Agaton Sax

rdf:langString Agaton Sax

rdf:langString Agaton Sax is the protagonist of a series of Swedish-language humorous detective novels written for children by Swedish author Nils-Olof Franzén and illustrated by Åke Lewerth. The English editions were illustrated by Quentin Blake. The novels are an ironic pastiche of the detective genre: for example Agaton Sax's colleague, the hapless Inspector Lispington of Scotland Yard, is clearly modelled on Inspector Lestrade of Sherlock Holmes fame. Like Holmes, Sax smokes pipes (in his case Meerschaums); he has one for every day of the week, which he smokes when thinking. Franzén was also inspired by another children's books detective in Sweden, Ture Sventon by Åke Holmberg. Altogether, eleven books were published in Sweden, and all but one were also published in English translation. As with many foreign language novels translated into English, the style and idiosyncrasies of the translations were quite important to the popularity and success of the English editions. Unusually, Franzén did most of the English translations himself, working with a supplemental translator, Pamela Royds, on stylistic choices, which was a significant factor in preserving the humour of the original Swedish versions into the English translations. The British series was immensely popular, and as a result became the "most re-issued detective/mystery series in the history of Nordic children’s literature in British translation for the period 1950–2000." The publication order in English was very different to that of the original Swedish editions, and the fact that the translations were mostly prepared by the author himself enabled revisions to be made which reflected the order in which he translated them. In 2022 UK publishers Oak Tree Books released new editions of the 10 Agaton Sax books, the first republishing of the series since the Target paperbacks in the 1970s. Translated by Kenton Hall, and with new illustrations, the series will include the 11th Agaton Sax book, never before published in an English language version. The series has also been adapted into audiobooks for the first time. According to a footnote in Agaton Sax and the Criminal Doubles, Franzén originally wrote the stories for his son.