Author/Translator: Eva Apelqvist (NEW DATE)

Northwind Book & Fiber is excited to welcome back friend and former Northwind bookseller Eva Apelqvist.  She has translated from Swedish a young adult novel written by a young Sami woman. The book is set in the Sami community and is about a young reindeer herder who is wrestling with his sexuality.

Kirkus has given it a starred review and says it is “a rare and triumphant look at what it means for queerness to stay put, with all the messiness and pain that entails… A fresh voice and a setting that’s pure fire.”

Eva will talk about translation and this book, and then she will be available to sign copies of the book.

Eva is a writer and a translator, with children’s and young adult books published in the United States and Sweden. She has worked in many many areas of the book world, among them, a publishing house, a library, and an independent bookstore. The setting for the novel is northern Sweden, north of the Arctic Circle, which is, interestingly, the very area where her parents grew up and a place that she often visited growing up. Eva lived in Spooner for many years before moving to Duluth, where she has an office overlooking the majestic Lake Superior.

The author of the book is Moa Backe Åstot, born in 1998 in Malmberget.  She is Sami and a reindeer owner. She has studied creative writing at Umeå University and Jakobsberg Folk School’s well-regarded creative writing program. She has received a number of awards for her writing, among them one from Sveriges Radio in 2018 for her short story, “A Small Red Drop.” She lives in Jokkmokk. Fire From the Sky is her debut novel.