Mons Kallentoft's interview

Publié le 16 avril 2013 par groupe suède

Bonjour Monsieur Kallentoft.

We are five students from Landerneau in France visiting Linköping together with our class this week. Our class is working about a main theme around the Swedish law and justice and our specific entrance to the subject is the Swedish detective novel and how come it has been so popular booth within Sweden and abroad.

When we get to know that we were going to Sweden our teacher told us that you have been written detective novels that takes place in Linköping. We would like to ask you some questions about your authorship and novels. We would be very happy if you would take time to answer our questions and let us know what you think about these subjects.

At what age did you decide to try to be an author?

Istarted to write poems and short stories in highschool, but for 10-12 following years no publisher was interested. The path to my own authorship led me through the advertising business, journalism and the shady side of Madrid. My debut in year 2000, Pesetas, takes place among cocaine dealers and bankrobbers in the Spanish capital.

To write books, is that a dream you had since you were a child?

Yes. I discovered literature when he was about fourteen, and bedridden following a severe sports injury. Kafka, Hemingway and George Orwell introduced me to a whole new world.

Where do you get your inspiration to write your novels?

Life and people around me, that’s why I travel most of the year. Novels I read, mostly English and American.

Are there some real happenings that has inspired you or did you made all of the stories “within your head”?

Yes, real happenings, both that I have experienced myself and that I have read about, inspires me. But then the story emerges with my imagination.

Have you been inspired by any other authors or novels?

Yes. My favorite novelists are Cormac McCarthy, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Walter Moosley.

Have you ever lost your inspiration and headed a point where you just couldn´t write? (how did you solve that?)

No, but I need a few weeks or months every year to travel, relax and read books, to make room for inspiration and new ideas. When I’m in my working periods I sit on my ass and write, from morning to afternoon. That is the only way to solve it.

What is the hardest part of writing in general and of writing detective novels specifically?

Detective novels have to be thrilling from the first chapter to the last, that might be the most tricky part. But the only part that is ever a bit boring is to do the corrections from my editor. I would rather not do that, though I must.

Is there a reason to why you write detective novels? Have you ever thought of writing in another genre?

My honest answer is that it makes me enough money enough to travel around the world and to make myself and my family happy. I also very much like to write them, the typical detective story and its caracters. It’s fun. January this year my book Food Junkie was published in Swedish. That is a completely different genre.

Do you picture any specific type of public reading your novels? What kind of public do you write for?

I write for anyone who enjoys reading a good story. Well written.

Why are your novels so successful?

I think you’d better read some reviews to reveal that answer, some you will find on my webpage: http://www.monskallentoft.se, click Books and then on each title. On the website, it is written that his novels are very dark, and he revisits the swedish detective novels.