The sons of Afghanistan

Coming to Sweden as a refugee - yesterday and today.
The theater's actors read from Elin Persson's novel "The Afghan Sons", which was awarded the Nordic Council Children and Young People's Literature Prize 2021. In a subsequent conversation, we discuss refugee reception, humanity and being in a limbo between what has been and what will be.

Participants: Elin Persson, author and social anthropologist. Bobo Lundén, artistic director. Actors from the theater and a representative from the Red Cross, Skellefteå.
Discussion leader: Tora von Platen, dramaturge and playwright.

What they say about the Sons of Afghanistan:

"De afghanska sönerna" is Persson's debut and an impressive one. It is clear that the author has a background in social work and has himself spent a couple of summers in a similar residential home. The novel is published for young people, but can be read with equal pleasure by adults." /.../ "The depiction of Rebecca's workplace and relationship with the three boys raises burning questions about power, powerlessness and the right to a dignified life. It is difficult to answer whether working in an institution makes you more or less human. All I know is that Persson's novel puts its finger on what it means to be a fellow human being."Dagens Nyheter

"Elin Persson's debut novel is a stylistically scathing commentary on the bureaucratic exercise of authority in the Sweden of integration. It is also a fictional memoir of the people who were saved but not allowed to live. As such, it is as effective as it is affecting, with a linguistic brilliance that lingers."Norrbottens-Kuriren

ENG: The Afghan sons. Coming to Sweden as a refugee - yesterday and today. Actors read from Elin Persson's novel "De afghanska sönnerna". In a subsequent conversation, we discuss refugee reception, humanity and being in a limbo between what has been and what will be.