About the Author

Erika Fatland was born in 1983 and studied Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. Her 2011 book, The Village of Angels, was an in situ report on the Beslan terror attacks of 2004 and she is also the author of The Year Without Summer, describing the harrowing year that followed the massacre on Utoya in 2011. For Sovietistan (2019) she was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford/Lonely Planet Debut Travel Writer of the Year, and The Border (2020) was shortlisted for the Stanfords Dolman Travel Book of the Year 2020. She speaks eight languages and lives in Oslo with her husband.

Reviews

[A] mesmerising trip across central Asia . . . All credit to Erika Fatland, who may have titled her central Asian travelogue Sovietistan, but who treats each with care and attention. Part diary, part sociopolitical analysis . . . A fascinating travelogue - Financial TimesEngaging . . . The reader learns a lot about all kinds of subjects. - SpectatorWith her acute journalistic eye, clarity of style and not least a solid background in social anthropology, Erika Fatland has given us a number of astute books on complicated subjects. When this ability is combined with courage and a sense of adventure, the result is impressive - AftenpostenEven if you're not currently planning a trip to Central Asia, this book will change your mind - KlassekampenFatland really knows her subject and writes with conviction. After her thoughtful writing on Beslan and the massacre on Utoya, there was every reason to have huge expectations. They have been more than fulfilled. - DagbladetNow to be numbered among the best travel writers, the brilliant and intrepid Norwegian Erika Fatland has observed deserts, villages, metropolises and mountains to bring back a jewel of story of adventure, intermingled histories, geography, geology, culture and politics. - Figaro