Statements regarding my first two books
The book on the island of Jeloy (2006)
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This spring I have found the most beautiful book in the entire Moss library. I am wondering where I can buy it. I cannot live without this book!
In my view, this is a book everyone should have in their home. I have been working on a school assignment (…) since last autumn, and used Tittut [the name of a local viewpoint] as a starting point. I am originally from Finland, and did not know Jeloy very well (…). I came across your book at the library by coincidence, and have used it continually as a source of inspiration for my work. So I have to thank you for your invaluable contribution! Seldom do I see the Norwegian language gain so much color, depth and feeling. Talk about quality! To read this book is like following the murmuring water in a small brook, and greeting all the exciting [things] is water encounters on its way.
Susanne Lillandt, Son
In emails received on the 12th and the 18th of May, 2015
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”(…) It is a beautiful and poetic gift book (…)”
Aud-Kristin K. Haldorsen
Chief of purchasing, cultural history and art
Tanum Karl Johan (a major book store in Oslo)
In email received on the 16th of November 2010
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“(…) impresses me, enjoyable read.”
Dag Lunder, Gjøvik
In email received on the 2nd of March, 2009
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“As Edmund Schilvold says so well in his book of love to Jeloy: ’It is easier to tear down than to build, easier to hurt than to heal, easier to make gilded images than gold.’”
Mona Stang
In op-ed in Halden Dagblad (regional newspaper)
On the 13th of November 2008
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”It is a lovely book that should reach far more [people]”
Sven H. Andersen, Oslo
In email received on the 18th of August, 2008
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”Many thanks for your visit, and for an interesting lecture with great illustrations (…). I have just returned from Easter vacation, and have had a little time to read in your book. So far it has been an exciting experience with regard to both text and photographs.”
Trude M. Fellkjaer (Fellkjær)
Moss Soroptimistklubb (local association)
In email received on the 24th of March, 2008
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Edmund Schilvold has authored and shot the pictures for this great book on Jeloy. The book describes the nature, culture and history of Southern Jeloy, which was recently declared to be a cultural landscape of national significance.
The Library of Horten
At the website “Reading Tips”
The 29th of February, 2008
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”I have read your book with great enthusiasm, and would like to join in on the positive reviews of it.”
Jon Paal (Pål) Welander, Oslo
In email received on the 30th of December 2007
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”Your old head of school has, like many others, derived great pleasure from the book on Jeloy (…).”
Elisabet Gjerstad, Jeloy
Former head of Kirkeparken Upper Secondary School
In email received on the 29th of November, 2007
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”I have not had time to read very much in it [the book on Jeloy] yet (…), but I already see that this adheres to a high standard.”
Audun Reed Aasgaard, Nesttun
In email received on the 25th of October 2007
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”(…) my grandmother and grandfather, who really appreciates your book on Jeloy, have asked me to give you their greetings (…).”
Dan Kaare (Kåre) Engebretsen, Moss
In email received on the 6th of September, 2007
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”It is magnificent!”
Reidun Wendel, Drobak
In email received on the 29th of July, 2007
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”Hi – I have gotten hold of your book now, and it is simply delightful. Congratulations!”
Karin Raager (Råger), Jeløy
In email received on the 3rd of June, 2007
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”I was at the library, and found, by coincidence, your book. Now I have read it, and I must send you an email in order to tell you that you have done an important and beautiful work. You have opened up another dimension in my relationship with Jeloy. (…) Thank you for a good experience and greater insight into the place where I live.”
Morten Jenssen
In email received on the 14th of May, 2007
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”I was given a copy for ’Forever Jeloy’ for Christmas. It is extraordinarily beautiful, and as a rather new inhabitant of Jeloy, I have been given a new understanding of the history and identity of the island.”
Hanne von Krogh Fure, Moss
In email received on the 1st of April 2007
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“First and foremost: Congratulations with a fabulously fine work.
Lovely images, form and content make up an extraordinarily great whole, which you can be proud of.
We are delighted to own it.”
Henning Fries Boerke (Børke), Oslo
In email received on the 5th of February, 2007
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”A thousand thanks for the lovely book you have written. Finally one who feels as I do, I thought when I began reading.
You dare to use the language that I only have in the heart, and you do it so well. We have likely had many of the same experiences of the nature and the incredible ambiences at different seasons and in different weather that one can experience on Jeloy.
You are a fantastic photographer, who has managed to capture many of these beautiful moments. (…) Once again, thank you for the book. Thank you for doing so much for the island by writing about it, and thank you for all the good memories it evoked in me.”
Ragnhild Zahl, Ski
In email received on the 10th of January, 2007
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”Hi, I got the wonderful book on Jeloy for Christmas from my brother Harald (Hougaard) – a lovely book with interesting articles and great images.”
Berit Sonja Hougaard, Oslo
In email received on the 29th of December, 2006
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”A fantastic book! I recommend it to everyone! Good language, good images, good atmosphere. Even if one is not from Moss or Jeloy: This is the book of the year!”
“Rune”, in the comments section at the website of Fredrikstad Blad (newspaper)
On the 18th of December, 2006
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”Schilvold manages, in a confident and impressive way, to weave together history, depictions of nature and personal thought to a varied book on the most beautiful island in the Oslofjord. (…) A book that must be read both by everyone who is fond of this island, and by those who wish to alter its character. A unique work.”
Trond Skovdahl, Moss
December 2006
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”A monument to Jeloy!”
Geir Hardeng, Krakeroy
Biologist
In email received in November 2006
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”Intense, burning love.”
Oeystein Dahle (Øystein Dahle)
Worldwatch Institute
In the foreword to the book
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”I would like [to buy] ’The Book of The Two Edmunds’!”
Said by customer at Moss Libris (local book store)
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”Splendid [book] on Jeloy”
Review in Fredrikstad Blad (regional newspaper)
By Oeivind Laagbu (Øivind Lågbu)
Published on the 17th of December 2006
Most inhabitants of county Ostfold are familiar with Alby and Gallery F15 [on Jeloy], recently renamed Point O. But few are aware of what other cultural and natural treasures this one mile long island contains. It is a biological fact that no other place in Ostfold has such a large number of natural habitats and species. And the farms on the island have a rich history. Now Jeloy has finally gotten its celebratory work. “Forever Jeloy” is the title of the opulent portrayal of “the gem of the Oslofjord” by Edmund Schilvold, a 27-year-old inhabitant of Moss.
The book stands out from the vast number of gift books on the market. It is a personal account. The author conveys his own experiences, and writes about people he met on his wanderings in various places on Jeloy. It is no reference work in the traditional sense of the word. Schilvold has chosen an exciting approach, which requires communicative powers above the usual in order to succeed.
He has, in my view, performed the task well. Another reviewer believes the book is written in the same spirit as Henry David Thoreau’s Walden (…). The standard has, in other words, been set very high. The reference to Thoreau is not unwarranted. For Schilvold, like Thoreau, writes insightfully of personal experiences, and of riches that cannot be measured in dollars and cents. Forever Jeloy is first and foremost a book on the sense of belonging, and on the importance of the local environment to quality of life.
The one who contributed the most to the protection of the unique natural and cultural treasures of Jeloy is probably Edmund Ree, who died last year [in 2005]. Schilvold devotes one of the longer chapters to honoring Ree; the artist, the conservationist, the amateur archaeologist and the politician who displayed a burning enthusiasm for saving Jeloy. He was controversial, not least because he was ahead of his time with regard to natural and environmental understanding.
In the book we also find several of Ree’s paintings of the Jeloy landscape. The photographs have been taken by the author himself, and they fit the text well. Schilvold has ventured outdoors at all sorts of times, and captures the changing light.
The book has been published with aid from Ostfold county and Moss municipality. That is money well spent. And it is not necessary to inhabit or be familiar with Jeloy in order to enjoy the work. You get a lot for your money here. The book is highly recommended.
Link to original review: http://www.f-b.no/kultur/bokanmeldelser/glitrende-om-jeloya-1.2201586
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The poetry collection, “On the Road of Mystical Longing” (2008)
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“What can I say? Your use of English and imagery would be a lesson to most English people. It is outstanding, and I am humbled by the fact that you ask my opinion of your work.”
Dr. Eric V. Evans
Proof reader for the English poems in the book, and native English speaker
On some of the poems that were included
“All in all it is an amazing work, and the author is to be congratulated on some remarkable English and imagery.”
Dr. Eric V. Evans on the poem Beyond It All (the longest poem in the collection)
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“(…) again, many thanks for the books, have so far looked at the incredibly beautiful images, and read From the Edge of a Bed [a poem in my second book, On the Road of Mystical Longing], which moved me to tears …”
Heidi Grinaker, Fredrikstad
I email received in 2011
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”I am impressed! Fantastic book, On the Road of Mystical Longing. You are indeed talented!!!”
Sonja Bordewich, Begnadalen
In sms message, received on 20th of October 2010
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”Your book on Jeloy was nice, but that new book of yours [On the Road of Mystical Longing] – ah, it is simply amazing!”
Hedvig Nilsen, Jeloy
During conversation in 2010
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“Thank you for the book you have written! It was a riveting read. I felt that I met a related soul. That there is much in common here, both in terms of experiences, sensitivity, a sense of loneliness, feeling different. I felt such recognition that I shuddered at times.”
Gro-Merethe Holm, Halden
In email received on the 23rd of April, 2015
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Regarding the translation of the statements
All of the above statements have been translated into English from Norwegian by Edmund Schilvold, the undersigned. I have endeavored to perform the translation in as faithful a manner as possible. Where no exact equivalent exists in English for a given word or expression in Norwegian, or where word for word translation would produce rather odd English, I have attempted to translate it such a way as to preserve as much as possible of the tenor of that part of the original comment, while maintaining idiomatic English.
Edmund Schilvold
Stavanger, Norway
July 2016
+47 454 12 458
edmund@schilvold.com
Edmund Schilvold / Fotograf / Forfatter / Filosof / M.Th. 