LETTERS FROM AMERICA

Steered the road trip to Brooklyn, New York, to talk to Swedish trumpet player Oskar Stenmark, about life as a Swedish musician in the world's biggest melting pot, and about finding your voice through your roots. Because Oskar comes from a family with generations of musicians behind him, some of whom already toured the United States during the middle of the last century - a discovery that has...

I met with Thomas McIntyre Schultz, Communications at Volvo Cars USA, at their headquarters in Mahwah, New Jersey, to talk about Volvo's 70-year history in the United States, how it all started, and the footprints of the company's innovative spirit. But halfway into this journey, this was also a good opportunity to get to know Thomas as one of my key partners in this adventure. So we got t...

There's a building at 2900 K Street, Northwest, in Washington, DC, overlooking the Potomac River. It's designed by Swedish architects and built from materials reflecting Swedish roots and traditions, and in 2006, it was inaugurated by the King and Queen of Sweden as the home for the Embassy of Sweden - making it the official Swedish footprint in the United States. It is known as the "...

Telling these stories from a road trip wouldn't be possible without the complex infrastructure of a mobile network, so I met with Peter Borsos, Head of Communications at Ericsson, in Washington, D.C., to talk about the company's 150-year history - 120 of those making a Swedish footprint in the United States, surviving both financial crashes and international bribery scandals - and how leav...

As this road trip passed through Boone, North Carolina, I was fortunate enough to sit down with Scott Segerstrom, who shared his family's story, starting with his great-great-grandfather, Anders Frederick Andersson, and his thirteen determined daughters, who all left a life in a cave outside Tybble, Sweden, to seek fortune in Mead, Nebraska. With a calm voice and a yellow notepad, Scott takes...

The list of Swedish artists on the Billboard 100 is long. Ever since Blue Swede reached number 1 in 1974 with their version of "Hooked on a Feeling", Swedes have frequently appeared on this iconic chart in the American music industry. - A Swedish footprint in popular culture that has become an industry standard. To try and get some answers on how this keeps happening, I drove to Bentonvi...

I drove the Volvo and Airstream to Lindsborg in Kansas - a town still proud of its Swedish heritage - to talk with Ron Michael, Director of the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery, about the Swedish artist who put Kansas high on the American art scene. Birger Sandzén was born in Blidsberg, Sweden, in 1871. He studied art in Stockholm with Anders Zorn and Richard Berg and in Paris with Edmond François...

Sir Donald Glenn Peterson's family history starts with his grandfather, Enoch, leaving Sweden at age 19 for a life in the United States, immediately signing up to fight with the US Army in France during WW1, only to return after the war to start a newspaper in Denver, Colorado, building a communication hub for Swedes and Americans alike that stood for three generations. And it culminates with...

Between the 1850s and the early 1900s, approximately 10,000 Swedes left their homeland and emigrated to the United States to join the fast-growing movement of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) around Salt Lake City, Utah. - Lars Ronér's family was one of those who came. Hear him tell the story of his family being a part of the Swedes who settled down at "the end of...

The search for Swedish footprints within the United States diverted my road trip to the University of Nevada in Reno, to speak to basketball player Hanna Jolinder, who recently arrived to take the position as Guard in the Nevada Wolf Pack after years in the highest basketball league in Sweden, including a position in the Swedish National Team. We sat down in the Airstream and talked about the impo...

The all-American road trip led me to the many wineries of Sonoma Valley, where I met up with Swedish-born Katarina Bonde at West Wines, the vineyard she founded with her husband almost twenty years ago. We talked about stepping into the winemaking industry without really knowing what to expect, about how grapes teach you patience, and about what it was like to have the first American wine selected...

Mr. Shelgren is a movie producer, writer, and director for the world-renowned Ojai Film Festival, north of Los Angeles, California. He is also 'Sven' to most people who've met him, a nickname he took in honor of his Swedish heritage. We met in the Airstream as the podcast tour passed Ojai, and we talked about the spirit of creativity, the changes in Hollywood, and being proud of who yo...

Gudrun Giddings is a movie & TV producer based in Los Angeles, California, and she's also the Honorary Consul of Sweden in LA - and in my mind the perfect guest when Letters from America visits "La-La-Land". But Gudrun had another plan and wasn't all up for questions about an industry that, in her mind, tends to be overexposed. Instead, she turned the tables - literally - and...

Ingrid Hagelberg (or "Vismaya") stumbled into this tour by chance while I was visiting Sedona, Arizona, where she has lived for many years. Her life story takes wild turns, making it hard to keep up, but it all comes back to one thing - her passion for singing. Ingrid is an International Jazz Singer and award-winning actress, born in Trelleborg, Sweden, with a career that stretches from...

“Letters from America" is a road trip podcast in search of the Swedish heritage in the United States - stories from a country built with bricks from all parts of the world. - It’s the letters from America, about America, to America. I am  Martin Wærn , and in partnership with the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, DC, Volvo Cars USA, Volvo Trucks USA, and Airstream Inc. , I'm on a twelve-mo...

I met with Pia Nilsson, the former Senior Head Coach for the Swedish National Teams in Golf, co-founder of Vision 54, and the coach behind multiple victories on the LPGA Tour, PGA Tour, European Tour, and Japan Tour, including several major winners and top-ranked world players, outside her home in Scottsdale, Arizona - to speak about everything I don't know about golf.

I met with Swedish-born Fredrik Thomsson to talk about what motivated him to leave his teenage room on the Swedish island of Gotland thirty-five years ago, throwing himself headlong into a ranch in Oklahoma to work for reining-horse legend Bob Loomis, and further through hundreds of horses and countless competitions, until today, having his own champion ranch outside Pilot Point, Texas, accompanie...

I met with Don Raines, Senior Planner in the city of Dallas, Texas, to talk about two remarkable Swedes that helped not only shape the city itself - but left iconic marks on the entire country. Join me to hear Don speak about his love for Dallas, about Carl Wickman, the Swedish immigrant who founded the iconic Greyhound Buses, and about John Eric Johnson, a second-generation Swede who became three...

I met with Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, Professor of Chemistry and BioSciences and former member of the Nobel Committee in Chemistry, outside her new lab at Rice University in Houston and we talked about the winding road that guided her to where she is now, about changing your mind, and about the essence of protien folding.

I met with Anna Hammarlund Blixt, the newly appointed Consul General of Sweden, outside her residence in Houston, Texas, to discuss Sweden's relationship with America's second-largest state, the sense of independence, the importance of being on-site, and the power of Swedish innovations - plus all the everyday life challenges that come with accepting an assignment that involves the entire family.

I met with Swedish-born Caroline Brunious (née Fromell) - the Swedish clarinet player and child protege who's now one of the top jazz clarinet players - outside her home in New Orleans, Louisiana, to talk about the journey that led her to this center stage of the Jazz Universe.

The Old Swedes Church in Swedesboro (New Jersey) was founded by Swedish Lutheran settlers who originally worshiped in a log cabin on the site at the beginning of the 18th century. Earlier this year, I was invited to speak with Senior Warden Robert Fritz about the Church’s 300-year history.

I met with Pierre Schelander, Pastor at the Swedish Church in Florida, to speak about the differences between Swedish and American parishes, the vocabulary of faith, and flying to Swedish congregations in both Argentina and Brazil.

I met with legendary Viveca Averstedt - the fastest person outside the USA for 5 years - at her home in Orlando, Florida, and we talked about the rollercoaster world of bodybuilding, drag racing, and top fuel cars, and the sweet life of running your own Swedish food truck. 

From Log Houses and Art to Spotify and the Grammy Awards, Swedes have left their mark in America for almost 400 years.   Tracey Beck is the Executive Director of the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia - the oldest Swedish museum in the United States - and she was kind enough to meet with me for a recap of Swedish history within the United States.  We met in my caravan outside the m...