of a collaboration between UNESCO City of Literature Gothenburg and the Swedish Literature Bank (Litteraturbanken): an interactive digital map of the city’s literary heritage.

Litteraturkartan allows you to dig into the past to see how the city and literature have coexisted over these past 400 years. The map includes much-loved poets such as Karin Boye and Evert Taube, but also lesser-known writers who bespoke the city with pen and paper. As well as writers who may simply have visited Gothenburg and described their impressions in beautiful or vivid ways,” says Dick Claésson, principal editor at Litteraturbanken.

With Gothenburg now available on litteraturkartan.se/göteborg, everyone can familiarise themselves with the locations in the city and its surroundings where historical literature and stories came about.

“In addition to writers such as Karin Boye and Evert Taube, we also find Viktor Rydberg, Sophie Elkan and Harry Martinson,” says David Anthin, historian of literature and principal writer at Litteraturkartan Göteborg 400 år – “but we also meet travellers from afar such as Carl von Linné, the ghosts of sea-captains, seeresses and emigrants, artists and bohemians.”

Litteraturkartan.se is a digital travelling companion that can be used on smartphones and tablets, and naturally on computers too. If you are wandering about Gothenburg, Litteraturkartan Göteborg 400 år can help you find surprising stories and interesting personalities to read about in the area where you happen to be. And Gothenburgers in other parts of the world can enjoy armchair travel, wherever they are, to their former hometown.