The King and the Nightingale – the first poem by Mascha Kaléko ever published in Swedish

Mascha Kaléko: Kungen och näktergalen [The King and the Nightingale]

Translated from German into Swedish by Jurek Hirschberg
Illustrated by Magda Korotyńska
Afterword: Horst Schröder

The original title: Der König und die Nachtigall

Epix Bokförlag AB 2021
ISBN 978-91-7089-299-8, 40 pages

Mascha Kaléko was born in 1907 as a daughter of Jewish parents in Chrzanów, at that time within the borders of Austria-Hungary, today a town in Poland. As an incredibly popular representative of the New Objectivity, she was widely celebrated in Berlin in the late 1920s thanks to her sensitive poems dedicated to the common people, their everyday life, their dreams, loves and solitude. Forced to leave Germany in the wake of Hitler’s accession to power, she settled in New York and later on in Jerusalem. She died in Zurich in 1975. Today she is considered as one of the most prominent figures in modern German poetry, and she counts among the most admired German lyrical poets.

As far as I know, this might very well be the first translation ever into Swedish of a poem by Mascha Kaléko. In this edition, it is accompanied by magical landscapes from the easel of Magda Korotyńska.

Höret, was sich einst begeben
In dem Lande Werweißwo,
An dem Hofe des Regenten
In dem Schlosse Sowieso.
Hören vad som sig hänt haver
Uti landet Därådå
Vid regentens höga säte
Uppå slottet Siåså.

Translated from German into Swedish
by Jurek Hirschberg

The book is available directly from the publisher or at selected booksellers.