Students and literature enthusiasts gathered at the Author’s Corner of the Illini Union Bookstore Thursday afternoon for a reading by acclaimed Swedish author Jonas Hassen Khemiri.
As part of the Kaplan Family Writer-in-Residence Series, Khemiri shared insights into his creative process and read from his latest novel, “The Sisters,” to be published in English in the spring of 2025.
Throughout his introduction, Khemiri engaged the audience with humor and thoughtfulness.
“How do we get ideas?” Khemiri said. “Well, oftentimes, we take a memory, and then we just collide it with another memory.”
“The Sisters” explores the complex relationship between the protagonist, Jonas, and the Mikkola sisters over time, navigating themes of identity, loss and reconciliation. Khemiri explained the novel was partly inspired by a childhood story about his grandfather.
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He was told that his grandfather built a bridge in Stockholm, which gave him a sense of connection to the city, even after it was proven untrue.
“‘The Sisters’ is not at all a story about bridges, it’s not at all a story about my grandfather, but it’s a story of three sisters who grew up with a similar family mythology,” Khemiri said.
Throughout the reading, Khemiri’s eloquence and warmth captivated the audience. His bilingualism — effortlessly switching between English and Swedish — added another dimension to his storytelling.
He talked about how much his cultural background impacted him growing up in Sweden as the son of a Tunisian immigrant.
“If you got one little pronoun (in Swedish) wrong, one little grammatical thing, there would be consequences,” Khemiri said. “If you had a different hair color, there would be less consequences.”
For many in attendance, his ability to articulate the nuances of language and identity resonated deeply.
“My (Swedish) professor spoke very highly of this author’s work, said he was maybe the most important Swedish author in the previous couple of decades, and that attending this would be an opportunity to take advantage of,” said North Joffe-Nelson, graduate student studying natural resources and environmental science.
The audience, a mix of students, faculty and local book lovers, responded with engaged silence during the reading and eager applause after.
Amy Hassinger, assistant professor in LAS, praised Khemiri’s ability to balance humor and depth.
“I never read his work before, and now I’m just agog,” she said. “I’m eager to dive into his work, and I’m personally always so impressed when people can speak as he did, so eloquently.”
Some attendees stayed behind to have copies of his previous book, “The Family Clause,” signed, exchanging a moment with the charismatic author.
“Sometimes when we sit alone and write and try to create something, we kind of wonder if there’s anyone on the other side who can actually get what we’re trying to do,” Khemiri said. “Then we come to Champaign and realize that there’s at least one person that found that in those books, so thank you very much for that.”
Khemiri’s visit was more than a reading — it was a conversation about memory, language and the nature of storytelling itself.
