We Are light
ABOUT
THE BOOK
“A riveting experimental novel about a commune where the members’ belief that they can live on light and love alone proves fatal for one of them.” ―Publishers Weekly, starred review. Winner of the 2021 European Union Literature Prize. In the middle of a summer night, Elisabeth, the oldest resident of the Sound & Love Commune, dies. Her sister Melodie and their two other housemates are arrested: the group’s attempts to stop eating and start living on light and love alone appears to have been fatal to Elisabeth. We Are Light is a highly original and entertaining novel about manipulation, vulnerability, and trying to be better.
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Michele
Hutchison
Michele Hutchison is an Amsterdam-based translator, editor and writer. She has translated more than forty books from Dutch including the winner of the 2020 International Booker Prize, The Discomfort of Evening by Lucas Rijneveld, the international bestseller Grand Hotel Europa by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer and We Are Light by Gerda Blees (winner of the EU Prize for Literature). She is co-author of The Happiest Kids in the World and author of The North Wind (poetry).
Michele Hutchison is an Amsterdam-based translator, editor and writer. She has translated more than forty books from Dutch including the winner of the 2020 International Booker Prize, The Discomfort of Evening by Lucas Rijneveld, the international bestseller Grand Hotel Europa by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer and We Are Light by Gerda Blees (winner of the EU Prize for Literature). She is co-author of The Happiest Kids in the World and author of The North Wind (poetry).
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
It is fascinating story of a commune in which the members cease to eat and live of air and light. One member dies of starvation. What happened? You read the account by witnessing it by means of bystanders but also by means of other characters, such as the night, a cigarette or even the story itself! Each chapters is told by another character. Bizarre: the story is based on true accounts. Winner of the EU prize for literature 2021.