Nina Hemmingsson makes her novel debut after 20 years as a cartoonist.
Even though she has over ten series albums behind her, she feels like a debutante.
- I feel like I'm out on slippery ice for the first time in years, she says to SVT Babel.
Nina Hemmingsson's new book "Rum utan titel" was originally intended as a series album but developed into something else.
- In some way, the book turned out to be more pictorial than when I draw.
I have always seen the events in front of me when I wrote.
Many end up where the main character ended up
"Rum ut titel" is a novel about loneliness.
- At first I didn't understand it myself, but loneliness creeps into everything I do.
I long for it but am also afraid of it, says Nina Hemmingsson.
"Room without a title" is about being forced to choose between art and love.
The main character Eva chooses between being a couple and being herself.
- Eva is an ordinary person, many end up where she ended up.
But eventually the soul catches up with her.
It is a story about the rise and fall of a relationship.
Eva and her husband meet, get married, move in together and have children.
Their relationship is an attempt at love but it never becomes anything more.
The relationship is just a will.
Life is not worth less because you feel bad
You commit violence against yourself to make a relationship work, according to Hemmingsson.
- It's scary that you go that far.
We have been thinking wrong all along, she continues.
What makes us happy and whole is not what we think.
The pursuit of feeling good and not having anxiety leads us astray.
Living truly and richly – being present in crisis – is a part of life.
- Life is fantastic and it is not less valuable just because you feel bad.
Life is just a series of crises and you should be happy that it is so.
In the clip, you hear Nina Hemmingsson talk about why crises and anxiety should not be avoided. The entire interview with i Babel can be seen on SVT Play.