NOT SO FAR FROM HOME, By Roald Steen

NOT SO FAR FROM HOME

By Roald Steen
227 pages
6” x 9”
Softbound
$11.95
ISBN 0-942323

It’s easy to find Norway. It’s that long, spoon-shaped country in northwest Europe. But Norway Times correspondent Roald Steen knows that Norway can also be found elsewhere . . . right smack-dab in the heart of America! When the thousands of Norwegian immigrants sailed west to America in the 1800s and early 1900s they brought along not only their material belongings but also their Nordic traditions and heritage. This rich ethnic spirit continues to live and even thrive in the many Norwegian settlements throughout the United States. This book is a compilation of stories that first appeared in Mr. Steen’s popular column in the then Brooklyn, New York-based newspaper, Norway Times. So, if you were unlucky enough to miss these wonderful stories the first time around, in that publication, then here’s your chance to enjoy America’s slice of Norway from someone who has a love for both countries.

To give the reader a better perspective of Mr. Steen’s native Norway, he provides an insider’s view of many little-known, but interesting places, customs and events. As for his new Norway, the heritage-commemorating activities and accomplishments of the Norwegian-Americans are reported with objectivity and a good measure of pride. We think you will agree that Roald Steen is a writer who is at home in either of the two Norways.

AUTHOR BIO: Roald Steen was born and grew up in Bergen, Norway. He is a graduate of Bergen School of Navigation, where he studied radio communications. Roald Steen first visited the United States in 1965, when he was 18 years old and served as the radio operator aboard a Norwegian cargo ship. This cargo ship brought cars built in Europe to the United States and Canada. A variety of cargoes, including timber, grains and cotton, were transported back to Europe from the United States, Canada and Mexico. He was hired as radio officer by Norwegian Caribbean Lines in 1971, a company which operates from Miami, Florida under the name Norwegian Cruise Lines. He met his wife, Sandy, while working aboard cruise liners in the Caribbean.

Roald and Sandy have two teenage sons and live in the Twin Cities area in Minnesota. Roald Steen writes technical manuals, articles about radio communications and serves as correspondent in Minnesota for Norway Times. He is also a correspondent for the Norwegian trade magazine Telecom Revy. He is a member of Norwegian American Technical Society and uses his amateur radio station to keep in touch with Norway. He often visits Norway from his home in the Twin Cities area.