Updates Archives - Page 3 of 3

What a party!

Written by Lene Fogelberg on October 9, 2014. Posted in Updates. 10 Comments on What a party!

Hello friends!

I am overwhelmed by the amazing support after announcing my upcoming memoir The Cicadas, to be published by She Writes Press in 2015.

People have been calling, e-mailing, texting, chatting, congratulating me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and twitter. I even received various status reports from friends celebrating the news, telling me what kinds of cake they had. 🙂 There has been a “The Cicadas-party” going on spread out over the U.S., Europe and Asia!

Thank you soooooo much, I really appreciate it, every like and comment and text message. Writing, as we know, is a long and often lonely endeavor, and it is wonderful to finally be able to share the excitement I feel about this book with you guys!

I also wanted to post the announcement from She Writes here, but if you’d like to read it in a larger font you can just click the link here.

Thanks again guys and keep the party hats on! 🙂

♥Lene

Book announcement

Written by Lene Fogelberg on October 8, 2014. Posted in Blog, Updates. 42 Comments on Book announcement

I am happy and excited (!!!!!) to announce my upcoming memoir The Cicadas to be published fall 2015 by She Writes Press.

I came in contact with publisher Brooke Warner this summer and I am very impressed by her work. She Writes Press started in 2013 and is a new and hungry player on the changing literary scene in the US, having published 70 authors so far. And now (well, next fall 🙂 ) it is my turn and I am happy and honored to be counted among these amazing authors.

My memoir The Cicadas is the crazy story of how… well, I might as well show you the synopsis by She Writes Press:

This is really happening people! I can barely believe it! But when people ask me what was the most difficult part of writing my memoir, I always have the same answer. Living it.

But apart from that, I have learned a ton on writing and all that comes with it, which I will try to put into words in the coming months here on my blog.

But today there is only room for excitement! Woohoo, my book baby is going to be born fall 2015! Thank you everyone for cheering me on, it really means a lot.

Hugs,

♥Lene

Update: My memoir has a new book title and is now called: BEAUTIFUL AFFLICTION. More on this in BOOKS on the main menu.

Exhale…

Written by Lene Fogelberg on July 23, 2014. Posted in Blog, Updates. 8 Comments on Exhale…

Elections in young democracies, as we have learned by experience, can be vulnerable.

After a week of waiting for the results, today Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, was declared winner of the Indonesian presidential election.

As congratulations pour in from the rest of the world, Jakarta exhales.

Indonesia has successfully pulled off a nationwide election, in a country comprising of about 6000 populated islands (more than 17 000 islands in all) and a population of close to 250 million people.

The two pictures above I took from the office of my dentist. Downtown Jakarta is a mix of high-rises and green but crowded streets.

Jakarta’s heavy traffic is famous in Asia, on a regular weekday you can easily be stuck for hours in rush hour.

This picture is the view from our closest shopping mall, and it captures the spirit of modern day Indonesia to me. Small houses made of sheets of corrugated iron next to high-rises and minarets of mosques next to palm trees and patches of banana plantations snuggly between streets.

♥Lene

Happy midsummer!

Written by Lene Fogelberg on June 21, 2014. Posted in Updates. 8 Comments on Happy midsummer!

Happy midsummer everyone!

As the monsoon is pouring down, we feel right at home celebrating in the traditional midsummer rain. 🙂 Our home town Gothenburg on the Swedish West Coast is located right by the sea and the weather in the early summer tends to be unsteady, except for midsummer when it always rains, that’s at least how the joke goes. It is a hilarious sight; people dancing around the maypole and hurrying indoors to escape the rain, then coming out again at the first ray of sunshine. “Göteborgare” are incurably hopeful and optimistic, no matter how heavy the rain we are sure it will stop soon, ready to bring the smorgasbord into the garden, determined to make the day into a true midsummer celebration.

This is one of few years that we are not at home in Sweden for midsummer, but the monsoon makes sure we feel right at home! (Tonight I think we will go to our favorite Italian restaurant…)

Greetings from Swedish-Indonesian-Italian midsummer celebrations in Jakarta!

♥Lene

Go Indonesia!

Written by Lene Fogelberg on June 15, 2014. Posted in Blog, Updates. 4 Comments on Go Indonesia!

Soccer is a huge sport in Indonesia. Even when traveling through the smallest village on an island you will see young boys playing soccer between goals of bamboo, shouting pretend names to each other such as Zlatan, Ronaldo, Neymar. As the boys grow up, some of them still dream of playing in the big leagues and today was a big day for 22 boys from all over Indonesia. One of them even from a remote island.

They were chosen from the four best teams playing in the soccer cup KompasGramedia Liga here in Jakarta, after two matches this weekend. Based on skill, endurance and attitude, the coaches decided which boys will represent Indonesia in the world’s largest youth soccer tournament: Gothia Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden. Last year the Indonesian team made it as far as to the final, where the Mexican team secured the gold. This year the Indonesian team wants to repeat the succes, and why not aim for first place? These are seriously talented young people!

Final words of encouragement from the coach.

The audience cheering on.

My husband, representing SKF, the company sponsoring the team’s journey to Sweden, congratulates the first goalkeeper selected. The Indonesian custom greeting to show respect is to touch your forehead to the hand of the person you are greeting.

T-shirt, goldmedal, backpack for the trip, and of course an Indonesian flag was presented to each of the selected soccer players.

Celebration!

Confetti all over 🙂

Indonesian TV on the spot.

And here we have the whole team going to Gothia Cup 2014 in Gothenburg, Sweden!

Go Team Indonesia!

♥Lene

Namaste!

Written by Lene Fogelberg on May 31, 2014. Posted in Blog, Updates. 4 Comments on Namaste!

Namaste!

Greetings from Indonesia!

Welcome old and new friends! For you who found this place through my old blog, there is a lot you will recognize here. Mostly it’s the same, only I switched language, and as you may have noticed in the Header, this blog will have a slightly new angle towards books and writing, which is some of my main interests, besides hanging out with my awesome family, travel, photography, and a bunch of other stuff like surfing (yes, I mean the internet) and watching movies and youtube clips with my daughters.

I do love Literature, always have, but I am also hopelessly curious and interested in mostly everything, so I guess this place will be like a box of chocolate: you never know what you’re gonna get 🙂 (Thank you Forrest Gump)

I also love comments, please don’t be shy and don’t hesitate to comment in your mother tongue, we’ll sort it out somehow 🙂

Yep, that’s about it.

Thanks for stopping by,

♥Lene