Ida Frisch - Selected Title Author
We are happy to present our selected title author Ida Frisch. She has written Black Dog (original title: Sort hund). The book is one of NORLA’s Selected Titles of the autumn 2025.
What is your book about?
Put simply, Black Dog is about a family living on an island at the edge of the sea, somewhere along the west coast of Norway. After the mother drowns, the rest of the family must continue without her. A new era is dawning, and hope for the future also reaches this small community, where the engine factory is poised to take a central role. We follow a young boy through his life, caught between faith in God, reverence for nature, and belief in progress.
Within this simple narrative framework, Black Dog is really about the lives we choose to live and the value we find in the world we build. I’ve let the people and places remain unnamed, wanting to create a world where nature is allowed to take up space.
At the same time, I wanted to write a book that sheds light on the “small lives,” and on the beauty that can be found in the everyday.
In its own way, Black Dog is also an unclassical take on the classical coastal novel! Norway is rich in variations of this literary tradition, but I hope this novel can offer a new perspective on how the sea and nature have shaped us as a people – and how even the most windswept of places can hold great richness.
What inspired you to write this book?
In many ways, my family inspired me to write Black Dog. With our roots on the west coast, out among the islands, we’ve spent generations working as fisher-farmers, industrial workers, and now, in modern times, most often office workers and taxpayers.
I’m fascinated by the profound changes society has undergone over the course of just a few generations, and I wonder how living so disconnected from the rhythms of nature affects us.
I’ve been wanting to draw attention to the value of quiet, ordinary lives, and to write a book that brings one such life into focus. A difficult life, but nonetheless one filled with beauty, hope, and wonder. At the same time, the process deeply inspired me to create a book that might give a voice to the people who live these lives, and perhaps even a sense of pride in the traditions and knowledge they continue to uphold.
Read more
See full presentation of the book here
Read more about the author here
See all NORLA’s Selected Titles for the autumn 2025 here
