Stardust
Original title: Stjärnstoft
Published: Orecchio acerbo, 2024
Stardust is a visual essay/picture book that portrays the climate crisis by taking the reader on a journey through the Earth’s past, present and future. It is a story about the process of the universe; where life becomes death and death becomes life.
The protagonist writes letters to the Earth, to the reader and to her unborn child. The letters tell us about the wonder of Earth, and how the protagonist struggles with feelings of shame, grief, and hope. It is a story about humans and the planet, but also about the author’s personal experience, growing up with a grandmother who is a Holocaust survivor and how she tries to find hope in the fact that small things can change history.
Hannah Arnesen takes on large amounts of facts that are difficult to grasp and transforms them into a personal story that is poetic and informative, scary, and hopeful at the same time. It is written for young adults and adults, but it is accessible for all ages. A stunning, unique visual portrayal of the transience of life and the climate crisis that is immediate to understand and, above all, to feel.
Read more at Koja Agency
Reviews - Translated
«How this very young Swedish author managed to imagine and create such a book is incredible. With writing that is both pristine and rich, and illustrations that perfectly balance between poetic, evocative, and realistic, it's truly remarkable. It certainly took courage.»
- ROBERTA VAFIA, TESTE FIORITE
« canvases to admire over and over—are accompanied by brief, philosophical, and poetic texts, as moving as they are thought-provoking, divided into three letters…Together, they form an epic, thrilling, and desperate ecological cry for the salvation of a planet we seem to be pushing irreversibly toward disaster. A work of art meant to stir consciences. »
- TOMMASO KOCH, EL PAÍS
« Arnesen’s palette holds an infinite poetic power, unfolding a breathtaking symphony of colors. We dive into the depths of primordial oceans, admire the peaks of hieratic mountains, and contemplate the vastness of the cosmos… A contemplative and luminous work that, in rare fashion, restores meaning in a world drifting astray.»
- ALEXIS DUVAL, LE MONDE
« A book of immense sensitivity that teaches us to see the beauty of a world we had stopped looking at. »
- CAMILLE ÉTIENNE
Reviews - Original language
« Come sia riuscita questa giovanissima autrice svedese a immaginare e creare un libro del genere in cui, con una scrittura pulitissima e densa e delle illustrazioni che oscillano alla perfezione tra il poetico, l’evocativo, e il realistico, ha dell’incredibile. Certo ci è voluto coraggio. »
- ROBERTA VAFIA, TESTE FIORITE
« lienzos que admirar una y otra vez— y unos textos breves, filosóficos y poéticos, tan emotivos como reivindicativos, que se dividen en tres cartas… Todas ellas, juntas, dan forma a un épico, emocionante y desesperado grito ecologista en pos de la salvación de un planeta que parecemos empujar de forma irremadiable al desastre. Una obra de arte para remover conciencas»
- TOMMASO KOCH, EL PAíS
« La palette d’Arnesen possède une puissance d’évocation poétique infinie et déploie des trésors de couleurs à la beauté vertigineuse. On plonge dans les profondeurs des océans originels, on admire les sommets de hiératiques montagnes, on contemple l’immensité du cosmos… Un album réflexif et lumineux qui réinvente, comme rarement, du sens dans une époque qui va à vau-l’eau.»
- ALEXIS DUVAL, LE MONDE
« Un livre d’une immense sensibilité, qui nous réapprend à voir la beauté d’un monde que l’on ne regardait plus. »
- CAMILLE ÉTIENNE