Kathrine Nedrejord - Selected Title Author Spring 2024

What inspired you to write this book?

Our nature here in Norway is being consumed by constant new developments, and it’s usually the traditional livelihoods – such as fisherman or reindeer herders in Sápmi – who are losing land. It’s often done in the name of a shift toward a green economy. I’ve seen how families can be pitted against each other in the struggle to make a living. It’s tough. The conflict can seem unsolvable. Who would want to give up a source of income – either in the future or here and now? And not only that, who would want to lose a culture and a language in the fight? As a Sámi myself with many relatives living closely with these issues in various ways, it’s something I think about quite a bit. Unsolvable conflicts are a burden in everyday life, but they can also be a good starting point for a book. I don’t necessarily have ambitions for solving these conflicts, I just want to show how difficult it can be to be a young person stuck in the middle of two unyielding sides.

What sets your book apart from others in the same genre/theme?

I don’t think there are many books that combine environmental issues with the everyday life of a Sámi teen, and I’ve been wanting to show the breadth of the Sámi society that continues to exist today without exoticizing it. There are Sámi youth who love to be out in nature while others might prefer gaming. The Indigenous status of the Sámi people means that we have some prejudices against us, and some people might even think we live in the past, but of course, we don’t. In addition, I also wanted to write a book where activism isn’t a given from the first sentence, but where there is room for doubt. I’m a doubter myself, and I think many young people are, too. What is the right thing to do? What battles do you have to fight? At the same time, I found room for a forbidden love story, because large societal questions will always exist in parallel with more private ones. What should I do if I fall in love with my friend’s boyfriend? Elle, the main character in the book, is uncertain about most things at the beginning of the story, but hopefully, she’ll come out of all the conflicts a bit more certain of what is right for her.

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See all NORLA’s Selected Titles for the spring 2024 here