In 2015, a massive avalanche descended on the small Arctic Norwegian city of Longyearbyen, Svalbard, leveling eleven houses and killing a two-year-old girl and a young father. It was a tragic natural disaster but one that was becoming increasingly and alarmingly common for citizens of Svalbard, like journalist Line Nagell YlvisÅker. In her arresting book My World Is Melting, YlvisÅker explores the effects of a warming planet up close and personal, from inside a remote community intimately attuned to its environment.
YlvisÅker introduces readers to her friends and neighbors, including dedicated meteorologists racing to anticipate future disasters and a veteran trapper who harbors doubts about climate change even as he bears witness to a constantly shifting landscape. Blending memoir, long-form journalism, and scientific reportage, she provides an intimate picture of life in a place where the effects of climate change can be seen in all their startling realityand a compelling and hopeful argument for collective and cooperative action across the globe.
Arvustused
Praise for the Norwegian edition:
"Vivid literary nonfictionfilled with poetic, striking and surprising images."Dagbladet
"In Ylvisåker's book, the personal experience of the environmental changes is an excellent framework for communicating. . . . This easy-to-read and engaging book should have great potential to create understanding for the seriousness of the situation." Klassekampen
"A documentary page turner." Altså magazine
Praise for the German edition:
"A story of the climate crisis that is as instructive as it is captivating." Suddeutsche Zeitung
"A gripping, forceful plea against the climate catastrophe." 3SAT "Kulturzeit"
"A report from the front on the fight against climate change, enlightening and touching."Focus "Enlightening. . . . Compelling depictions of the disruptions impacting human settlements, terrain, and wildlife underscore the urgency of addressing climate change while also acknowledging the complexity of finding solutions. My World Is Melting is a fascinating essay collection about life on a remote Norwegian island and the startling impacts of climate change on Arctic communities and ecosystems."
(Foreword Reviews) "Astute and stirring. . . . This blend of reportage and rumination makes for an absorbing and crucial read on a topic of increasing significance."
(Booklist) "In prose as clear and evocative as the ice that's disappearing from her home, Ylvisåker (in Kelsey Camacho's superb translation) offers an alarming yet hopeful account of how the effects of climate changefrom deadly avalanches to tragic polar bear attacksare reshaping some of Norway's most imperiled places."
- Amy Brady, author of Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating RinksA Cool History of a Hot Commodity "Touching and powerful, about changes that affect us all."
- Maja Lunde, author of The History of Bees
Preface
Falling Down
A Black, Wet Autumn and New Avalanches
Sleep, Little Sprout
Climate on Speed
The Town
The Trapper and the Pope
Essential Stardust
The Mountain
Trees of Stone
A Great Paradox
Royal Unrest
The Sea, the Fjords, and the Ice That Disappeared
Plants in Ice and Permafrost
Almost a Gummy Bear
Grandmother in the Snowstorm
Cant Make Everything Safe
Into Safe Houses
Three Years After Surviving the Avalanche
Afterword
Update: The Warmest Summer
Acknowledgments
Sources
Line Nagell YlvisÅker is an editor, journalist, and nonfiction writer living in the high Arctic. From 2006 to 2018, she worked for the newspaper Svalbardposten, where she received several awards for her writing about Svalbard; since 2023, she has served as Svalbardpostens editor in chief. She holds a masters degree from the University of Oslo and lectures on climate change throughout Norway.
Kelsey Camacho is a writer and translator who guides expeditions in the polar regions, cares for sled dogs, and leads local writing workshops. Her work can be found in Nowhere Magazine, Bitch Media, Entropy, Portland Review, and elsewhere. Originally from North Carolina, shes based in Longyearbyen, Svalbard.
