The October guest at KROKODIL’s Residency is Swedish author Ida Theren

10 Oct The October guest at KROKODIL’s Residency is Swedish author Ida Theren

Swedish author Ida Teren is the 149th guest of the KROKODIL residency program for literary creators in Belgrade. On Wednesday, October 15th, starting at 6 PM, this prominent Swedish writer will present herself to the Belgrade audience at the KROKODIL Center with a discussion about her latest work – the novel *The Invisible Temple*. This bold yet intimate historical novel covers three days in the life of Hilma af Klint, a visionary behind monumental abstract paintings that depict a life filled with spiritual quests, passionate relationships, and artistic obsessions. 

In 1928, during a summer in full swing, Hilma af Klint arrives in London. She is preparing to showcase her paintings for the first time: she has spent over fifteen years working on a series of large-scale paintings, characterized by meticulous craftsmanship and continuous connection to the spiritual world. Until then, no one outside her circle of artist colleagues showed any interest. Soon, at a spiritualist conference, her paintings will finally see the light of day. While Hilma reflects on her journey to this moment, the world might stand on the verge of a significant artistic discovery — or perhaps it is still too early for her refreshing, radical new vision of abstraction in painting. 

In the novel The Invisible Temple, the now widely respected and avant-garde artist Hilma af Klint, a feminist pioneer and spiritualist medium, comes alive in her time. Told in the first person and based on years of research into previously unexplored and overlooked archival material, *The Invisible Temple* is a bold, comprehensive novel about loneliness and alienation that accompany the pursuit of a unique artistic vision, which largely transcends what others can see. It is also a portrait of passionate connections that enable such a quest, about trust and secrets within the creative community, and about a life — on the border between the earthly and the spiritual, esoteric and everyday — that will forever redefine art history.

Author’s biography: 

Ida Teren graduated in history and works as a freelance cultural and literary critic after spending ten years as a permanent literary critic for Svenska Dagbladet, one of Sweden’s leading newspapers. She was born and raised in Värnamo, southern Sweden, and lived abroad for thirteen years in many countries across Europe, as well as in New York, Los Angeles, and Shanghai. She currently lives in Stockholm with her husband and two children. Before focusing full-time on writing, she worked as a model and actress (with small roles in films such as *Blondie*, *Something’s Got to Break*, and *The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo*) and played in an alternative band. In 2020, Ida Teren made her prose debut with the novel *Hugging a Waterfall*, receiving great critical acclaim. She has written several children’s books and published fiction in *Granta* magazine. She is the founder and co-editor of the literary and arts magazine *CONST Literary Preview*. Since 2021, she has hosted the podcast *Kulturbarnen* with musician Pontus de Wolfe.

Previous works: 

*Hugging a Waterfall* (October 2020) – Natur & Kultur (Swedish), Malvern Publishing (Czech), Vakxikon Publishing (Greek) 

*Freedom, Equality & Sisterhood: writings 2007–2017* (May 2017), Mondial (Swedish)

**Praise for *Hugging a Waterfall*:** 

“Brilliant novel about fallen women.” – Dagens Nyheter 

“Beautiful debut novel.” – Expressen 

“Elegant debut of mysterious beauty.” – Dalademokraten 

“Fine and subtle debut about trying to find your place in life.” – Femina 

Ida Teren writes beautiful prose and has a sense for dialogue that many Swedish writers lack. The story of June Mensfeld is enchanting, poetic, and violent at the same time. It reminds me of early novels by Sara Stridsberg.* – Svenska Dagbladet 

“I really like Ida Teren’s novel… It’s refined writing.” – Arbetarbladet 

“An accessible novel that can be read in one breath. Despite the difficult experiences depicted, it’s a cheerful novel, full of hope, about how important it is to endure until the pain passes.” – Bernur

Ida Teren’s residency takes place within the *Centers of Periphery 2.0* project, created by Littfest from Umeå, Sweden, and the KROKODIL Association from Belgrade, with the aim of strengthening connections between the Nordic and post-Yugoslav cultural scenes and developing a strong foundation for collaboration; promoting democratic values, freedom of expression, and human rights through literary exchange; amplifying peripheral and/or underrepresented voices; and creating opportunities for dialogue.

The project’s activities will include two gatherings of literary professionals in Belgrade and Gothenburg in 2025, a festival exchange between KROKODIL and Littfest in 2026, and six monthly residencies for Swedish literary creators in Belgrade, including public events and meetings with relevant literary and cultural actors. The project aims to stimulate literary exchange between these two peripheral regions of Europe by providing platforms for discussion on key themes such as democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression, as well as the key contemporary literary expressions of these fundamental values.

The Centers of Periphery 2.0 project is supported by the Swedish Institute.