Andrzej Tich(b. 1978) was born in Prague to a Polish mother and a Czech father and has lived in Sweden since 1981. He is the author of five novels, a story collection and a wide range of nonfiction and criticism. Tich has received critical acclaim for his work, and is widely recognized as one of the most important novelists of his generation. His novel Wretchedness, a post-political foray into modern day Swedish society, won the 2021 Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize, and was longlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize and shortlisted for the 2021 Bernard Shaw Prize. His latest short story collection Puritywas nominated for the Nordic Council Literary Prize. Nichola Smalley is a translator of Swedish and Norwegian literature. Her translation of Andrzej Tich's novel Wretchedness won the 2021 Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize, and was longlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize and shortlisted for the 2021 Bernard Shaw Prize. She has a PhD in the use of slang in contemporary Swedish and English literature.