— Hello, Maria. Russian readers know you by Kod : Oreste, but we know very little about you. Tell us a bit about yourselves, please. Where did you study?
— I grew up in a small town (Borås) in the southwest of Sweden, surrounded by forests and lakes. I always loved reading, and as a very young child I wanted to become a writer. But then my interest for science and maths took over, and when I moved away from home it was to go to Gothenburg, where I studied to become an engineer in Physics. I also spent one of my student years abroad, in Lausanne, Switzerland. I then moved first to Stockholm and then back to Gothenburg, where I started working as a European Patent Attorney. I now live in Lerum just outside Gothenburg with my husband and two children. Again, I live surrounded by forests and lakes
— Do you remember your very first story? Was it published?
— I am not sure about my first story ever. But my first story that was published was a story about a grandfather who told his grandchildren about spring. I recall that it was filled with names of different flowers. That story got published in the local newspaper back home. I was about nine years old. It took over thirty years before I was ever published again!
— Did you study creative writing or did you improve your writing skills by learning from your own mistakes?
— A little bit of both. I started writing merely as a hobby a few years ago. I soon learned that it was easier having ideas for books than realising them. To improve my skills, I followed a part-time course in creative writing for children. The course was a rather broad introduction into all fields of children’s litererature, and after that I started writing with a more serious mindset.
I began writing “Code:Orestes”, mainly on very dark early mornings before the family got up. However, I never got to finalise the story, and I grew more and more frustrated.
Finally, I took a year off work and followed a full time course in creative writing. During the course I wrote my second book (Lake Hollow), but I could also take time beside the course and finalise “Code:Orestes”. When “Code:Orestes” was accepted for publication, I decided to go back to my Patent Attorney job, but on part time so as to get some time every week for writing in daylight.
I do not think that courses are necessary, I think that what really matters is sitting down to write, and, as you say, learn from your own mistakes. But courses are very useful for widening your views, for getting impulses to try new things, and – most important – for getting yourself to the point where you allow yourself to write and take your writing seriously.
— Could you please tell how did the idea of Kod : Oreste come to you?
— Initially, I wanted to write a book where strange events took place in a quite normal environment, and where you could interpret the mysteries in a logical manner or in a supernatural manner. I wanted one character (Orestes) to be purely logical, and another (Malin) to be open also to other interpretations. I think that it is so very interesting that we humans, although we are very practical and rational and scientific, still seems to have this need the supernatural, for the unexplicable. I believe that there is something fundamental in us that makes us think this way, and I enjoy the clash between the two mindsets.
However, I did not know where the story was to take place. One day I walked around in Lerum where I live. This is the most beautiful place (between forests and lakes) but unforunately, a large motorway and a railroad thrashes through the landscape, tearing it apart. I hate that motorway and at the same time I realise that I would not live here without it – since I need the road to be able to go to work in Gothenburg. And so I started thinking about what it was like to live here before the road and the railroad existed… and I realised that there it was again, a clash, not between logic and supernatural, but perhaps between practical and beautiful, new and old… And so the story got it’s setting and it’s roots back to the time when the very first railroads came and modern life started.
— Could you tell a bit about your other book: Kod Elektra. If this a sequel of Kod Oreste? What can a reader expect from the book?
— Yes, “Code: Elektra” is a sequel to “Code: Orestes”, and there is a third part in the series soon to be pulished in Sweden. I hope that they all will be publised also in Russia.
In “Code: Elektra” it is autumn, and an abundance of dark and rainy nights! Voices from the past are heard and new mysterious letters turns up, making Malin busy, while everyone around her seems to have secrets: her parents, Ante and maybe even… Orestes?
— Do you like the Russian cover of Kod Oreste?
— I love it! It was such a pleasant surprise to see Malin and Orestes looking soo cool, I love the details and the letter on the back, and well, just about everything.
Code: Orestes is published in three countries: Sweden, Germany and Russia. There are three very different covers, and still I think that all of them captures something essential about the story.
One of the greatest joys with being a writer is too see talented persons, such as the cover artists, taking your story and creating something new from it.
— What do we not know about the characters of Kod : Oreste? Could you share a couple of secret facts?
— Malin has always dreamed about being someone special. She is of course a rather special child, with her talent for cello and all, but she thinks that she is just ordinary and a bit boring. She often feels that she cannot live up to her over-intelligent mother’s expectations. She hides lots of things from people, from the books under her bed (which she thinks her mum wont like), to her dreams and ambitions.
Orestes always wants to appear rational, but deep down he is a true romantic. He would love to come saving Malin riding on a brillant white horse if he had the chance. But he would never, ever admit it.
— Usually, we only see one side of an author’s story: it’s a success, published book, beautiful covers, translation and film adaptations. But this success does not always come right away. Could you tell what difficulties and challenges you had to face before your books started to get published?
— To me, the most problematic was and still is to allow myself to write. I have a regular job as a patent attorney, and I have a family with children. I often feel that my writing is a very egoistic endevour, and that my time could be spent better to the advantage of my colleagues and family.
Initially I was hiding my writing from everyone except my very closest family. It was not until I took that year off work to follow a creative writing course that I started telling people about what I was doing.
Ok, I thought. So now I am a writer. Perhaps not a good writer or even a published writer, but at least I admit that this is my ambition. This should do the trick. From now on, writing will be easy.
However, it is not. I still work as a patent attorney, and I still have a family and I still struggle to allow myself to write. Even though by now I have my own writing desk at home, and I have a publishing house, and I have at least a few hours every week designated to writing, it is so very easy to let it go and let other urgent things in life come first.
— In Russia, published writers collaborate with publishers and usually are quite involved in advertising their own books. Could you tell how are these things like in Sweden? For example, when creating covers, does your opinion matter?
— I think that most writer’s are quite involved in advertising their books. For famous writers, the publishing houses could set up quite a tour for doing speeches, signings etc. at the issuance of a new book. However, I am a fairly new writer and so for me there are usually only some smaller local events.
As for my covers, the publishing house in Sweden proposed an artist and I was allowed to comment, of course. However, the ultimate decision is in the hand of the publishing house. The foreign covers always come as a nice surprise!
—What are your hobbies besides writing?
— I read an awful lot, of course. I have not always been a writer, but I have always been a reader.
(I learned to read all by myself when I was three years old. I sometimes think that learning to read at such a tender age is dangerous. It seems to have caused some irreparable damage – look at this reading and writing addiction! Without it I would have been a happy engineer and Patent Attorney with no need for complicating life by squeezing in all this story-telling. :-)
I spend some of my free time with being very afraid while pursuing outdoorsy activities such as skiing, which the rest of my family truly enjoys. I am, unfortunately, a bit of a coward, and tries to find excuses to stay at home with the dog.
To relax, I enjoy textile crafts, and I like to start a vacation by solving a 1000 piece puzzle – that somehow clears my mind.
— You live in Sweden, and as a foreigner, I am very curious to know about your favorites places in your city and in the country. What are tourist must-sees in Sweden?
— I guess that it depends where you are from. If you come from a big city or a rural area, I would say that you should come to the north of Sweden and enjoy silence and untouched nature.
If you live in the inland I think that you could come to the archipelago north of Gothenburg, or outside Stockholm. The Gothenburg archipelago is more harsh and rocky, having the North Sea outside of it, whereas the Stockholm archipelago is more green and flowering, facing the Baltic Sea.
If you care to come to Lerum, where “Code:Orestes” takes place, you could visit most of the places in the book, such as the old houses where the clues and letters are hidden. You could also go to Nääs castle, which is an old mansion surrounded by a beautiful park, and if you come around Midsummer you will also find the big celebration mentioned in the book. (At least when corona is over!)
—Your favorite movies?
— It was ages since I saw a movie! I will have to pass on that one.
—Your favorite bands?
— I really love music. However, I have a blind spot for remembering the names of artists and bands (although I can often cite the complete texts). So I am not very good at band names, I hardly know my own favourites
But I can say that my playlist is very fractioned, I listen to anything from modern Swedish artists such as Molly Sandén or Mirian Bryant, I listen to American soul from the 60’s and to Edith Piaf. All at once.
— How do you feel about bloggers who are telling about your books and tag you in their reviews?
— I am very grateful that there are readers that take the time to review books and to share their opinions. At least in Sweden, reviews of children’s literature in newspapers etc. are very scarce, and so it may be that the bloggers’ reviews are the only feedback I will ever receive on my books.
Also, similar to the feeling when an artist has created a cover to my story, I am thrilled when readers compose photos including my books, and I love to see if they select a citation from the txt or something else. After all, the bloggers’ work is also a creative act which uses my work as a starting point, and I love to see that creativity.
As for negative reviews, of course they hurt. But I truly respect that people’s views are different, and everyone cannot and should not love my work. Again, I am grateful for the feeback.
— What do you think about a competitiveness in the writing world? Do you have friends among other writers?
— I have some writing friends that I have met during the courses that I have attended. I find that you very swiftly become friends with people who at a first glance are very different from you when you share your writing. Writing always goes beyond apparence. I have not met any particular competitveness, but then I am still very new to the writing world. Perhaps you have to be more famous to be envied!
— Would you like to visit Russia?
— Yes I would. I have never been to Russia and not to Eastern Europe either.
— How do your friends and family feel about your writing? Do they read your books? May be even give you some advice when you need it?
— Well, I think that my husband could rightously think that it would be better if I spent my time on a) the family b) the household or c) my ordinary job where I make a lot more money. But he is a kind man who has realised that I simply can’t do without writing, and so he is supportive as long as I still spend a little time with a) b) and c) in the above. He does not give advice, but he usually reads my books once they are published.
My mother and a few close friends have read most of my books before they were published, and they always come with valuable comments.
My children have read some of my books, but not all. I think that it is a bit strange to read a book and think: “Did Mum really think this? Seriously? Mum?” After all, the writing person inside me is quite different from their ordinary Mum.
— Do you have people who inspire you or whose life and creative works you admire?
— I am inspired by everyone who dares going for an unknown goal. Everytime I hear an interview with someone, whether it is an artist or a musician or an athelete, who went out and tried with all their heart to do something new, I am inspired. And a bit jealous. I guess that is because I still struggle with allowing myself to write.
I enjoy reading about creative persons. For example, at the moment I read everything I can find about the life of the Finnish writer and artist Tove Jansson.
I admire many, many writers. Right now I have a crush on Frances Hardinge and Kashio Ishiguro. I go through their books one by one, reading and re-reading.
(As for Russian literature, I have read the some of the Russian classics of course. When I was young, me and my friends loved Dostojevskij – I do not know why twenty-somethings always love Dostojevskij, but it seems to be an eternal truth. Later, I have read some Tolstoj, too. But for contemporary Russian literature, I know absolutely nothing. I am not sure if there is very much which is translated into Swedish?)
— Finally, can you give an advice to aspiring writers?
— Allow yourself to do it. Do not think too much about the result when you start, think about the process. Writing is an activity, so you must be active. And do not be afraid - be bold. After all, nothing dangerous can happen. You do not have to be perfect, just try out your strangest ideas. Getting lost is a good thing. (And you can always amend things later.)
Instagram @maria_engstrand