My name is Magdalena Wiklund, usually called Maggie. I´m 36 years old and live in Sweden. My family contains of my husband and three stepchildren. I´m a multiple published author. In Australia I´ve contributed with some short stories in two anthologies, in English. My latest book, Verbal Pornography, is a collection of prose and haikus. That book is entirely in Swedish, and this is the first time Im standing completely alone as the author.

Biography

I was born in Poland in 1975, during the communism. My family was strongly affected by this. During the Second World War my grandfather was a prisoner of war in Germany and placed in a work-camp. He worked hard, ate little, did not get paid and was questioned by SS for having a friendship with a Jewish girl. Father often tells me about how he was forced to eat bread and calf brain every day to survive. And about how they stole a half pig, smuggling it home under a blanket in the back seat of the car. My little sister had to sit on it, and everybody pretended she was much older – and taller – than she really was.

I came to Sweden in 1978, when my mother married a Swedish man. I grew up in a world of contrasts, catapulted between the high society of Gothemburg, Sweden, and the penniless working class of Poland. From lukewarm summernights in the rich Sweden, to freezing November mornings in a drafty apartment in Szczecin, Poland.
– The air is full of coal dust and cigarett smoak, but we will have freshly cought roach for dinner!
The contrasts have been good for my writing, and I know how to use them. And they have been so many.

In 1997 – 2001I educated myself to a social worker, became a security guard but started my own business which I closed down for the sake of writing. I´ve been around the world – 29 countries so far – seeking amongst cultures and religions. First I was a Lutheran, then a Catholic. And then chose to do military service.
– You know you´re here to learn how to kill, don´t you? the commandor barked. We all nodded with a smile. Seven years later I became a Buddhist.

There is darkness in my life – and light, colours, black and white patterns, some that is soft and other things that are hard. And I am standig in the middle the glitzy confetti of life, deeply grateful for being rooted in my husband and my writing.