Where can we look to find joy amidst the chaos of our present moment? The Writers in Residence at-home video series from the PEN America World Voices Festival gives readers a glimpse into leading writers’ interior lives and hidden talents beyond their writing desks. Whether cooking meals, crafting cocktails, strumming instruments, entertaining kids, or performing poetry in their living rooms, our writers in residence remind us of the little comforts of staying at home in a time of unprecedented dislocation.

Elisabeth Åsbrink

In this episode, Swedish author Elisabeth Åsbrink tells us about her passion for needlepoint. Her tools are vibrantly colored threads, which she embroiders into beautiful patterns that tell their own stories. She also shares a historical piece of embroidery that echoes themes in her books and opens a window into the life of the woman who made it.

Check out her video now, and order her most recent books:

And in the Vienna Woods the Trees Remain on Bookshop or Amazon
Made in Sweden on Bookshop or Amazon 

About elisabeth Åsbrink 

Elisabeth Åsbrink is a journalist and author. Her parents were Hungarian and English, and she was born and raised—and now lives—in Sweden. She is the author of And in the Vienna Woods the Trees Remain: The Heartbreaking True Story of a Family Torn Apart by War (Other Press, 2020), and Made in Sweden (Scribe, 2019). Her previous books have won the August Prize, the Danish-Swedish Cultural Fund Prize, and Poland’s Kapuscinski Prize. Her book, 1947: Where Now Begins, won the prestigious Letterstedt Prize, was a NPR Best Book of 2018, and was translated into 19 languages.