SWEDISH CRIME FICTION TODAY: Lecture - February 2 with Dr. James Kaplan

Join Mystery Readers NorCal for an evening in Berkeley (CA) with Dr. James Kaplan, professor emeritus at Minnesota State University, Moorhead. Dr. Kaplan will speak on “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo And Beyond: Swedish Crime Fiction Today.” These detective novels are enjoying a world-wide vogue right now and have had huge successes as books, on TV and in films. Featured will be the Swedish authors Stieg Larsson, Liza Marklund, Henning Mankell and Camilla Läckberg. Detective novels are a fine opportunity to learn about Scandinavia as it is today and the lives of its people. And, of course, they are a lot of fun to read.

This lecture will be held on Sunday, February 2 from 6 to 8:00 PM at the group’s location in the Berkeley Hills. For the address and to RSVP,  make a comment below with your email address. Lecture is free and open to the public.

Dr. Jim Kaplan grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts and graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a degree in French in 1964. He received his Ph.D. in French literature from the University of California Berkeley in 1971. He became acquainted with Sweden as a long-time camp counselor for the Swedish YMCA. He did doctoral research at the University of Uppsala, Sweden and later published books and articles on eighteenth century French literature based on manuscripts that he found in Swedish archives. After receiving his doctorate Dr. Kaplan worked for several years as a U.S. Department of State interpreter. He began teaching French and Swedish at Minnesota State University Moorhead in 1975 where he became active in the Swedish-American community. He founded the Swedish Cultural Heritage Society of the Red River Valley in 1976 and served for a long time as its president. He arranged many community programs, film series, exhibits, lecture series, concerts, etc., funded by the Arts Councils and Humanities Commissions of Minnesota and North Dakota. He founded and chaired the North Dakota New Sweden ’88 Committee to arrange programs throughout the state commemorating the Three Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary of the Swedish colony in Delaware. For his service to the Swedish-American community Dr. Kaplan was knighted by King Carl XVI Gustav with the Royal Order of the Polar Star in 1988. In recent years he has published articles and a book on the Swedish Kansas artist Birger Sandzén and on Swedish art exhibits at the World‘s Fairs of St. Louis (1904) and San Francisco (1915). Jim spends a month in Stockholm every summer working on his research. He is retired from MSUM but continues to teach Swedish courses and speaks to community groups on Swedish cultural topics.