Mats Jonsson

If she had been a man, one might have said she was tall and imposing – instead, she was a woman who never stopped growing. With the original and poetic serial novel Stinas jojk (in English: “Stina’s Joik”), Mats Jonsson adds to the portrayals of an extraordinary life story: that of Kristina Katarina Larsdotter, born in Malå in 1819 into a reindeer-herding family. From the age of 18, she travelled with her sister Sara on a performance tour across Europe and became known as Stor-Stina, the Tall Lapp Girl, and the Giantess of Lapland. Less than a year after her death in 1853, her remains were exhumed and sent to the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, where her skeleton was put on display. In May 2024, Stina was returned to Malå for burial.  

Mats Jonsson places great trust in the reader’s capacity in this coming-of-age story that transcends age boundaries, where intricate narrative techniques add multiple layers to Stina’s tale and its wider context of colonisation, exoticisation, and medical exploitation. Stina herself emerges through the memories of her sister Sara, in an ink-drawn fantasy that renders her vivid, sympathetic, and beautiful. In Stina, Jonsson sees a tormented outsider who still manages to carve out agency precisely through her dual sense of otherness. She wants to see the world, to own her own home in Sápmi, she is someone readers can relate to.   

Among the many strengths of Stinas jojk are the novel’s deep historical insights and sensitivity to the subject matter, but also its humour and ability to stir anger, comfort, and hope. Artistically, the storytelling is shaped by the unique tools that come with the medium of a comic book – inventive techniques and evocative pauses. The heart of the book beats in these moments, emphasising Sara and Stina’s connection to the marshlands, to myths, and to each other.  

Mats Jonsson (born in 1973) has long been a central figure in the Swedish comics scene, including as editor of the comics magazine Galago. He debuted in 1998 with the graphic novel Unga norrlänningar (not translated into English), and has since published a number of acclaimed and award-winning autofictional works for both adults and children. He combines autobiography and social critique in a distinctive way – whether addressing the shooting of demonstrators in Ådalen, the divide between urban and rural life, his own Sámi heritage, or his fear of uprooted trees.