{"id":7411,"date":"2026-09-21T12:15:37","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T11:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artess.no\/?p=7411"},"modified":"2026-09-21T12:43:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T11:43:16","slug":"a-tegne-det-vi-ikke-kan-se","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artess.no\/en_gb\/a-tegne-det-vi-ikke-kan-se\/","title":{"rendered":"Drawing what we cannot see"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Author Thomas Liljevold did not know that the book he had written felt almost like reading parts of my own childhood. He did not know that I, too, had lost my father as a child, or how deeply it had affected my family in the years that followed.\n\nWe talked, and somehow, strangely enough, we seemed to understand each other before either of us had really said very much at all. Sam visits the world of souls<\/em> came to life.<\/p>

Now, the book is being given new life. It features new and reworked illustrations and will be relaunched in Swedish at the Nordic region\u2019s largest book fair in Gothenburg, from 24 to 27 September.<\/p>

But the story really begins somewhere else entirely. Because what happens when someone dies in a child\u2019s life?<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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When someone dies, a child loses more than just a person. Suddenly, the world around them can feel different. The adults are grieving too, each in their own way. Some cry, some retreat into silence, while others do their best to keep everyday life moving.\n\nAnd somewhere in the middle of all this is a child, trying to make sense of something that even adults struggle to explain.<\/p>

I was 8 years old when my father passed away. He was 34.<\/p>

What I remember from the time that followed is not only the sense of loss, but all the questions that came with it. Where was he now? Could he still see us? Was he somewhere, somehow, or was he simply gone?<\/p>

And children have their own way of searching for answers.<\/p>

This is where we meet Sam. He has lost his father, but the story does not end with that loss. One evening, he meets Remiel, who takes him on a journey to Eridanus, the world of souls. There, Sam gets to see his father again and ask some of the questions that can be almost impossible to put into words when you are a child.<\/p>

The book does not try to explain or prove what happens after we die. Instead, it gives the imagination somewhere to go when reality has no more answers to offer.and that is perhaps why the story resonated with me so immediately.<\/span><\/p>

When Thomas and I first started talking about the book, he did not need to explain how Sam was supposed to feel. I already knew that child, the one left behind trying to make sense of it all. The difference was that Sam got to travel to a place I could only ever imagine.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Sam\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
When children struggle to understand what is happening, they can quickly retreat into a world of their own. That is why talking to them matters.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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When someone has to draw the world of souls<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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There was just one rather significant problem: no one knows what the world of souls looks like.<\/p>

Thomas had written a story that moves between something deeply familiar and something entirely intangible. Sam is an ordinary child. He sits at home drinking chocolate milk, missing his father and living in a world we recognise. Then, suddenly, he has to leave his body behind and travel somewhere the ordinary rules of our world no longer apply.<\/p>

My job was to imagine what that place might look like.<\/p>

No one knows what the world of souls looks like, or whether such a place even exists. That gave us enormous creative freedom, but also a rather impossible place to start. So we drew on familiar symbols and ideas, while allowing the world itself to develop a visual language of its own.<\/p>

The goal was never to define what life after death might look like. The illustrations were there to give Sam somewhere to go, and to give young readers something visual to hold on to while the story explored much bigger questions.<\/p>

Because ultimately, the world of souls is not what matters most in this story. What matters is what happens when Sam gets there, who he meets, and the questions he finally gets the chance to ask.<\/p>

And amid everything fantastical, one thing still had to feel completely real: the bond between a child and the father he misses.<\/p>

That was the one part I never needed a reference for.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Interested in ordering a copy?<\/h2>

\"Sam visits the world of souls\"<\/strong><\/em> The book is currently available primarily in Sweden, with Norwegian, English and Danish editions coming soon.\u00a0<\/p><\/i><\/span>Learn more and order here<\/a>\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Then we let the readers have their say<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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It is one thing to write a book about death. It is something else entirely to place it in the hands of a child and see what comes back.<\/p>

As part of the Swedish reader panel, children, parents and grandparents all had the chance to read the book. Sam visits the world of souls<\/em>The youngest reader was six, the oldest 78. Their reactions varied, but before long, the same questions began to surface.<\/p>

Can I go there too? Can dad or grandma still see me? Are they still in pain? Do I have to die to see them again?<\/p>

And perhaps that is exactly where the book begins to do what it was meant to do.<\/p>

Six year old Elsa was frightened at first when Sam asked if he had to die to enter the world of souls. Once she understood that he could come back, she felt reassured. But what stayed with her most was the moment Sam saw his father again.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\tMy favourite part was when his dad was healthy again and could hug Sam. It means he isn\u2019t sick there anymore.\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tElsa, 6 years old<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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For ten year old Maja, the story became more personal. It made her think of her grandfather, who had been ill before he died. She did not know if he was in Eridanus, but she hoped he was somewhere he was no longer in pain.<\/p>

Something else stood out to her as well: Sam is allowed to be angry.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\tI was angry when grandpa died, even though it wasn\u2019t his fault. I felt a little ashamed of that. After reading this book, I feel like other people can get angry when someone dies too.\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMaja, 10 years old<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The older children saw the story differently. Thirteen year old Leo was less concerned with whether the world of souls actually exists. To him, the journey could just as easily have been a dream, or something Sam experienced within himself. What mattered was what the journey did for Sam.<\/p>

The same pattern emerged throughout the reader panel. The younger children tended to step straight into Eridanus and accept it as part of the story. The older readers were more inclined to interpret what they were reading, ask questions, and decide for themselves what they believed.<\/p>

The adults responded differently again.<\/p>

De begynte \u00e5 snakke om sine egne d\u00f8de.<\/p>

Foreldre tenkte p\u00e5 hvordan de skulle svare n\u00e5r barna stilte sp\u00f8rsm\u00e5l. Besteforeldre tenkte p\u00e5 mennesker de selv hadde mistet. Bengt p\u00e5 71 \u00e5r tenkte p\u00e5 kona si og p\u00e5 barnebarna som hadde spurt hvor farmor var.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\u00abJag har sagt att hon finns i v\u00e5ra minnen, men ibland k\u00e4nns det f\u00f6r litet. Hon var mer \u00e4n ett minne.\u00bb\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBengt, 71 \u00e5r<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Det er kanskje en av de fineste beskrivelsene av hvorfor denne boka finnes.<\/p>

For Sam visits the world of souls<\/em> trenger ikke \u00e5 fortelle oss hvor de d\u00f8de er. Familier tror forskjellig, og noen tror ikke p\u00e5 et liv etter d\u00f8den i det hele tatt. Det kom ogs\u00e5 tydelig frem i leserpanelet. Flere \u00f8nsket \u00e5 bruke Eridanus som \u00e9n mulig forestilling om hva som skjer etter d\u00f8den, og derfra sp\u00f8rre barnet: Hva tror du?<\/p>

Det er et sp\u00f8rsm\u00e5l boka t\u00e5ler.<\/p>

Kanskje trenger vi ikke alltid \u00e5 ha svaret klart f\u00f8r vi begynner \u00e5 snakke med barn om d\u00f8den. Kanskje kan vi begynne et annet sted.<\/p>

Hva tror du?<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hva skjer n\u00e5r noen d\u00f8r i et barns liv? Sam bes\u00f8ker sjelenes verden \u00e5pner for sp\u00f8rsm\u00e5lene vi voksne ikke alltid vet hvordan vi skal svare p\u00e5.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9,6],"tags":[49,52,51,50],"class_list":["post-7411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kultur","category-kunst","category-samarbeid","tag-barnebok","tag-illustrasjoner","tag-internasjonalt","tag-sverige"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artess.no\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artess.no\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artess.no\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artess.no\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artess.no\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/artess.no\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artess.no\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artess.no\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artess.no\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artess.no\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}