Author to bring "Swedish Oregon" to town Feb. 20

Author Lars Nordstrom will discuss his latest book, ‘Swedish Oregon’ and answer questions on February 20, 7 p.m. at Trillium Books. The event is jointly sponsored by Trillium and the Cathlamet Library.

Nordstrom is the leading expert on the Swedes in the Northwest, both those who settled here during the era of the Great Migration and those who came later. As a Swedish immigrant himself, he has a particularly keen understanding of the personal aspect of the migration experience. His talks are popular at Scandinavian Heritage Foundation as he has the ability to communicate in an interesting, down-to-earth manner, appealing to adults and youth alike.

‘Swedish Oregon’ tells of Swedes who began filtering into the Oregon Territory with the first wave of white settlers. At first, their numbers grew slowly, but after 1883, when the railroad connected Portland to the national grid, the flow accelerated. By1910, the Swedes were the second-largest foreign-language immigrant group in the state. The influx diminished by the end of the 1920s, and ever since Swedish immigration to the area has been a tiny but steady trickle.

Nordstrom was born in Sweden and educated both in Sweden and at Portland State University. He is the recipient of many grants and fellowships including several Fulbright grants and, a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center fellowship. He has published prose, poetry, translations, interviews, articles, and scholarly materials in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Canada, Japan and the United States.

In 1988 he settled with his wife and two sons on a small vineyard in Beavercreek, Oregon. For many years he worked as a technical translator in the high tech industry, but now divides his time between growing wine grapes and writing and translating literature, as well as giving talks on various Swedish-American subjects.

Trillium Books is located at 65 Main Street in Cathlamet.