Linda Jones and Mats Söderlund have each been awarded the Norrland Literature Prize 2024 in the categories Children’s and Young Adult Literature and Adult Literature, respectively.

The Jury’s motivation for Linda Jones and her novel They Take Everything From Me is:

It is through the magical realism and the beast The Crossbreed that Linda Jones portrays the unknown other and the catalyst of the story in They Take Everything From Me. Despite this, the novel is unwaveringly grounded in the rural experience of northern Sweden. Jones explores themes of violence, identity, alienation, and the importance of friendship in a society where everyone is on their own, with both compassionate humor and great seriousness. Linda Jones gives a strong and uplifting voice to all young people living in a forgotten place where the hunt is everything.

The Jury’s motivation for Mats Söderlund and his book Splendid be the Earth is:

Splendid be the Earth is in equal parts a delicate, personal love story about the Swedish mountains and an urgent cry for the climate. Mats Söderlund navigates between poetic reflections, scientific findings and historical events with a light pen, and allows interviews with individuals to become a multi-voiced testimony – all with his feet firmly anchored in the soil above the tree line. The essayistic depiction of the fragility and mercilessness of nature, and the place of modern man in it, calls for both reflection and action.

The Prize is awarded by the Norrland Literature Society and Författarcentrum Norr. It was established in 1973 and is one of Sweden’s oldest literary awards. The prize sum is 10 000 SEK and was awarded at the organizations’ annual summer meeting, which was held at Västerbergs Folkhögskola in Storvik, Gästrikland