RED WINTER

RED WINTER ANNELI FURMARK, HANNA STROMBERG

Political tensions flare as an adulterous romance blossoms in the heart of a barren, Swedish winter The scene is late seventies Sweden: the four-decade-long reign of the once indestructible socio-democratic party has come to an end. Parties on the far left begin to mobilize, hoping to overcome the prevailing capitalist model on a national scale, but also in the streets, factories, and small towns to the North. This is where we meet Siv: a married mother of three employed by the youth sector of her local socio-democratic chapter. Without warning, Siv falls in love with a young Maoist, Ulrik, who recently arrived from the south of Sweden to militarize—and gain control—of the steelworkers union. Anneli Furmark’s Red Winter weaves together the story of Siv, Ukrik, and the concentric circles of tension that slowly build around them, threatening to disintegrate her family’s foundation. Her three children look on, noticing a shift in their mother without fully understanding it. Siv and Ulrik drift through the season, musing on their actions, their politics, their love, and its inevitable consequences—while Furmark’s delicate hues of blue and orange heighten the cinematic qualities of northern Sweden’s isolated landscape. Red Winter is a tale of a love that haunts in the darkness of winter.

ANNELI FURMARK, HANNA STROMBERG

Anneli Furmark was born in 1962 and grew up in Luleå, Sweden. She studied at the Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, where she now occasionally teaches. A painter and comic artist, her first graphic novel The Mazes and Other Stories was published in 2002. She has since produced ten graphic novels and won the Urhunden Prize from the Swedish Comics Association for three of her books. Furmark’s work has been featured in numerous anthologies, and been published internationally as well as in several Swedish newspapers. The french edition of her book Red Winter was part of the Official Selection at the 2016 Angoulême International Comics Festival. Walk Me to the Corner is Anneli Furmark’s second book in English for Drawn & Quarterly. Translated from the Swedish by Hanna Strömberg