CECILIA FORSS TALKS FARTLAND
"It is really more about daring to be yourself"
Daniel John
Many people probably know you first and foremost as an actress, when did you start thinking about writing a book?
I’ve had the idea for 'Fartland' for many years, and eventually that idea had grown so strong in my head that the only way to get rid of it was to write it. So that’s why it became this book.
We follow seven-year-old Märta, who collects farts?
You bet! But that’s up to everyone’s own interpretation. I want to leave that judgment to the reader. I simply wanted to tell a story that would empower children to dare to be themselves and believe in their inner strength and originality. Like I feel I want to say that the book is really more about daring to follow your inner voice and daring to be yourself, rather than it simply being about farts.
Fartland is bigger than that?
Yes, you know, Fartland is perhaps, if we're going really deep, the safe voice of the soul!
It must have been a fun book to write, or if nothing else, a fun book to pitch to a publisher?
I never thought about writing a funny book, I just wanted to do the story justice and there’s a lot of pressure involved in putting your heart on the table and publishing a book for the first time, a pressure that comes entirely from myself, so there wasn’t actually that much outright laughter. It was enjoyable, absolutely, but at times there was also anxiety. Anxiety that I had gone crazy! (laughs)
Anna “Anna Draws” Illeby illustrated the book’s drawings and this was actually her book debut as well?
I actually found Anna through Instagram, several months before I even had a literary agent or a publisher. Her illustrations spoke to me. She had never illustrated a book before and had a bit of a panic over the request, but in the end she dared to say yes anyway, which I am extremely grateful for.
There are some colourful characters in it, such as Gunilla Gorilla and the Fart-Queen. What inspiration stood, well, behind them?
Oh, such difficult questions! I mean, I just write. One thing gives rise to another. When I’m writing, it’s the heart that guides me more than the brain. But, looking back, you could probably say that the inspiration for Gunilla Gorilla is all those people who are so-called “fart-snobs”, full of jantelag, the Swedish mentality of not thinking you’re better than anyone else, and who haven’t dared to follow their dreams and live up to their full potential. The Fart Queen is probably inspired by your higher self, a kind of angel who tries to reach you every day and who only wants what is best for you, but who will only step in voluntarily when everything is about to go completely wrong and she simply has to step in.
Märta takes her fart collecting extremely seriously. Which let’s say iconic farts do you think belong in the fart museum she has at home?
I like popcorn, so definitely popcorn farts! Hard and loud, but still airy! (laughs)
Putting the occasional popcorn-worry during the writing process aside, what has it been like since the first book came out. Have you heard any empowering stories from kids and parents having read it?
I get comments from parents and children almost every day, and so far, it has only been positive, what many people say is that it contains so much more than just laughter, and that it also leads to conversations about love, death, and feeling different. Then there are many who say that the whole family both laughs and farts along together when they read it. And that’s what's really fun to hear!
Was there a place where you could get away from all that anxiety and just be by yourself, let everything come out freely, if you want to put it that way?
I wrote everywhere. Between jobs, between takes, in bed, in my sleep, in cafés, out in the countryside, in the morning and at night. But I wrote best on airplanes and when I was in my happy place, which is Los Angeles.
You’re also releasing a little music alongside the book?
Since the farts in 'Fartland' teach her how to fart again through a song, I felt that I really wanted to have an actual song. The artist and my friend Christoph Lallet and I wrote the song together and the children at Byleskolan in Täby are part of it. They provide the backing vocals. I think it turned out really beautiful.
One can listen to it now on Spotify, among other places, and all the proceeds go directly from streaming to the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund?
That’s right. I’ve previously been involved with the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund so it felt like a natural choice.
I hear you’re writing a spiritual sequel now?
A “spiritual” sequel? That’s more than I know! (laughs) But there is a sequel coming, which I finished three days ago. Phew! It’s a Christmas book, and it’s related to 'Fartland' but at the same time completely different, and it’s a new story with a new main character, and if you get tired of reading 'Fartland' ten times a week it’s also available as an audiobook on Storytel, voiced by me!
Well, that's what a spiritual sequel is. Will Märta and her farts still make an appearance?
Märta and maybe a little fart might make an appearance again. Yes. But it is not the primary focus of the story in the sequel.
