Lena Karlström

Lena Karlström is a Swedish Lecturer at the University of British Columbia, affiliated with the Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies within the Faculty of Arts. She specializes in teaching Swedish language, Scandinavian literature, and film courses, including Scandinavian Crime Fiction (SCAN 336) and Scandinavian Cinema (SCAN 337). Her research focuses on migration literature, contemporary Scandinavian fiction and film, and translation studies. She has organized conferences on Swedish literature and film at UBC and the Swedish Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Education:

• M.A. from Lund University and Stockholm University (1991)

Research Interests: Lena’s work explores intercultural communication through literature and film, with a particular emphasis on Swedish migrant narratives and comparative studies of translations. Her thesis, Världsomseglarklanger: en komparativ studie i engelska översättningar av Tomas Tranströmers dikter, analyzed translations of Tomas Tranströmer’s poetry. She has also worked on translations of Richard Swartz and Jewish writers in Sweden.

Awards: Recipient of the prestigious UBC Killam Teaching Prize (2010).

Teaching & Grants: Lena teaches elementary and intermediate Swedish language courses (SWED 100/110/200/210) and advanced courses on Scandinavian culture. She has conducted workshops on integrating music and lyrics in language teaching and contributed to the Swedish Institute’s summer programs. Currently developing a new Scandinavian Cinema course.