Elisabeth Åsbrink has written seven non-fiction books, a novel, a mourning book, a collection of essays and four plays. Her books have been translated into over twenty-five languages.

And in the Vienna Woods the trees still remain won the August prize for best non-fiction book. It was awarded Poland’s most prestigious prize for non-fiction, the Kapuściński Prize, as well as the Danish-Swedish Cultural Foundation’s prize.

1947. When now begins. received the Letterstedska prize in 1947 from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Made in Sweden is a collection of essays where she thoroughly examines Swedish image and self-image and reveals some uncomfortable national truths and lies along the way.

My beautiful big hatred tells the story of the writer Victoria Benedictson, the role model for August Strindbergs “Miss Julie”. The book received the prestigious X prize in Italy.

Requiem for a mother is a mourning book dealing with the complicated relation with a mother, a book of tenderness and wrath, published in Swedish in October 2025.

Elisabeth Åsbrink has been awarded Torgny Segerstedt’s Freedom Pen, Lifeguard of the Year, Lotten von Kræmer’s prize from Samfundet De Nio and Karin Gierow’s prize from the Swedish Academy. She contributes criticism and essays in Dagens Nyheter, Weekendavisen, La Repubblica, Morgenbladet and New York Times, among others.

In cooperation with civil rights icon Gloria Ray, one of the nine children in Little Rock Nine, she wrote Gloria. In the shadow of White Supremacy. An English translation will be available in 2025.