Anna Hammar-Rosén


Anna Hammar-Rosén, née Hammar, was a Swedish newspaper editor. She was the editor and publisher of the popular Hwad Nytt?? Hwad Nytt?? between 1773 and 1795. She is a pioneer as a woman newspaper editor in Sweden.

Life

Anna Hammar-Rosén was the daughter of the vicar Anund Hammar and Elisabeth Maria Agrell. She married the Johan Rosén, professor at the Hvitfeldtska gymnasiet in Gothenburg, in 1759, and became the mother of the writer Gustaf Rosén.
In 1772, Johan Rosén founded the newspaper Hvad nytt, hvad nytt?. When he died the following year, Anna succeeded him as chief editor and managed the paper until 1795.
Hvad nytt, hvad nytt? was a popular paper which included news and politics as well as cultural topics and was published two or three times a week, at that time a good number. Several of the most famed writers of the Gustavian age were published in the paper: Bengt Lidner and Anna Maria Lenngren both debuted there. Despite her success, she officially commented on its success with customary humility, replying that she herself doubted that a paper published by an uneducated female was much worth having.
Anna Hammar-Rosén was not the first woman newspaper editor in Sweden - Margareta Momma had debuted as such already in 1738 - but in contrast to many other female editors, she did not publish herself anonymously, which was otherwise very common in 18th-century Sweden, were female editors and journalists became common but customarily published themselves under anonymous pseudonyms, and she has therefore a prominent place among female pioneers in Swedish press history.