Erika Fatland (born 1983) is a Norwegian

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

and writer who has written multiple critically-acclaimed books, including ''Sovietistan'' and ''The Border''.

Early life and career

Fatland was born in

Haugesund Haugesund () is a municipality on the North Sea in Rogaland county, Norway. While the population is greater in the neighboring Karmøy municipality, the main commercial and economic centre of the Haugaland region in northern Rogaland and southern ...

, Norway, in 1983, and studied at the University of Oslo and the University of Copenhagen. Fatland is best known for her travel writing and has written several books: Her first travel book ''Sovietistan'', published in 2015, was an account of her travels through five post-Soviet Central Asian nations, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It has been translated into 12 languages. The book was reviewed by '' Financial Times'' and ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

''. This was followed by ''The Border: A Journey Around Russia Through North Korea, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Norway, and the Northeast Passage'', an account of her travels around Russia's border, from North Korea to Norway. Both books have been translated into English by

Kari Dickson Kari Dickson is a British translator who specializes in translating works of Norwegian literature into English. She grew up in Edinburgh but spent her summers in Norway with maternal grandparents who did not speak English. She graduated in Scand ...

, and both received critical acclaim from reviewers in the US and UK. The book was reviewed by '' The Washington Post''. She wrote two earlier books: ''The Village of Angels'' (2011) about the

Beslan massacre The Beslan school siege (also referred to as the Beslan school hostage crisis or the Beslan massacre) was a terrorist attack that started on 1 September 2004, lasted three days, involved the imprisonment of more than 1,100 people as hostages ( ...

and ''The Year Without a Summer'' about the

Utoya massacre The 2011 Norway attacks, referred to in Norway as 22 July ( no, 22. juli) or as 22/7, were two domestic terrorist attacks by neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik against the government, the civilian population, and a Workers' Youth League (AUF) ...

. She has also written the children's book ''The Parent War''. She has received numerous awards, among them the Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize for Nonfiction and the Wesselprisen (2016). She speaks eight languages including Norwegian, English, French, Russian, German, Italian, and Spanish. She lives in Oslo.

Bibliography

* ''The Village of Angels'' (2011) * ''The Year Without a Summer'' (2012) * ''Sovietistan: Travels in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan'' (2020) * ''The Border: A Journey Around Russia Through North Korea, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Norway, and the Northeast Passage'' (2021) * ''High: A Journey Across the Himalaya, Through Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal, and China'' (2023)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fatland, Erika Living people 1983 births Norwegian writers Writers about Russia Norwegian women writers University of Copenhagen alumni University of Oslo alumni