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June 17, 2025 
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| Jonas Hassen Khemiri at the New York Public Library, where he wrote his new novel. Peter Garritano for The New York Times |
Dear readers,
I’m fortunate enough to talk to a lot of writers as part of my job, but I’d never before had one tell me he wrote a book because he was cursed.
This week I profile the writer Jonas Hassen Khemiri, one of Sweden’s most acclaimed novelists and playwrights, known for his funny, often existential work. His new novel, “The Sisters,” was his attempt to liberate himself from that curse. Decades ago, his father made a grim, dire prediction about Khemiri’s fate, and he’s been trying to outrun it ever since.
The novel follows the Mikkolas — Swedish Tunisian sisters named Ina, Evelyn and Anastasia — and weaves in autofictional episodes from Khemiri’s life. The narrator, a character named Jonas who is an avatar for the author, is fascinated by the trio, and ultimately discovers a connection to them that he could never have imagined.
The Mikkolas are grappling with a family curse of their own, and writing their story was a deeply cathartic process for Khemiri.
It was striking to hear the extent to which he’d been haunted by his father’s “explicit, damaging prediction” for decades. But in the end, freedom came in the form of three made-up sisters, inspired by a stranger Khemiri saw on the subway once and thought, That’s Evelyn.
Writing about the Mikkolas, and creating a life for them outside of their own curse, was the key to Khemiri’s own sense of liberation: “My attempt to write myself free.”
I try to avoid recommending too many novels whose length could rival a dictionary’s. But I’ve been thinking about “The Sisters” ever since I finished it, and now that it’s out I hope you linger over it, too.
I won’t tell you what his father said. But I can tell you it hasn’t come true.
See you on Friday.
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