Death on the Beach

Per Högselius grew up in Stockholm, Sweden. As a child he dreamed about becoming an astronomer, which led him to study physics at university. In his teens he discovered palaeontology, history and literature. A hopeless romantic, he wished he had lived in the nineteenth century. He became a passionate traveller, targeting not so much the distant corners of the world but the nearby post-Cold War lands of the Baltic Sea region. His journeys there became the basis for his first non-academic book in Swedish, the historical travelogue Östersjövägar (Baltic Sea Paths, 2007). Later on, he fell in love with the North Sea and subsequently with China. Meanwhile Per has pursued an academic career in the history of science, technology and environment. A professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, he enjoys juxtaposing different genres and styles of writing in exploring human experiences with technology and nature. He writes regularly for the leading Swedish daily Svenska DagbladetAgnes Broomé has a PhD in Translation Studies from University College London. Her translations include August Prize winners The Expedition by Bea Uusma, The Gospel of the Eels by Patrik Svensson, and Collected Works by Lydia Sandgren, and the 2022 Petrona Award winner Maria Adolfsson’s Fatal Isles. She is director of the Scandinavian Studies program at Harvard.