Linnea Axelsson

epos

Ædnan

The winner of Sweden’s most prestigious literary award makes her American debut with an epic, multigenerational novel-in-verse about two Sámi families and their quest to stay together across a century of migration, violence, and colonial trauma. In Northern Sámi, the word Ædnan means the land, the earth, and my mother. These are all crucial forces within the lives of the Indigenous families that animate this groundbreaking book: an astonishing verse novel that chronicles a hundred years of change: a book that will one day stand alongside Halldór Laxness’s Independent People and Sigrid Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter as an essential Scandinavian epic. The tale begins in the 1910s, as Ristin and her family migrate their herd of reindeer to summer grounds. Along the way, forced to separate due to the newly formed border between Sweden and Norway, Ristin loses one of her sons in the aftermath of an accident, a grief that will ripple across the rest of the book. In the wake of this tragedy, Ristin struggles to manage what’s left of her family and her community. In the 1970s, Lise, as part of a new generation of Sámi grappling with questions of identity and inheritance, reflects on her traumatic childhood, when she was forced to leave her parents and was placed in a Nomad School to be stripped of the language of her ancestors. Finally, in the 2010s we meet Lise’s daughter, Sandra, an embodiment of Indigenous resilience, an activist fighting for reparations in a highly publicized land rights trial, in a time when the Sámi language is all but lost. Weaving together the voices of half a dozen characters, from elders to young people unsure of their heritage, Axelsson has created a moving family saga around the consequences of colonial settlement. Ædnan is a powerful reminder of how durable language can be, even when it is borrowed, especially when it has to hold what no longer remains. “I was the weight / in the stone you brought / back from the coast // to place on / my grave,” one character says to another from beyond the grave. “And I flew above / the boat calling / to you all: // There will be rain / there will be rain.”

An Epic

Aednan

A deeply moving, revelatory novel-in-verse about the struggle and persistence of two Indigenous Sámi families across a century of forced migration and colonial trauma __________ 'Crystalline... reads like poetry and myth at once. There are intricate layers of beauty and meaning here in sparse clusters across a vast new landscape as I've never read before. The music of this book is old, and it is new, and it is old' Tommy Orange, author of 'There, There' 'Incredibly beautiful and magnificent... With Ædnan, Swedish literature has been enriched' Dagens Nyheter 'Not only a linguistic adventure, innovative and rooted in both traditions and renewal, but also a statement that we are bigger and freer than the borders that shut us out from each other... Remarkable and magnificent' Norrtelje Tidning __________ In Northern Sámi, the word Ædnan means the land, the ground and the earth. In this majestic verse novel, Linnea Axelsson chronicles the fates of two Indigenous Sámi families over a hundred years as they are expelled from their ancestral home, giving powerful voice to a history under threat of erasure. In the 1910s, Ristin and Ber-Joná try to care for their infant twins while migrating their reindeer herd to their summer pasture. As a border is imposed between northernmost Sweden and Norway, the family faces tragedy when it is forced to migrate south. In the 1970s, Lise - part of a new generation of Sámi grappling with questions of identity and inheritance - reflects on her traumatic childhood, when she was placed in a "nomad school" to be stripped of her ancestors' language. Moving into the 2010s, Lise's daughter Sandra seeks to reclaim her heritage, becoming an activist fighting for reparations in a highly publicized land rights trial. With grand scope and stunning, crystalline language, Ædnan weaves together a chorus of voices from across a century into a profound and moving epic of Sámi life.

Tilldelad det skönlitterära Augustpriset 2018 En mor och hennes yngste son vilar med några andra kvinnor, gamla och barn i en kåta. Framför dem längs flyttleden driver hennes make och deras äldre son renhjorden. De är på väg mot en ö i nordligaste Norge och sommarens betesmarker. Ingen anar att gränsen till Norge inom ett par år kommer att vara stängd för dem, att de ska tvingas lämna sitt hem, och att kommande generationer ska möta helt andra svårigheter. Ædnan är gammal nordsamiska och betyder landet, marken och jorden. Eposet ÆDNAN berättar om två samiska familjer, vars öden speglar samernas moderna historia från 1900-talets början till vår tid. Skärva för skärva växer ett känslomässigt landskap fram, samtidigt som familjernas liv flätas samman med Sveriges koloniala politik. Men kolten står beredd – För varje ny årsring ska den kämpa för varje knäckt släktled ska den vittna och minnas Omslagsformgivare: Håkan Liljemärker

Linnea Axelsson

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