Bearing “woman history for dummies” – NRK

– This is sort of woman history for dummies, says Marta Breen, author and leader Norwegian Non-Fiction Writers and Translators Association.

According to Breen Trades 8 of 10 biographies given out in Norway men. She thinks a lot has improved in recent years, but that there is still a way to go.

debuts: Marta Breen has published several books before, but never as a comic writer.

Photo: Marte Garmann Johnsen

– If you came from outer space and landed on earth, so one would think that about 70 percent of the population were men. Just take a look around them. Street names, statues, biographies and interviewees are mostly men, said Breen.

Biographies in cartoon form

“60 ladies you would have met” are short biographies in cartoon form.

– we have mostly kept us six routes, but some of life was so complex that we used twice, says Breen.

iLLUSTRATOR: Author and illustrator Jenny Jordahl include known blog “Life among the animals.”

Photo: Private

This is the third book project Breen do with Jordahl, among others known to comic blog “Life among the animals.” Breen hope that comic format can help more read nonfiction in Norway.

– There are certainly many who find it hard having to read an entire biography of a woman who lived 100 years ago. Comic Books can open up to people who would not normally read a book about female pioneers.

Several familiar names

Breen says that the project has at times been challenging, partly because the lack of biographies has done research work harder.

the women in the book, according to Breen mostly familiar names. It opens with the story of Camilla Collett, and follow on with women from politics, literature, business, resistance movement and sport.

– Aasta Hansteen story intrigued me especially. I hope a proper biography of her soon. The harassment that women today are experiencing in social media, is nothing compared to what she experienced. She was persecuted on the street, when she stood at the pulpit thrown people things on her and the papers prepared her as a witch in caricatures.

– Superbly project

Kjell Lars Berge, literature critic and professor at the University, said he is excited about how the project Breen and Jordahl are received by readers.

– There’s nothing in the way of experimenting with nonfiction text so that they do. The challenge lies in editing and composition of texts, says Berge.

Also author Arnhild Skre is positive for comic biography.

– Now I’m not agree that it is published too few nonfiction books about women, but still think they have made a nice collection. It’s a great project, says Skre.