Home and Away

Home and Away

Writing the Beautiful Game

Summary

Karl Ove Knausgaard and fellow writer Fredrik Ekelund kick around thoughts and ideas on football, life, art and politics.

Karl Ove Knausgaard is sitting at home in Skåne with his wife, four small children and a dog. He is watching football on TV and falls asleep in front of the set. He likes 0-0 draws, cigarettes, coffee and Argentina.

Fredrik Ekelund is away in Brazil, where he plays football on the beach and watches matches with friends. Fredrik loves games that end up 4-3 and teams that play beautiful football. He likes caipirinhas and Brazil.

In Home and Away, two writers use football and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil to reflect on life and death, art and politics, class and literature and the most important question: was this the best football championship ever?

Reviews

  • [It is] fascinating, insightful... Engrossing.
    Nick Rennison, Sunday Times

About the authors

Karl Ove Knausgaard

Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle cycle has been heralded as a masterpiece all over the world. From A Death in the Family to The End, the novels move through childhood into adulthood and, together, form an enthralling portrait of human life. Knausgaard has been awarded the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature, the Brage Prize and the Jerusalem Prize. His work, which also includes The Morning Star, Out of the World, A Time for Everything and the Seasons Quartet, is published in thirty-five languages.
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Fredrik Ekelund

Fredrik Ekelund is a Swedish novelist, playwright and translator. He won the Fackföreningsrörelsens Ivar Lo Prize in 2009 for his novel M/S Tiden, hailed as ‘the year’s best Swedish novel’ by Svenska Dagbladet. He has played as a striker in the Swedish authors’ national football team.
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