Whenever Ann-Helén Laestadius starts to write, she returns to her hometown of Kiruna. From this Arctic city in the northernmost reaches of Sweden, the author travels out to her parents’ villages of Nedre Soppero and Silkimuotka to seek inspiration for her novels. “When I am home in the villages during summer, we always go out and fish in the Lainio River, and I have a special rock there that I stand on,” she says. “Things happen when I stand there looking out over the rapids; stories and ideas come to me, as well as characters.”
Kiruna, which sits above a vast iron ore mine, is often used as a starting point by travellers looking for adventure, enticed by such Arctic marvels as the northern lights, the midnight sun, and the strikingly beautiful, if hostile, wilderness. It’s become known as the “city on the move” thanks to an ambitious – and controversial – project to shift the entire town, building by building, 3km to the east to prevent it from quite literally collapsing into the mine below.
