This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
This week's Utah Crowd-Funding Project is trying to bring a bit of Sweden to America.
Salt Lake City writer Spencer Harden married a Swede, and lived in Sweden for awhile. One of the parts of Swedish culture that he fell in love with was Tomten, a gnome-like figure of Scandinavian folklore. Tomten — or Nisse in Denmark and Norway, and Tonttu in Finland — visits people's homes in the winter.
The character was immortalized in a poem published by Swedish author Viktor Rydberg in 1881 — a poem Harden first heard in a Swedish church.
In Rydberg's poem, Tomten vistis a farm one winter night. He checks on the animals in the barn, and the people in their home. All is well, but Tomten has an undying question: "Generations come and generations go. Where do they come from and to where do they go?"
Harden has written an American version of Rydberg's poem, called "Only Tomten Is Awake," with illustrations by artist Georgia Stylou. He aims to get the book published in hardback. That, of course, takes money.
Harden has launched a crowd-funding campaign, via Kickstarter, to raise $18,816 toward publication. So far, no one has pledged support. The deadline is Dec. 7.
Benefits for backers range from a pdf file of the story (for $1) to a package including 200 paperback copies and 250 first-edition hardback copies — as well as Harden performing a live recitation of the book (for $5,000).
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