CANR
WORK TITLE: The Colony
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WEBSITE: https://www.annikanorlin.com/
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COUNTRY: Sweden
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PERSONAL
Born November 22, 1977, in Östersund, Sweden.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Musician, songwriter, singer, writer. Musical performer and contributor to albums, including Mentor (solo), 2022; as member of Hello Saferide, Introducing … Hello Saferide, 2005, More Modern Short Stories from Hello Saferide, 2008, and The Fox, the Hunter, and Hello Saferide, 2014; as member of Säkert!, Säkert!, 2007, Facit, 2010, På Engelska, 2011, and Däggdjur, 2017; with Jens Lekmen, Correspondence, 2019; and with Jonas Teglund, En tid att riva sönder, 2024.
AWARDS:Grammis Awards for Best Female Pop Act and Best Lyrics, 2008, for Säkert!; Swedish Radio Short Story Prize, 2019, for “Mattan”; Vi Literature Prize, 2023, for Stacken.
WRITINGS
Contributor to books, including Tag och skriv! Fjorton författare om sitt skrivande, Natur & Kultur (Stockholm, Sweden), 2020; Land of Plenty, by Amy Bennett, Galleri Magnus Karlsson (Stockholm, Sweden), 2021; and Awakening, by Elin Berge, Bokförlaget Max Ström (Stockholm, Sweden), 2020.
Stacken has been translated into numerous languages.
SIDELIGHTS
[open new]Annika Norlin is an award-winning Swedish musical performer who eventually turned from songwriting to fiction. During her education and early career she dabbled in psychology and journalism. Singing and also playing guitar, she has recorded numerous albums with the English-oriented band Hello Saferide and the Swedish group Säkert!, as well as on her own and with collaborators. Her debut album with Säkert! yielded two of Sweden’s premier Grammis musical awards in 2008. She published a volume’s worth of lyrics as Texter in 2014. Her further efforts as an author have included contributing essays to the anthology Tag och skriv! Fjorton författare om sitt skrivande, in which fourteen authors write about their craft, and to Amy Bennett’s art book Land of Plenty and serving as interviewer for Elin Berge’s art book Awakening.
Norlin made her fiction debut with the short-story collection Jag ser allt du gör, the title of which means “I see everything you do.” She was awarded the Swedish Radio Short Story Prize for the story “Mattan” (“The carpet”). Norlin’s novel Stacken, which means “Ant hill,” was published in 2023 in Sweden, where it won Vi magazine’s literature prize, and in English translation in 2025 as The Colony. The novel was partly inspired by an invasion of her kitchen by swarms of black ants, which led her to imagine corollaries between ant colonies and human societies.
The Colony finds journalist Emelie so burned out from work that she relocates from the city to her grandmother’s house in the forest to live out of a tent. Frequenting the local lake, she soon realizes, are a group of off-the-grid hippie types, who have set up a community they call the Ant Colony. Upon meeting fourteen-year-old, never-schooled Lake, Emelie is gradually introduced to the Colony’s members, as are readers as interspersed chapters delve into their pasts. Leading the group is Sara, an animal liberation activist once jailed for freeing chickens from a factory. Especially beholden to Sara is her partner, József, a Hungarian man whose family Holocaust trauma still lingers. Entomologist Sagne is Lake’s mother, but in view of the involuntary conception, via rape, maternal Aagny is mostly raising him. Aagny was herself once convicted of marital manslaughter. Their days are mostly passed farming, foraging berries, and catching and roasting fish, with peaceful nights sleeping under the Big Spruce. But as Emelie’s presence upsets the balance in the Colony, trauma flares in the present as well.
In a review for the London Times, Laura Hackett suggested, “What makes this book so clever is that you unwittingly follow Emelie’s trajectory of thought about the Colony: suspicious at first, then slowly seduced, before realising that things are not as perfect as they seem.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer affirmed that Norlin’s characterizations are “superior, bringing each Colony member to vivid life and examining in nuanced detail how they interact,” in this “remarkable … impressive tale.” Booklist reviewer Merle Jacob posited that The Colony would appeal to readers fond of “nuanced characters and stylistically complex novels with a sense of humor and sharp insight into the problems of modern society.”
In the New York Times, Joumana Khatib observed: “Too often novels packed with this many ideas sacrifice emotion in favor of mounting a ponderous argument; Norlin instead writes visceral episodes that speak for themselves. … The story’s open-ended questions—about the power of charisma and love and the boundaries between the individual and the greater good—arise organically, without forcing stale answers.” Khatib hailed The Colony as “a disturbing, engrossing portrait of a tiny community living beyond society.”[close new]
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, March, 2025, Merle Jacob, review of The Colony, p. 46.
New York Times Book Review, April 13, 2025, Joumana Khatib, review of The Colony, p. 21.
Publishers Weekly, January 6, 2025, review of The Colony, p. 50.
ONLINE
Annika Norlin website, https://www.annikanorlin.com (October 6, 2025).
Scribe website, https://scribepublications.co.uk/ (March 31, 2025), “A Q&A with Annika Norlin.”
Times, https://www.thetimes.com/ (March 7, 2025), Laura Hackett, review of Colony.
Annika Norlin (1977) is a Swedish writer of all trades. In her home country best known as a songwriter and performer, she started out as a journalist but is also a psychologist dropout.
In 2020, she released her first book, Jag ser allt du gör, a collection of short stories. Stacken (2023) is her first novel. It’s currently sold over 100 000 copies in her home land Sweden and won two of the country’s most prestigious literary awards. Stacken is currently planned for publishing in 15 different languages, and movie rights have been sold.
31 March, 2025
A Q&A with Annika Norlin
Q.
What was your initial inspiration for Colony?
A.
My initial inspiration probably came from… ants. A couple of years ago, my kitchen was invaded by thousands of tiny black ants. It felt like a nightmare—there were so many of them. Eventually, I had to buy pesticides, and I was amazed by how all of them disappeared at once. That’s when I realized that ants function more like a system than as individuals. This fascinated me, so I started researching fun facts about ants. I became particularly interested in how us humans categorize them into distinct roles within the colony—worker, drone, queen. That led me to wonder: what if a different species were to observe humans and categorize us in the same way? One idea that intrigued me was how, in such a system, individuals would complete one another—no one would have to do everything alone.
It made me reflect on how our society increasingly pushes the idea that everyone should be able to do everything. For instance, I’m terrible at decorating, but whenever I mention that, people completely RUSH to tell me that it’s not hard, that I can learn, that I shouldn’t give up. And I’m like … maybe someone can help me instead, and I can help them with something they think is hard or boring.
Q.
Each of the characters in Colony is so vivid. Which of them did you relate to the most? Which was the
hardest to write?
A.
I know every writer says this, but I really did try to put a little bit of myself into each character, so I feel connected to all of them in different ways. That said, I probably relate the most to Jozséf. I learned a lot from writing him. He wants everyone to get along, but in doing so, he may actually just be delaying inevitable conflicts. Aagny, the killer, was the most fun to write. I love her so much.Sara was the hardest. She’s the leader, and I was interested in portraying someone truly charismatic. It took me a while to figure out how to write her. You can’t fully understand charismatic people—that’s part of what makes them compelling. With most of the other characters, the reader gets access to their thoughts and
feelings, but with Sara, after a certain point, we can only observe her.
Q.
Pop culture is full of cults, communes, and experiments in collective living right now. Why do you think
people are so drawn to these stories?
A.
I can’t speak for others, but for me, it’s something I genuinely think about a lot. There are so many reasons why collective living makes sense—it’s more affordable, you have people around when you need help, and you can support each other. Most other species live collectively, so why don’t we?
While writing, I kept U2’s ‘With or Without You’ in the back of my mind because that’s exactly what it feels like — living and working with other people. You can’t live with or without them.
Annika Norlin
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Annika Norlin
Annika Norlin performing at Gröna Lund in Stockholm, Sweden in May 2011
Background information
Born 22 November 1977 (age 47)
Östersund, Sweden
Genres indie pop
Occupation(s) journalist, singer, songwriter
Instrument guitar
Years active 1999–present
Annika Norlin performing at Mosebacke in Stockholm, Sweden, December 2012
Annika Norlin (born 22 November 1977 is a Swedish musician, journalist[1] and author[2] who makes music under the names Hello Saferide (in English) and Säkert! (in Swedish).[3]
She released her first book, "Texter" ("Lyrics"), in 2014, which was a collection of her lyrics - both Swedish and English - for every song she had released so far, and to a few previously unreleased songs.
She released her second book - "Jag ser allt du gör" ("I see everything you do") - in 2020. The book is a collection of eight short stories written by Norlin.
Discography
Hello Saferide
Albums
2005 – Introducing...Hello Saferide
2006 – Introducing...Hello Saferide – vinyl with The Quiz as a bonus track
2008 – More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide
2014 – The Hunter, The Fox And Hello Saferide
EP
2006 – Long Lost Penpal EP
2006 – Would You Let Me Play This EP 10 Times A Day?
CDs
2005 – My Best Friend
2005 – If I Don't Write This Song Someone I Love Will Die
2007 – I Was Definitely Made For These Times / The Quiz
2008 – Anna
2009 – Arjeplog
Part of collection
2004 – Jeans & Summer 2, track 5, Highschool Stalker
2006 – Oh No It's Christmas Vol. 1, track 2 iPod X-mas
2008 – There's A Razzia Going On, track 1, I Was Definitely Made For These Times
2009 – There's A Razzia Going On vol. 2, track 1, I Fold
Säkert!
Albums
2007 – Säkert!
2010 – Facit
2011 – På engelska
2017 – Däggdjur
EPs
2017 – Inte jag heller
2018 – Arktiska oceanen
CDs
2007 – Vi kommer att dö samtidigt
2007 – Allt som är ditt
2008 – Det kommer bara leda till nåt
2010 – Fredrik
2010 – Dansa, fastän
Part of collection
2007 – Poem Ballader Och Lite Blues/Återbesöket, spår 2 Generalens visa
2008 – There's A Razzia Going On vol 1, spår 8 3 Månader sen idag
2009 – Retur Waxholm, spår 3 Jag vill inte suddas ut
2009 – There's A Razzia Going On vol 2, spår 10 Min Hemstad
Annika Norlin
2022 - Mentor
Other collaborations
2006 – Färjemansleden (with Annika Norlin), "Vapnet", from their CD Jag vet hur man väntar
2016 – Garmarna (with Annika Norlin), "Ingen" from the album 6
2019 – CORRESPONDENCE, collaboration with Jens Lekman
2024 - TID ATT RIVA SÖNDER, collaboration with Jonas Teglund
Bibliography
Texter ("Lyrics"), Teg Publishing, Luleå 2014, ISBN 978-91-979115-8-0.
Jag ser allt du gör ("I see everything you do"), Weyler förlag, Stockholm 2020, ISBN 9789127167353.
Novel
Norlin has authored a novel that was a bestseller in Sweden. It was published in English translation in 2025. The name of the book is The Colony, published by Europa Editions, 2025. ISBN 979-8889660828.
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Annika Norlin's novel, ''The Colony,'' follows a group of misfits in a bucolic forest. The only thing its members share is a dark past.
THE COLONY, by Annika Norlin; translated by Alice E. Olsson
Imagine you are an adult orphan, a rootless Hungarian man raised in Sweden, whose greatest emotional connection is with a charismatic criminal.
Let's say she drags you to a remote settlement in the Swedish forest at the invitation of a woman she met in prison, who's currently defrauding the state while raising a motherless teenager more or less as her own.
Suppose enough time goes by that you live there now, and the only living soul in whom you can safely confide your doubts is a chicken named Dr. Snuggles.
This is just one strand of Annika Norlin's first novel, ''The Colony,'' a disturbing, engrossing portrait of a tiny community living beyond society. They're an incongruous group, each so physically distinct it's clear to any onlooker they belong to no traditional social unit, like family or a team of loggers.
Among their ranks: the orphaned man, József; his partner, Sara, who was imprisoned for extreme animal-rights protests and exerts a dark magnetism over her peers; her friend from jail, Aagny, a formidable, maternal woman who murdered her husband; her young charge; a beatifically handsome man on the run from the authorities; an ant specialist who despises the son she delivered on the premises; and that child himself.
Together they bring a staggering amount of violent history and psychological torment to this glorious mountain setting, where they fall into such a harmonious rhythm that they hardly need to speak. Their days are governed by work and they have almost no contact with outsiders, but there are plenty of foraged berries, roast perch from the nearby lake swabbed with butter and nights spent sleeping together under a sprawling, quasi-matriarchal tree they call Big Spruce.
No wonder they take care to give thanks for everything they ingest, kill or saw down.
Depending on your perspective, this could be an Edenic laboratory of human cooperation -- everyone occupying a role suited to their talents, their biological needs more or less met -- or a band of vulnerable individuals in thrall to a manipulative despot, whose will is so strong it eclipses all prior conceptions of fairness, law and reason. Meaning: That unwanted little boy, who spends his formative years living in the woods, deserved a proper education and doctor's visits, and regular socialization with his peers.
We meet the group through Emelie, a freelance journalist overcome by such paralyzing burnout that she leaves her city life for a tent in the woods. Soon into her stay she spots the Colony, who are settled nearby; starved for companionship and a simpler existence, she's moved by the rituals of care they perform for one another. ''I noticed that I had tears in my eyes,'' she writes in her notebook. ''A bodily memory of what it was like to be little, and held.''
Her observations are intercut with chapters focusing on each of the Colony's members, in the past and present. Norlin is in full command of her characters' histories and marshals a tremendous level of detail, particularly surrounding József and Aagny. A sad little boy hollowed out by his parents' experiences during the Holocaust, József grows up well-liked but a loner, and eventually leads a church choir. When he meets Sara there, she warms a side of himself that has never before felt sunlight.
For all her physical strength, Aagny has been broken by a dismissive, mentally ill mother and an uncouth husband who left her for another woman. It's crushing to learn her reason for casting off her given name (Ùline) and adopting ''Aagny'' instead: ''I wanted to come first, for once.'' When you sense the alphabet is someone's only ally, is it so hard to imagine the appeal of a fiercely loyal, insular clan?
The novel covers two decades of the Colony's existence, enough time for nearly every member to suffer a privately unbearable period and imagine living outside the group's perimeter. ''It's been 1,286 days without sex. Soon I'll dry up completely. I find myself relating to the potatoes,'' Aagny thinks at one point. ''And it had been a really bad year for potatoes.''
It is a delicate balancing act, designing the inner lives of eight distinct characters alongside their shared mythology. ''The Colony was the vessel, and sometimes they could see in each other's faces which way things were headed. Now the ship is about to capsize, someone must go stand on the other side, to restore balance,'' Norlin writes, summoning the collective mood and its hold on them. ''One thing they often said to each other was how lucky they were, to live like this.''
My admiration of ''The Colony'' is equally an appreciation for Alice E. Olsson, whose work to bring the story into English is so precise and vibrant that I often forgot I was reading a translation.
Too often novels packed with this many ideas sacrifice emotion in favor of mounting a ponderous argument; Norlin instead writes visceral episodes that speak for themselves. (How to sever an umbilical cord in the forest? With your teeth.) The story's open-ended questions -- about the power of charisma and love and the boundaries between the individual and the greater good -- arise organically, without forcing stale answers.
The book's ending may strike some as a bit pat, though it helps to remember that ant colonies are known to make group decisions for the benefit of their population. As for Dr. Snuggles, once she got too old to be useful, ''they chopped her up and cooked her with sauce.''
THE COLONY | By Annika Norlin | Translated by Alice E. Olsson | Europa | 422 pp. | Paperback, $19
Joumana Khatib is an editor at the Book Review.
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This article appeared in print on page BR21.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com
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Khatib, Joumana. "The Group." The New York Times Book Review, 13 Apr. 2025, p. 21. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A835274992/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=edc475c7. Accessed 23 Sept. 2025.
* The Colony. By Annika Norlin. Tr. by Alice E. Olsson. Mar. 2025. 432p. Europa, paper, $19 (9798889660828).
This award-winning novel from Sweden intertwines the story of Emelie, a journalist suffering from burnout, and the misfits she discovers in rural Sweden. To combat job fatigue, Emelie goes to her grandmother's house in the forest, which she loved visiting as a child. As she adjusts to the silence, mosquitoes, and solitude, she notices a strange group of people bathing in the lake and wandering through the forest. Emelie finally meets Lake, the youngest member of the Ant Colony, as they call themselves, although Emelie calls them hippies. The narrative then shifts to the members of the colony with their personal stories, including Ersmo, who owns the land they live on; Sara, the enigmatic leader of the group; Sagne, the entomologist who keeps to herself; and Zakaria, the beautiful, young man on the run. Their stories reveal backgrounds of pain and alienation. Their fateful meeting with Emelie leads to both tragedy and hope. Norlin, in her debut, comments on contemporary society, the environment, and the fragile nature of belonging through her characters and their interactions. For readers of literary fiction who love nuanced characters and stylistically complex novels with a sense of humor and sharp insight into the problems of modern society.--Merle Jacob
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
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Jacob, Merle. "The Colony." Booklist, vol. 121, no. 13-14, Mar. 2025, p. 46. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A847201966/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d3fb9451. Accessed 23 Sept. 2025.
The Colony
Annika Norlin, trans. from the Swedish by Alice E. Olsson. Europa, $19 trade paper (432p)
ISBN 979-8-8896-6082-8
Swedish writer Norlin's remarkable debut revolves around a commune in the Swedish countryside. Members of "the Colony" include Aagny, previously imprisoned for manslaughter, and a young boy named Ersmo whom Aagny takes care of after his mother's mysterious disappearance. Sara, an animal liberation activist and ex-convict who served time for freeing chickens from a factory, joins the Colony with her partner after getting reacquainted with Aagny, whom she met in prison. They're joined by Sagne, an entomologist and distant cousin of Sara's sister-in-law, who was impregnated by her rapist and gives birth to her son, Lake, with Aagny's help. Sagne neglects Lake as an infant because he reminds her of her rapist, leaving Aagny to raise him as if he were her own. Each member finds their niche in taking care of the farm and one another until the arrival of journalist Emelie, who meets Lake when he's 14 and is surprised to learn he's never gone to school. Her presence at the commune disrupts the balance of their lives. Norlin's character work is superior, bringing each Colony member to vivid life and examining in nuanced detail how they interact. It's an impressive tale of a found family. (Mar.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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"The Colony." Publishers Weekly, vol. 272, no. 2, 6 Jan. 2025, p. 50. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A828300358/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3755245f. Accessed 23 Sept. 2025.