New in the UK
Sólrún Michelsen’s award winning novel On the other side is March is now published in English. Marita Thomsen translated the book and it is published by Francis Boutle Publishers.
On the other side is March is the first novel by a Faroese woman author to come out in English!
To celebrate and highlight the novel FarLit together with Francis Boutle and The Representation of the Faroe Islands arranged a book launch and reception in central London 19 April 2023.
The programme consisted of a talk with the author and translator moderated by Jóhanna Wolles from FarLit. Sólrún Michelsen and Marita each read excerpts from the book in Faroese and English respectively. Faroese singer-songwriter based in London Dan Olsen also performed a few songs.
On the other side is March is a poetic account of getting older and dementia. The protagonist is a woman in her sixties who is visiting and revisiting her mother as she recedes into memories lost and found.
The book is a fictionalised memoir flitting between dialogue, flashbacks and ruminations, interwoven with snippets of hymns, many in Danish, Faroese medieval ballads and folk songs. The novel is also a universal narrative of the lives of women with many, many beautiful and wise gems all through the text.
The Faroese title is Hinumegin er mars and it was originally published by Mentunargrunnur Studentafelagsins in 2013.
