NORDlyS
An adventurous journey to the magical north
«I want to live in these books!» - Nordlys-reader age 9.
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EGMONT NORDLYS – INTRODUCTION
NORDLYS The book series «Northern Lights» is a portal fantasy rooted in Norwegian folklore. Together with Sonja you can travel to the magical North. One night Sonja gets a visit from a boy she doesn’t know, but who at the same time seems strangely familiar. He is from a magic realm and invites Sonja to accompany him on the journey back. They travel on the northern light and arrive in a Norway which is very different from how the country looks today, but is still a country that lives in anyone who has witnessed the northern light. This is a beautiful, mesmerising travel to the Nordic magic.
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EGMONT MEET MALIN FALCH
Meet Malin Falch Malin Falch (born 1993 in Trondheim) is a Norwegian cartoonist and illustrator. Photo by Petter Berg
–Falch lived for five years in the United States, where she studied concept art at a college in San Francisco. Later she had a permanent job in the gaming-company Zynga. But when the Norwegian publisher Egmont, who had come across her comic book on the Internet, contacted her, she decided to leave Zynga and move back to Norway. In 2018 she debuted with her first book, «Nordlys: Reisen til Jotunheimen.» The story is about Sonja Solberg, who lives in Røros. She meets a boy, Espen, and together they travel to a parallel world where gnomes, trolls, vikings and talking animals live. Which seems exciting at first, but Sonja soon discovers that danger is lurking. The first book, in a series of ten, won the Ark Children Award in Norway in 2018. It was
Sketches from book 1. Espen and Sonja.
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awarded by a jury of 10.000 childrens, and Nordlys became the children’s favourite. It also won the Pondus Comic Award the same year. In April 2019, the second book in the Nordlys-saga was launched in Norway. This book was also a bestseller, and when the third book in the saga came in spring 2020, the series was the number one bestseller of all books in Norway. Malin Falch even made a spin-off book about the bear Bjørnar, and this book won the prize for best graphic novel by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture! The rights for the series are sold to: Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Bulgaria and Poland. ■
MEET MALIN FALCH
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EGMONT NORDLYS – ABOUT THE BOOK
Nordlys – The Journey to the Valley of Trolls Sonja is a young, determined girl who loves riding her horse and staying outdoors. Much to her mother’s dismay, who is concerned that she should pay more attention to her upcoming church confirmation. Illustrations: Malin Falch
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EGMONT NORDLYS – ABOUT THE BOOK
T
he story sets off on the day of her confirmation ceremony. At the family party afterwards, her favorite uncle, a recluse and a free-spirited soul, unexpectedly turns up. He shows Sonja his fairytale-like drawings from the forest, and presents her with an old brooch, presumably from the Viking age.
vikings and even a sea serpent exist. Intrigued by this, Sonja wants to join him to see this land. Espen opens a magical portal and Sonja faints, only to wake up in a strange wood. The first creature she meets is a friendly bear who speaks her language. He explains the mystical place and who to be afraid of. He leads her to Espen’s realm.
In the night Sonja is awakened by an intruder, dressed in a goat’s head and skin. He claims to be looking for her uncle, and Sonja recognizes his outfit from her uncle’s drawing. The boy has come to reclaim the brooch and presents himself as Espen. He says he is from “the other side”, where trolls,
She meets a group of small trolls, who express their skepticism, suspecting the evil vikings sent her. The trolls want to have her killed, but Espen appears and decrees that Sonja will stay with them, creating jealousy with some of the trolls. ► The trolls turn out to be a playful, mischi NORDLYS BOOKLET 2020 | 7
EGMONT NORDLYS – ABOUT THE BOOK
The trolls turn out to be a playful, mischievous bunch. To get food they steal ham, cheese and rice from a mean old troll who nearly captures Sonja. Espen takes a beating from the troll’s wife, and again the small trolls quarrel over Sonja, blaming her for the incident. Slowly Sonja befriends some of the trolls, and they show her their miniature magic creatures: half dragon, half dragonfly. Dust from the dragonfly will enable you to run faster, jump higher, and even walk on water, which Sonja fails to do, to the amusement of the trolls.
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In the evening, around the campfire, Sonja learns about Trym, an evil troll creature, and Hjalmar, a viking earl and an infamous killer of trolls and animals. Espen once fought Hjalmar and cut off his sword hand and threw it in the fjord, where it was devoured by a ferocious sea serpent. Ever since the sea serpent has been hunting for the rest of Hjalmar … Hjalmar on the other hand is hell bent on killing both Espen and the sea serpent. On Sonja’s first night with the troll tribe, Espen awakes and discovers Hjalmar’s ►
EGMONT NORDLYS – ABOUT THE BOOK
ship sailing up the fjord, hatefully hunting forthe sea serpent. As the serpent emerges from the water, it viciously kills one of Hjalmar’s men. Espen tries to convince his wolf companions that Hjalmar won’t come looking for him as long as he stays out of his way. In the forest, more tension is building up about the presence of Sonja, being a human, while Sonja is adapting to the magical realm, enjoying its serenity and making a friend on her own, a dragonfly creature which she calls Gnist. ■
About the Norwegian heritage in the story: Sonja lives with her family in at town closely resembling RØROS, an old mining town and on UNESCO’s list of the World’s Cultural Heritage. The name JOTUNDALEN is a take on the Norwegian mountain area Jotunheimen, meaning home of the giants from Norse myths. HJALMAR and TRYM are old viking names. NORDLYS BOOKLET 2020 | 9
EXCERPT FROM BOOK 1
… this!
With…
Excerpt
A… pine cone?
from book 1 Look closer!
Just stand still! Don’t move!
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EXCERPT FROM BOOK 1
Watch!
O S O HH W F
H 61
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EXCERPT FROM BOOK 1
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EXCERPT FROM BOOK 1
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EXCERPT FROM BOOK 1
Do you really want to come with me?
Of course!
It’ll be fun!
But… can I?
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EXCERPT FROM BOOK 1
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EXCERPT FROM BOOK 2
Excerpt
from book 2
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EXCERPT FROM BOOK 2
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EXCERPT FROM BOOK 2
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– a Northern Lights story An exiting Walley of the Trolls story from the award-winning fantasy series Northern Lights.
Malin Falch WITH
Regine Toften Holst 20 | NORDLYS BOOKLET 2020
EXCERPT FROM BJØRNAR
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Excerpt
from Bjørnar NORDLYS BOOKLET 2020 | 21
EXCERPT FROM BJØRNAR
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NORDLYS bOOk 3 The third book in the series was one oF Norways bestsellers in 2020!
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Nordlys Awards Winner of the Ark children award -2018 The children bookprize -2018 The best graphic novel ny the Ministry of Culture – 2019 The movie-rights are sold to Nordisk Film.
For more information or questions, please contact
Editor/ Rights Manager Tonje Tornes | Tel: +47 928 69 374 | E-mail: tonje.tornes@egmont.com Business Area Manager Grethe Kristensen | Tel: +47 917 96 178 | E-mail: grethe.kristensen@egmont.com Artwork: Malin Falch | Design: Christine Skodjereite Loennecken | Text: Solveig Thime, Tormod Løkling and Tonje Tornes