The Mountains of Kong: New and Selected Prose Poems

Splendid and surprising prose poems from one of Norway's most imaginative poets

A collection of sixty prose poems penned by Norwegian poet Dag T. Straumsv?g and presented in Nynorsk and English, The Mountains of Kong navigates surprising and unfamiliar landmarks to deliver drive-by observations about the playful joys of discovery, of imagination, and the immemorial spirit of the creative journey. Populated by an odd and unpredictable cast of characters that includes kings and codfish and elephants, a couple looking for a surrogate for their tears, and a lemming on the run, Straumsv?g's poems are a new kind of map that will deliver you to places you've never imagined.

Dag T. Straumsv?g was born in 1964 in Kristiansund, a city on the western coast of Norway, and grew up in the nearby Tingvoll county. He has been employed as a farmhand, sawmill worker, librarian, and sound engineer for a radio station in Trondheim, where he has lived since 1984. He is the author and translator of nine books and chap of poetry, including A Bumpy Ride to the Slaughterhouse (2006), The Lure-Maker from Posio (2011), both from Red Dragonfly Press, Nelson (Proper Tales Press, 2017), and But in the Stillness (Apt. 9, 2024). His work has appeared in a wide variety of journals in Norway, Canada, and the United States.

Born and raised in Red Wing, Minnesota, Robert Hedin is the author, translator, and editor of two dozen books of poetry. The recipient of many honours and awards for his work, he has taught at the University of Alaska, the University of Minnesota, St. Olaf College, and Wake Forest University. He is co-founder and former executive director of the Anderson Center at Tower View, a residential artist retreat in Red Wing.