- Hann er púra forelskaður í Føroyum, sigur bókhandlarin Kári Árting, sum hevur lisið nýggju bókina hjá Tim Ecott The Land of Maybe - a Faroe Islands Year.
Omanfyri sæst høvundurin í lokala bretska bókahandlinum, har konan Jessica tók myndina. Legg til merkis klistrimerkið local author á fyrstu bókini ovast til vinstru.
Í ellivu ár hevur Tim Ecott javnan vitjað í Føroyum, fyrstu ferð sum gestur hjá Atlantsflogi. Tað er forlagið Short Books í London, sum hevur givið nýggju ferðabókina út. Greitt er at høvundurin, sum hevur arbeitt fyri BBC og givið bøkur út á Penguin forlagnum, hevur serligan áhuga fyri smáum samfeløgum, kanska serliga oyggjasamfeløgum, so sum Seyskelloyggjar, men eisini fyri stóra Afrika.
Í hesum koronatíðum hevur Kári Árting sjálvur borið mær bókina, og ger vart við, at sama tænasta, ókeypis útkoyring av nýggju bretsku ferðabókini, er galdandi fyri allar kundar í Føroyum.
Kári hevur varnast, at Tim Ecott og eg eru í sambandi um Facebook og messenger.
Løtu seinni sendi eg Tim eina mynd av bókini, sum nú er lend á køksborðinum.
- Very strange for me to see my book in Føroyar after all this time. I am sad not to be there with it. But that's great. I hope you can read a bit and get a sense of the style, sigur Tim Ecott straks og takkar fyri: Hjartans tøkk til tykkum øll, sum hann sigur meir enn eina ferð.
- Kári and Bjørk at Rit og Rak have been fantastic. I really want them to sell the copies they ordered and I am very sad not to be there to have a party with all the Faroese friends who helped me so much while researching - I do have a page of thanks at the end at least!
Takkarlistin aftast í bókini er drúgvur. Fyrstu, ið verða nevnd eru Johannes Jensen, Guðrið Højgaard, Súsanna Sørensen og Levi Hanssen. Í Havn eru tað Pál Weihe og Julianna Klett, ein heil bók kundi verið skrivað um Jón Tyril, Kristian Blak og tónleik, heldur rithøvundurin, og so er tað stuttligasti setningur í øllum takkarlistanum: ”Political and historical insights were provided over several years by the redoubtable Magni Arge - hjartans tøkk til tykkum øll, sigur Tim Ecott á føroyskum á síðu 278, sum er hin seinasta í bókini innan bókmentalistin kemur fyri.
Har hefti eg meg við, at hann hevur lisið klassisku ferðasøgurnar hjá Elizabeth Taylor og lyftir fram eina grein hjá Ingvar Svanberg í Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine um ræstan fisk í 2015: Air-dried fermented fish the Faroese way.
- I have been visiting Faroe Islands for about eleven years and was invited the first time on a press trip by Atlantic Airways. I was very struck by how similar the islands are to the part of Ireland where my grandparents lived. Their house was right at the foot of the Mountains of Mourne which also have many sheep, ravens, alpine vegetation and no trees on the high ground. The land there is also very green because they get a lot of rain.
I made several trips writing articles for British newspapers and magazines, including the Telegraph, Financial Times, Guardian and some broadcasts for the BBC. My books are generally about the natural world and my experiences of it, and I began to think that I would love to write about Faroes. I think, to write well about a place, you have to love it.
What could be the most interesting passage in the book, so interesting that Paul Theroux is writing 'In this excellent book, Ecott's evocative telling makes me want to go to this weird and wonderful place.' ?
- It’s impossible for me to say. But I think what strikes me is that even though Faroes is a very modern, sophisticated country, you still keep alive many traditions that we have lost in other parts of Europe. Even the grindadráp was something that happened in Ireland and Scotland, like eating seabirds and keeping sheep semi-wild on the outfield. I think probably people outside Faroes will find the chapters on catching havhestur, súla and understanding skerpikjøt very interesting. Of course these things are not unusual for Faroese, but you have a very distinctive culture and language, and I think you may forget sometimes that for most people in more urban places these things seem out of the ordinary.
As a native, writing a blog for 14 years in the Faroese language, I am always fascinated with foreigners visiting the Faroes. How does a foreigner, a tourist, experience the Faroes?
- I have been very lucky, working for the BBC World Service and reporting from all over the world: all over Africa, the Indian Ocean, Pacific and Caribbean including: Madagascar, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Fiji. Tahiti, Papua New Guinea, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos etc I have always loved islands. I know very well that living on a small island is not necessarily ‘paradise’ and it can sometimes even be suffocating. So, I am not writing about Faroes in a naïve - góðvarin - way.
- Many visitors fall in love with the rugged beauty of your islands. I did too. But the reason I kept coming back was because of the Faroese friends I made. I have never been given such hospitality and friendship. I hope it is because I also respected the way of life I was being shown. But, I have made genuine friendships with so many people and that I find very emotionally moving. I am honoured to be made to feel so welcome and to be invited into people’s homes. In that way, there is such a strong sense of community here which is priceless. Yes, adapt to the ways of the modern world - but don’t underestimate how rich you already are. People and customs are more valuable than new cars and shiny buildings.
Finally, how would you describe yourself?
- I am a nature lover, but I love meeting people. I studied social anthropology at university, which is of course all about understanding different cultures. But journalism and anthropology are very close. Also, the style of my books is ‘immersive’. I try to understand a place by seeing it from the ground. My descriptive style is lyrical, and it relies on people trusting me so that they show me things properly. I always try to respect that trust. You will see that I give a list of people in the book of some of those who helped me over the past few years when researching the book. They have given me so much. I hope they see the book is written with respect, and deep, deep affection.
- Hjartans tøkk til tykkum øll!
Bókin hjá Tim Ecott The Land of Maybe - A Faroe Islands Year, telur 283 talmerktar síður og kostar 169 krónur í bókahandlinum Rit og Rák, sum koyrir bókina út fyri einki. Jessica Ecott myndprýddi og forlagið er Short Books, London.
