Albert Bonniers Förlag Releases Prime Minister Biography Series

The 22-book series Sveriges Statsministrar under 100 år – Sweden’s Prime Ministers Over a Century – is now available in Swedish book shops. The boxed set is the biggest project from Albert Bonniers Förlag in recent years and the launch includes a range of activities planned for 2010, including seminars with the authors and some of the former prime ministers along with a TV series that will be broadcast in May and June.

Per T. Ohlsson, one of two editors for the series, says that a British prime minister series was the inspiration to do a similar set of books about Swedish prime ministers. But the books deal with more than just the period of time in which the prime minister ran the country. “We write about their entire lives, not just their time as prime minister,” Ohlsson says. “It’s a panorama of the past 100 years. And we’ve tried to show different perspectives by using writers clearly coming from the left or the right, political scientisits, historians and journalists.”

Abbe Bonnier, head of non-fiction at Bonnierförlagen, says the project is one of the most exciting he has worked with at the publisher. “Per T. Ohlsson och Mats Bergstrand came to me four years ago and presented the idea,” he says. “I thought it sounded extremely interesting. Since then we’ve had some 20 people working on the series – it’s the biggest project we’ve done. And for the most part, every author we contacted to write for it said yes immedietely!”

The impact of the books are sure to be great, with events such as the May 19 seminar based on the books held in one of the Swedish Parliament’s chambers, with some 200 attendees and panel debates featuring important Swedish politicians, as well as speaking appearances by three recent Prime Ministers: Göran Persson, Ingvar Carlsson och Ola Ullsten.

The project has gotten a lot of press from some of the most popular radio and TV programs and Sweden’s biggest newspapers, including Sydsvenskan and Expressen.

Anna Tillgren and Anna-Karin Korpi of Albert Bonniers Förlag are responsible for the PR around the book series. “We’re working with the Science Channel, the Swedish Worker’s Education Association – which was founded by Rickard Sandler, one of the prime ministers in the series,” says Tillgren. “A cooperation with the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation has also given the project status, for example allowing us to have the seminar at Parliament.”

A website was also launched in conjuction with the book, www.sverigesstatsministrar.se, with YouTube clips, information on the books and the authors as well as the events.