I am a writer, editor, and literary translator working between English and Swedish. The recipient of grants from the PEN/Heim Translation Fund, the Swedish Arts Council, and others, I have a particular interest in writing that lifts voices and perspectives outside the mainstream. I write regularly on US issues in the Swedish press, often with a view to questions of community. Born in Stockholm, Sweden, I have lived in Helsinki, Paris, and Montréal; New York City has been my home for the past decade. 

I serve on the editorial board for Glänta, a Swedish magazine of arts and politics, and am an active member of SELTA, ALTA, and STINA. I am always interested in new projects. Get in touch! kira [.] josefsson [a] gmail [.] com

translations

  • O by Judith Kiros

    O by Judith Kiros

    Judith Kiros’s “alternative production of Othello” is forthcoming from World Poetry Books, 2024.

  • The Details by Ia Genberg

    The Details by Ia Genberg

    “Genberg’s marvelous prose is also a kind of fever, mesmerizing and hot to the touch.” -The New York Times Book Review. Out from Wildfire (UK/Commonwealth) and HarperVia (US).

  • Shade and Breeze by Quynh Tran

    Shade and Breeze by Quynh Tran

    Quynh Tran’s prize-winning debut, forthcoming from Lolli Editions, 2024.

  • Antiquity by Hanna Johansson

    Antiquity by Hanna Johansson

    “What Hanna Johansson offers in her electric, unsettling debut refuses all protection and dares the reader to do the same. Kira Josefsson’s translation is its own marvel, the language brimming with just-kept chaos until the keeping’s no longer possible. I won’t forget this book.” —Anna Moschovakis, author of Participation. Forthcoming from Catapult, 2024.

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original writing

  • USA:s Aktivister och gräsrötter kommer fortsätta hjälpa gravida i nöd

    USA:s Aktivister och gräsrötter kommer fortsätta hjälpa gravida i nöd

    “Utan egna budskap är det osannolikt att Demokraterna behåller sin majoritet i Washington efter valet i november. Men hur det än går kommer landets aktivister att fortsätta hjälpa gravida i nöd – också om rättvisans och politikens förmenta institutioner har vänt dem ryggen.” Dagens Nyheter, juni 2022.

  • “What’s So Hard About Crediting Translators?”

    “What’s So Hard About Crediting Translators?”

    “Beyond credit where credit is due, acknowledging the translator points at the cracks in the apparently smooth surface of how a story is told. Isn’t that where it gets even more interesting?” Vulture, December 2021.

  • “11 september-museet är en skräckens teater”

    “11 september-museet är en skräckens teater”

    “Denna allt överskuggande känsla av förlust och harm hänger löst i ett historiskt vakuum. Och varje år reser sig två spöktorn mot New Yorks himmel.” Göteborgs-Posten, 2021.

  • “Rättvisa utan fängelse och polis”

    “Rättvisa utan fängelse och polis”

    “Aldrig tidigare hade så många öppet ifrågasatt det fängelseindustriella komplexet – ett system som kommit att definiera USA.” Lång essä i Glänta om protesterna sommaren 2020 och en anrik aktivistisk tradition som rekonstruera hur vi ser på själva rättvisebegreppet. Skriven med stöd av Västra Götalandsregionens essäfond, publicerad våren 2021.

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editing / collaborations

  • Åke Hodell’s The Marathon Poet, Translated by Fia Backström

    Åke Hodell’s The Marathon Poet, Translated by Fia Backström

    I edited Fia Backström’s translation of Swedish avant-garde poet Åke Hodell’s The Marathon Poet, published by Ugly Duckling Presse in 2020.

  • Ghost Life – Hauntings in the Society of Spectres by Göran Dahlberg

    Ghost Life – Hauntings in the Society of Spectres by Göran Dahlberg

    I edited Göran Dahlberg’s chapbook essay “Ghost Life – Hauntings in the Society of Spectres”, published by Multimedijalni institut, Zagreb, as part of their 2020 Vectors of Collective Imaginations series.

  • It Was Over When You Said What

    It Was Over When You Said What

    Twelve writers furrow the texture of the months, days, and heartbeats when they realized it was over––and the swirl of contradictory emotions that come after the break. Do you believe in life after love? Edited with Rider Alsop and designed by Sara Duell. Published by Topos Press in 2017.

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news

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