Community
25 June, 2023
Vikings all the rage at library
AIMING to create a community of Viking age enthusiasts in the Far North, Kanimbla resident and novelist Megan Formanek has launched a display of Viking age artifacts at the Cairns Library in celebration of her second book, No One’s Viking.
After selling over 800 copies of the second book on her Viking Trading Lands saga, released in February, Ms Formanek partnered up with the Cairns city library to exhibit a display of Viking age replicas representative of the women of the time throughout the month of June.
“Part of why I created the display is for people to see how women lived in the Viking age,” she said.
“I’m seeking to portray a more complex side to the Viking age from the perspective of women.
“In this case, my main character Astrid is a wool merchant, so for example, these spinning tools are something that every woman in the Viking age would have because they were expected to weave clothes for her whole family.
“I made the garment based on calculations of typical Viking costumes, and I acquired the replica items, the necklaces that are replicas of archaeological finds and the leather pouch and spinning tools from Sweden.”
Ms Formanek said the Viking age was an uncommon topic in the region but one that people crave more and more.
“In February, I launched my book No One’s Viking here at the Cairns library, and I had a great turnout,” she said.
“It made me realise how many people were interested in my work and the Viking age, and I wanted to create a display alongside the librarians that offered people interested in it to come down in their own time.”
Ms Formanek encouraged the Cairns and Far North community to engage with Viking age history through her books.
“I wondered about women in the Viking age, and it seems that other people wonder about it as well,” she said.
“When I launched the book in late February, many people were here, from teens to 90-year-olds.
“I would love to find more enthusiasts of the Viking age, and I hope, facilitated by the library, to launch my books here and with each book making different garments and displays.
“If you’re interested in the Viking age, you can sign up for my newsletter and join my mailing list.”
For more information on the Viking age, to purchase the Viking Trading Lands books or join Ms Formanek’s newsletter, visit
www.meganformanek.com
