Cecilia Sjögren

Cecilia Sjögren is a Swedish economist and crime writer known for character-driven suspense set in contemporary Sweden. She is best known for Svallvåg (2022), which won the Saga Egmont Crime Fiction Award, and for its English-language version, The Things We Leave Behind (2025). Her work focuses on local investigations shaped by memory, grief and traces of the past.

Cecilia Sjögren was born in 1966 in Sweden. She trained as an economist and worked outside the literary field before turning to writing. Her interest in crime fiction began when she received a place on a crime-writing course with Ulla Trenter and Kerstin Matz as a 40th-birthday gift. She later said that the course “lit a spark” and encouraged her to continue.

In 2022, she entered Saga Egmont’s crime competition, which sought new Scandinavian writers. Her manuscript, Svallvåg, was chosen as the winner from more than 100 submissions. The jury called it “an exceptionally well executed traditional suspense novel,” and Sjögren described the award as a confirmation that she could write “something that others enjoy reading.”

Svallvåg follows retired policeman Tore Lindahl and journalist Veronika Wiklund as they investigate a mysterious death at the Ömheten care home. The case leads them back to unresolved events linked to the Second World War. The book was published in Sweden and Denmark and selected for translation into ten languages.

The English-language edition, The Things We Leave Behind (2025), presents the same story to an international audience. Set on a quiet bay in Roslagen, it highlights the link between the present investigation and older wartime secrets. It examines community silence, personal loss and the cost of uncovering what others chose to hide.

Photo credit: FB @ceciliasjoegren