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An extract from Small Comfort by Ia Genberg, translated by Kira Josefsson
Small Comfort is longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026. Read an extract here
Small Comfort is an intricately built and wickedly humorous collection of five interconnected stories about money.
From an interview with a child-star-turned-thief to the mysterious death of an employee at a drug manufacturer – or the couple feigning marital bliss to keep their inheritance, Ia Genberg carefully unravels the value we place on both money and people.
What does it really mean to be in debt to someone? How does our financial worth permeate the ways we think and feel? And what do we lose when we supposedly win?
An original and thought-provoking short-story collection, Small Comfort skewers its characters, slyly implicating the reader along the way. It’s published in the UK by Wildfire. This extract is taken from the opening of the book.
First print-out
Ia Genberg: Well, the light is green now.
Greger Johnson: Maybe double-check?
IG: No, I think it’s working. All right, Greger Johnson. You spell it with one s, huh?
GJ: Yep. Took out an ‘s’ and added an ‘h’. It sounds better somehow, kind of American.
IG: American?
GJ: Yeah. Names that end with ‘son’, spelled with just one ‘s’, they sound American. Easy to pronounce in English. Couldn’t tell you why, but it’s true. A name is important, a marker you should finesse if you can. Ia … is that short for something?
IG: No, that’s my real name.
GJ: Not much to finesse there. Kinda short.
IG: Indeed.
GJ: But easy to remember.
IG: Yep. So how about we get started?
GJ: It’s the same with Greger. Nobody my age is named Greger. Nobody born in the seventies is named Greger. That’s why it’s a hell of a good name if you want people to remember you. And then of course I look like this too.
IG: Like this?
GJ: Yeah, I mean, you can see it with your own eyes. People meet me once and they never forget. I live in their memory forever. For better or worse, of course. For better or worse.
IG: Right. So, listen, why don’t we dive right in.
GJ: Of course. Who else did you talk to?
IG: Everyone. Everyone who’s alive. Pippi, Emil, Mio, Junior and Karlson, Rusky and Jonatan, Lotta, Ronia the Robber’s Daughter and Birk. Tjorven. The whole gang. Plus a bunch of directors. You’re the last one out the gate.
GJ: And this is for a book?
IG: A small run, a local publication printed in her memory. There will be other texts in there too, someone else is writing those. And a load of photos from her life. A literary historian is doing something. My job is to interview the child actors, the child actors who are now adults.
GJ: And what do you get?
IG: What do you mean?
GJ: You’re a freelance journalist. I assume you charge something. That you’ll be sending an invoice.
IG: Yes. Of course.
GJ: Okay, how much do you take home?
IG: I don’t think that discussion is relevant for the interview.
GJ: Who cares if it’s relevant or not?
IG: They’re giving me thirty thousand kronor. Though that’s before social fees and taxes. I keep a bit over half of that.
GJ: So you’ll make more writing about me than I got to act in that movie.
IG: Hmm.
GJ: I’m just saying. Just noting.
IG: Those were different times. Plus there’s been quite a bit of inflation since.
GJ: It’s just something to note. Considering how many people saw and appreciated the movie, how famous it made some of the adult actors. How well things turned out for them.
IG: So you’re unhappy with your reward?
GJ: You fucking bet I’m unhappy with it. Are you going to put that in the text?
IG: I don’t think so. These pieces are meant to have a pleasant tone. They’re meant to be a nice retrospective with pictures from the film shoots, that kind of thing. The publication is meant to help people remember, and also to provide a personal touch, add something new. Can we begin?
GJ: Sure.
Buy the book
IG: Why don’t you start by telling me how you got the role.
GJ: My pops sent me to a tryout. Audition, or whatever they call it.
IG: Audition, yes.
GJ: That’s what I said.
IG: Sure. Audition. The ‘au’ doesn’t have a diphthong. Audition.
GJ: Diphthong?
IG: Forget it.
GJ: I went to the tryout. There was an ad in the paper. They were looking for a fast-talking boy between eight and ten with a mop of blond hair. I was pretty much made for the role, you know. When I got there, this woman touched my hair to check if it was real or if I’d dipped it in yellow paint. Then she made me stand in front of a camera to answer some questions and talk freely about whatever I wanted. Next they gave me a piece of paper with a few lines I had to read as naturally as possible without looking into the camera. Then I left. They called the next day.
IG: What do you remember from that moment, when you heard their decision?
GJ: It was Pops they talked to. He came to my bedroom, slapped my back and told me I was about to become a national celebrity.
IG: That’s what he said?
GJ: Word for word.
IG: Were you excited? Did you scream? Did you run around? What was your reaction like?
GJ: I assume I was excited. I think I called Grandma. I can’t quite remember.
IG: You must already have read the book. Did you read it again after that?
GJ: What book?
IG: Uh … I mean, the book. The book the film is based on.
GJ: There’s a book? I thought it was a movie?
IG: Umm – well …
GJ: What? Is there a problem?
IG: Ah. I guess … I don’t know what …
GJ: Haha.
IG: You’re laughing?
GJ: Hahaha. You fell for it, didn’t you? Haha.
IG: I’m sorry?
GJ: For a second you thought I was an idiot, didn’t you?
Small Comfort
© India Hobson for Booker Prize Foundation- By
- Ia Genberg
- Translated by
- Kira Josefsson
- Published by
- Wildfire Books
Intricately built and wickedly humorous, these five interconnected short stories are all about one thing: money
