Jila Mossaed fled Iran for Sweden in 1986 as a 38-year-old poet who spoke no Swedish. Three decades later, she made history as the first foreigner inducted into the Swedish Academy, which is responsible for awarding the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Now, Mossaed writes in both Farsi and Swedish. However, she faced significant challenges while learning Swedish and still struggles with pronunciation. “It was hard,” she shared during an interview at the Academy, which was established in 1786 by King Gustav III to promote the Swedish language and literature.
At 76 years old, Mossaed never anticipated joining the Academy in 2018. The Academy consists of 18 lifetime members. “It’s such an unbelievable honour. I’m so proud of it,” she said, her dark eyes shining with joy.
Although Mossaed remained tight-lipped about the upcoming Nobel Prize announcement, she views her role in the Academy as a way to broaden literary horizons. “I carry with me an ancient, rich language spoken by 300 million people,” she said, emphasizing her commitment to introducing new literature. “To open new windows to unknown literature and introduce it is an interesting and important contribution.”
Mossaed fled Iran with her two young children after receiving “very threatening and humiliating” criticism from the authorities for her poetry. “Soldiers came to my house with weapons and took many things,” she recalled. After being summoned to a censorship office, she left feeling that her country had changed irreparably. “When I left, I thought, ‘This isn’t my country anymore,'” she said.
With no plan and uncertain about her future, Mossaed relied on a smuggler who advised her that Sweden and Denmark were the easiest countries to reach. She was familiar with Swedish culture through figures like Ingmar Bergman, August Strindberg, and Pippi Longstocking, which influenced her choice to go to Sweden.
During her first two years in Sweden, Mossaed spoke only English and did not buy curtains, believing she would not stay long. However, she soon realized the need to learn Swedish. “It was hard,” she said, now speaking fluent but accented Swedish.
When she began to write in Swedish, she experienced a profound metaphorical struggle. “It was like there was a corpse beside me, and on it, it said ‘Farsi’,” she described. “It started gasping for air. ‘I’m going to die,’ it said. I said, ‘No, don’t die. I’m going to write in Farsi too; I won’t forget you.'”
After ten years in Sweden, Mossaed had written 13 poems in Swedish. Reflecting on her journey, she remarked, “I realized I had left my cradle and the North was my grave.”
Since then, Mossaed has published ten poetry collections in Swedish, beginning with her first book, “Månen och den eviga kon” (The Moon and the Eternal Cow), in 1997.
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