Liv Strömquist

Liv Strömquist was born in 1978 in Lund and grew up in Ravlunda in southern Sweden. As a child, she was already drawing comics; later, she published her own stories in her fanzine »Rikedomen«. Strömquist studied political science. In 2005, she was a moderator for the youth radio station Sveriges Radio P3 and for two satirical programs.

She débuted as a comic artist with »Hundra procent fett« (2005; tr: One Hundred Percent Fat), in which she already began addressing social questions, relationships between the sexes, feminism, and politics. Together with Jan Bielecki, in »Drift« (2007) she created a feminist cartoon series in a 1950s style, but the old gender roles are flipped and men are degraded into sexual objects. The book is about two youths who discuss various hetero- and homosexual love experiences while riding a night bus. »Einsteins fru« (2008; tr: Einstein’s Wife) follows the concept of her début and offers a series of socially critical and humorous stories in various formats. The title comes from a comic strip about women in the shadows of their famous husbands, including the physicist Mileva Marić, Einstein’s wife, as well as Priscilla Presley. Strömquist tackles society’s conceptions of love in »Prins Charles Känsla« (2010; tr: Prince Charles’ Sentiments): In eight chapters, she explores the »division of reality for males and females and how it results in two forms of narcissism that need each other to survive and require an obligatory heteronormativity« (»Der Spiegel«). The book has been translated into French, Danish, and Finnish and served as the inspiration for several plays. »Kunskapens frukt« (2014; tr: The Fruit of Knowledge) is a cultural history of the vulva and deals with the societal taboos of female sexuality. In seven clever episodes, Strömquist attacks patriarchal power relationships.

Strömquist regularly draws for the comics magazine »Galago« as well as for various Swedish magazines and newspapers. She designed the album cover for The Knife’s 2013 album »Shaking the Habitual« as well as a comic strip about income inequality for the band’s website. Together with the writer Caroline Ringskog Ferrada-Noli, Strömquist also produces the now-independent podcast »En varg söker sin pod«. In the series »Liv och Horace i Europa«, which was broadcast on Swedish television in 2016/17, Strömquist travels through Europe together with the Swedish critic and essayist Horace Endgahl and engages in conversation with writers.

Strömquist lives in Malmö.

Hundra procent fett
Ordfront/Galago
Stockholm, 2005
Drift
[Mit Jan Bielecki]
Kolik
Stockholm, 2007
Einsteins fru
Ordfront/Galago
Stockholm, 2008
Der Ursprung der Welt
avant-verlag
Berlin, 2017
[Ü: Katharina Erben]
Der Ursprung der Liebe
avant-verlag
Berlin, 2018
[Ü: Katharina Erben]

http://rikedomen.se