To journey through literature is to discover new places. In this folder you will find some of the literary places in Västerbotten and Norrbotten counties, for example Sara Lidman’s home in Missenträsk and Eyvind Johnson’s cottage bakery in Björkelund, Boden. Enjoy your reading – enjoy your journey! Literary places västerbotten Frida Åslund: Umeå / kvarteret Ripan, Backens kyrka ....................... 4 Sara Lidman: Skellefteå / Missenträsk, Åliden .................................. 6 Torgny Lindgren: Norsjö / Raggsjö ................................................... 8 Katarina Mazetti: Umeå / kvarteret Ripan, Nya konditoriet ............ 10 Bernhard Nordh: Vilhelmina / Marsliden, Fatmomakke .................12 Per Olov Enquist: Skellefteå / Hjoggböle, Burträsk ......................... 14 Lars Widding: Umeå / kvarteret Ripan, Döbelns park ..................... 16 norrbotten Eyvind Johnson: Boden / Björkelund ............................................. 18 Einar Wallquist: Arjeplog / Silvermuseet ...................................... 20 Åsa Larsson: Kiruna / Jukkasjärvi, Kurravaara .............................. 22 Bengt Pohjanen: Överkalix / Sirillus gård (Tallvik) Pajala / Kassa ................................................................................... 24 Authors from Tornedalen / Pajala, Övertorneå, Haparanda ........... 26 List of publications .......................................................................... 28 All literary quotations translated into English especially for this publication. in Västerbotten and Norrbotten © Lantmäteriet Gävle 2010. Medgivande I2010/1452 Umeå / kvarteret Ripan, Backens kyrka Frida Åslund “Now it so happened that Folke’s Frida’s elder half-brother Helmer father’s house was the next to last later adopted the name Osslund on the wide birch-lined street in and became “the artistic discoverer the eastern quarter of town, and of the whole of northern Sweden”. the house where Frida’s mother Folke’s eldest brother, Wilhelm and siblings lived was the last. Both Peterson-Berger, became one of houses had green courtyards and Sweden’s most beloved composers. red outbuildings with a crowd of The three autobiographical no- pleasant storehouses and nooks vels Folke and Frida (1925), Frida i and crannies to play in. Between Per-Nils-gården (1928) and Tiden går the two houses ran a red fence, but (1932) tell of Frida’s childhood and The Peterson-Berger home at the crossing Kungsgatan-Pilgatan. Below: Frida Åslund’s with a stile consisting of two steps, the nature of life in Umeå in the maternal grandfather, J.A. Linder, lies buried in Västra kyrkogården (the West Graveyard) so that the children might run over 1880s and 1890s. We witness the in Umeå. to each other without running on great church fire of Christmas 1887 to the street and in through the and the town fire of 1888. After the exists, but the home of Wilhelm gate.” town fire, Frida moved with her From Folke och Frida, new edition 2008. Peterson-Berger, a listed building, family to Grisbacka and she had a still stands on its original site. The house where Frida lived stood whole new world to explore, inclu- x on today’s Kungsgatan in the then ding the large mediaeval church at newly projected quarter called Öst Backen. Her maternal grandfather, på stan (East in town), and Folke Dean J. A. Linder, is buried here. THE AUTHOR lived on the other side of today’s He was perhaps Umeå’s foremost Frida Åslund was born in 1879. Her father, Daniel street Pilgatan on the block cal- Åslund, died when she was young, and she would cultural personality of the 19th grow up with her mother and maternal grandmot- led Ripan. The built-up parts had century. He was not only a priest her. Frida trained as a schoolteacher, one of few partly rural characteristics and the but also a prolific writer and archi- professions daughters in middle-class families town planning followed the garden tect. Baggböle Manor, the churches could enter. For her entire life, she then worked in Horndal in Dalarna. She wrote prolifically and by city vision with large, open, ver- in Holmsund and Hörnefors are the time of her death in 1937 she had published dant plots. examples of his work. He was also 20 novels and over 200 shorter works. In the Peterson-Berger home, a keen proponent of temperance – The original manuscripts have been donated to Umeå University and are archived in the university Katarina Mazetti would eventu- more than 21 drinks a day was un- library. The autobiographical trilogy of children’s ally work, and Lars Widding was suitable – unless there were special books Folke och Frida, Frida i Per-Nils-gården and brought up in the neighbouring circumstances. Tiden går have been published in a new two-part edition: Folke och Frida (2008) and Fridas nya house, precisely where Frida and Frida, who died in 1937, lies bu- värld (2009). Folke played. ried together with her parents in The two children belonged to sur- Västra kyrkogården (the West Gra- THE PLACE Do you want to learn more about Frida’s world? veyors’ families and had siblings veyard) near the former hospital. Explore it by downloading a walker’s guide on västerbotten who were much older than them. Frida’s childhood home no longer www.atriumforlag.se. It is free of charge. 4 5 Skellefteå / Missenträsk Sara Lidman The five novels that make up the on his way to Långholmen Prison, Jernbane epic are based on the life declared bankrupt and condemned of Erik Lidman, Sara Lidman’s pa- and sentenced for embezzlement of ternal grandfather. Erik Lidman, emergency aid funds. in the novel Didrik Mårtensson, After serving his sentence, on the is a “snallare”, that is, one of the train home from Långholmen, he smallholders who carried out the meets Forest Supervisor Bredfelt exhausting transport of goods from who like Spadar-Abdon in his day Skellefteå up to Arvidsjaur on the is enthusiastic about his project “snallare” route. Didrik has a dre- – draining marshes to create new am – an iron road will be built here farmland. and will bring happiness and pros- “Within half a century, little Eck- perity to the interior of northern sträsk will have grown from eight Sweden. The Jernbane epic is the homesteads to thirty – perhaps a story of ordinary people’s greatness hundred: properties capable of fee- Sara Lidman’s home in Missenträsk. and great people’s pettiness. ding large families, each owning “And the line of horses started two or three horses. Foresters they moving and reached the top of the shall be! An army of foresters and people found prehistoric skis deep THE AUTHOR in the marshes. The oldest known Sara Lidman (1923–2004) was born in Missen- slope without rest. Once they were log-drivers! But lime is called for! träsk, Västerbotten. She ranks as one of the there the road curved and came into Thanks to the railway we can now ski found in this way is the Kalv- greatest and most innovative users of language the shade of the firs. At every south- bring in the lime. And timothy träsk Ski – 5,300 years old – which in Swedish literature. Her debut was in 1953 with is on display in Västerbotten Mu- the novel Tjärdalen which introduced the village of ward facing slope the same was re- grass seed. And clover.” Ecksträsk, where for the first time the reader gets From Järnkronan, 1985 seum. peated; longer and longer stretches x to know her characteristic prose, based on dialect were bare ground and needed to be Didrik settles in Ecksträsk and and biblical language. In 1975 she began her major work, called the Jernbane epic, comprising covered with snow. The sun does starts a career cultivating new land. five novels about the modernisation and colonisa- not warm ’but she certainly wears As for example in her first novels tion of northern Sweden, later complemented with down the surface’. Their eyes were Tjärdalen (1953) and Hjortronlandet the standalone sequels Lifsens rot (1996) and sore. The horses sweated and nibb- (1955) Sara Lidman here returns Oskuldens minut (1999). Sara Lidman received an honorary doctorate at Umeå University in 1978 led at snow from the sides.” to her home village, Missenträsk. THE PLACE and a professorship in 1999. She also won a large From Vredens barn, 1979 The village lies surrounded by vast Through a donation by Sara Lidman, Umeå Uni- number of literary prizes and honours. Once the king had finally inau- drained marshlands, up along the versity has at its disposal Sara’s home in Missen- The main goal of the Sara Lidman Society is to promote interest in Sara Lidman’s writings and gurated the last stretch of the main “snallare” road, which was eventu- träsk. The buildings can be rented as dwellings for researchers and writers with a need for a creative social commitment by arranging the publication northern line in Jörn on 2 August ally transformed into the east-west and secluded work environment, for recreation and dissemination of her texts. 1894, three minutes late, Didrik is Jörn-Arvidsjaur railway. and for small meetings/conferences (max 14 overthrown from his position as Marshland cultivation was a gi- persons). Bookings administered by the Buildings Division (Lokalförsörjningsenheten) the great man of the region, chair- gantic failure, but an incidental at Umeå University, västerbotten man of the municipal council and is result was that that in many places phone +46 90-786 53 11. 6 7 Norsjö / Raggsjö Torgny Lindgren There are two very strong tradi- more precisely a conglomeration of tions in northern Västerbotten: smaller villages, and every village organ-building and storytelling. had its hash with its own characte- Organ-building naturally stems ristics and peculiarities, and even from the revivalist movements, home hash and hill hash and bell- but organs also had secular use. A clapper hash were basically Raggsjö particular characteristic of organs hashes, though a little different.” from the Norsjö area is what is An ongoing project – Literary tou- known as the Västerbotten voice, rism in Torgny Lindgren’s footsteps soft and with lingering melancholy. – is aimed to make literary Raggsjö Perhaps storytelling too has a more accessible to the public.