A captivating tale of birds and longing of northern tundra.
Author: Ulla-Lena Lundberg
Swedish original: Sibirien. Ett självporträtt med vingar
Publisher: Schildts & Söderströms, 2013 [1993]
Number of pages: 179 pp. + 16 pp. photo appendix
Reading material: Swedish original, Finnish translation, German translation
Rights sold: Danish, Forum; Dutch, GMB; Estonian, Loomingu raamatukogu; Finnish, Gummerus; German, Klett-Cotta
Wouldn’t I know what it’s like to be a Siberian bird?
The Siberian travelogue of Ulla-Lena Lundberg, winner of the Finlandia Literature Prize, builds on this question. The enormous country rests under the wings of its birds whilst the author sets out on her adventures on its eastern edges, also examining the fate of Russian people.
Readers piece together an image of Siberia as the author’s self-portrait takes shape: she visited Siberia for the first time when she was young, in love and with a heart full of hope for the future. Twenty years later she returns to tundra as an observer of birds, now an author and explorer — and the resulting book becomes about a person as well as the landscape.
Siberia: A Self-Portrait with Wings is a classic of narrative non-fiction, first published in 1993 when Russia was living through its first post-Soviet years. The world might have changed since then, but Lundberg’s far-sighted and humorous observations have stood the test of time.
“A charming travelogue about tundra, birds, longing and love. […] Siberia is an incredible but ruthless lover. The sun wraps tundra in a golden shimmer, but the traveller knows that prisoners’ bones are piled up under the worn-out roads and airports.”
–Helsingin Sanomat newspaper
“The book still feels new […] its message is not tied to any particular time period. The travels lead the readers on the nature experiences, each one more incredible than before, alongside cultural and historical analyses. Lundberg makes observing birds more delightful than ever before. Her expressive words and masterful narration let the reader lean back and relax.”
–Vasabladet newspaper
About the author:
Ulla-Lena Lundberg