Bio

SALLY FRANSON is the author of the novels BIG IN SWEDEN and A LADY'S GUIDE TO SELLING OUT, a Minnesota Book Award finalist. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, and Best American Travel Writing, among many others, and she has been featured on NPR, The Jason Show, Slate’s Working, and Literary Hub’s Fiction/Non/Fiction. A 2022 cast member of Allt för Sverige, a Swedish reality TV show about finding your roots, Sally lives with her family in Minneapolis.

Books

Big in Sweden

Out now from Mariner Books!

A charming, wise, and laugh-out-loud funny novel following an American woman competing on a Swedish reality show in an attempt to discover her roots.

“Swedish pancakes, Viking villages, evangelical relay races: Sally Franson’s hilariously cantankerous cast of Crying Americans vie for the chance to discover their Nordic roots in this raucous, big-hearted book. Imagine ancestry.com meeting The Great British Bake Off . . . with ABBA and karaoke. Big in Sweden is a very funny novel about the families we inherit and the ones we ultimately create for ourselves.”

—Julie Schumacher, bestselling and Thurber Prize–winning author of the Dear Committee Trilogy

“Big in Sweden is full of quick insight and charming detail, and absolutely packed with one-liners. Sally Franson is a brilliant comic writer—and one with a deep love for all her characters. It’s a dazzling combination.”

—Katherine Heiny, author of Games and Rituals

“If you devoured Pippi Longstocking as a kid, you will not be able to turn away from Big in Sweden. Reading this hilarious, heartfelt book was even more fun than watching reality television. I absolutely loved it!”

—Jessica Anya Blau, author of Mary Jane

“Sally Franson is a world-class entertainer. She can finesse a seriocomic moment in a way that leaves you catching your breath. Deft and delicious, this book is a flat-out delight machine. A heart opener, a page turner, and a true originell! I laughed out loud, I ugly cried, and I never, ever wanted it to end.”

—Meg Ryan, actor, writer, and director

“A charming, wise, and laugh-out-loud funny novel… Big in Sweden gives readers a reason to celebrate and feel gratitude for their own families be they chosen or through DNA.

—BookTrib

“Filled with apt metaphors and zingy one-liners… But, at the same time… deep-seated and moving.”

—The Star Tribune

“Funny, heartfelt and as enjoyably quirky as its main character, Big in Sweden is a terrific summer read.”

—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A LADY’S GUIDE TO SELLING OUT

Now out in paperback!

An ambitious young woman navigates the slippery world of advertising–and the equally slippery question of who she wants to be.

“This frothy, sneaky tale from Franson intermixes elements of The Bold Type, Mad Men, and The Devil Wears Prada.
—Entertainment Weekly

“Bitingly funny...Comparisons will be made to The Devil Wears Prada, but Franson’s irresistibly flawed heroine holds her own as she strives to find honesty, meaning, and even love in a demanding world, resulting in an addictive, escapist novel.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Come for the hilarious narration, stay for the whirlwind plot, luxuriate in the satirical gleam.”
—Kirkus

“A must-read book… A wry, observant take on career success and ambition.” —New York Post 

@sallyjf on Instagram