The editor at Suhrkamp, Franziska Berninger, had this to say about the book:
“I was instantly intrigued by the premise of the book: A man spending ten years of his life in North Korea, having a close, friendly relationship with his guide, then receiving a death threat – this is a unique story to be told by an extraordinary author.
Traavik is an author who writes about a timely, pressing topic from a unique point of view, he adresses a younger readership as well as older readers and his writing his informative, to the point, at times brilliantly funny and heartbreakingly sad. He walkes on the thin line – as an artist in North Korea as well as in his writing – of portraying the absolute absurd and endangering his own life.
The combination of his pictures (images we all haven’t seen before in this insight and quality), historical, cultural and political facts, personal anecdotes but most of all his letter to Mr. Win make Forræderens guide til Nord-Korea a book we all could not put down, a book that unites a unique combination of features that makes it appealing to a very wide, broad audience: It is insightful, it is edgy, highly important and deeply original. In short, we are all convinced that Forræderens guide til Nord-Korea is the perfect addition for Suhrkamp.”
Huge congratulations to Morten and Suhrkamp!