The wide and versatile production of the Swedish writer Inger Edelfeldt (b. 1956) comprises over twenty works: novels, children's books and juveniles, collections of short stories, comics and poems. Edelfeldt has also illustrated books, including works by J.R.R. Tolkien. Many of her juveniles have become classics: her first novel, Duktig pojke (1977, "Good Boy") tells about a fourteen-year-old boy discovering his homosexuality; in Kamalas bok (1986, "Kamala's Book") Edelfeldt enters into the feelings of a young woman suffering from anorexia, who is full doubt about herself and her looks. Edelfeldt's novels describe young people's desperate and unrequited love experiences with complete seriousness, and yet a hearty laughter is heard throughout the narration. She writes about being different, internally alien, which either leads to the person being left outside or trying defiantly to escape from the world (of adults). Edelfeldt has won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis awarded for juveniles. Her books aimed at grown-up readers have also received recognition: her latest novel, Det hemliga namnet (1999, "The Secret Name"), for example, was shortlisted for the August literary prize. Its main character is a 46-year-old woman artist of Hungarian origin who still believes in love with a capital L and whom her relatives and friends consider slightly mad. Yet she is a true Edelfeldtian heroine, a woman who has not sold her heart or her soul. The book is a devilishly funny description of a lonely woman. Many of Edelfeldt's works have been translated into German. Her collection of short stories, Den förunderliga kameleonten (1995, "The Wonderful Chameleon") has also been published in French.
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