Livsreise has an interactive kiosk which gives visitors a brief introduction to Norse Mythology and the Nine Realms. Oshkosh author,  K.W. Pendorf felt once she wrote her first book “Freya and the Dragon Egg ” that she needed to know more about Norse mythology. She will be talking about that journey and how it became clear that she would need to write nine books carrying Freya through the Nine Realms in order for her  quest to come to a satisfactory conclusion!

Please join us as middle grade author K.W. Penndorf shares how researching Viking history has influenced her storytelling. She’ll discuss where her inspiration came for wanting to write a new tale of Norse mythology, taking you from a Danish wedding in Europe to the Field Museum in Chicago. Along the way, you will learn about those she has met in the “Viking World” and how they have transpired into the fictitious workings of her FREYA series.

Story time had always been K.W. Penndorf’s favorite ‘subject’ in school. But when her second grade teacher opted to read from a tattered old diary, KW’s view on books changed forever. Books were now alive, with adventures, dilemmas, far away locations, heroes, villains, drama, and quite frankly, story. Everything was so real, well at least in her imagination at any rate. She wanted to live in those stories… and she has.

On a train ride into NYC, a vision came to KW’s sleepy commuter mind: a girl finding a dragon egg in the middle of a Viking graveyard. Presto! The premise for her debut novel was born. It is a story, which K.W. hopes, will change a child’s view on books forever.

‘I’ve had to do a TON of research for the series because I never grew up knowing much Norse mythology. The only thing in my series which I had a bit of prior knowledge about were Berserks. In fact, it was that tiny bit of Norse Mythology, that one simple thing, which spurred my path to unearthing other gems about Viking beliefs which I’ve woven into my series. I love doing research because it’s almost as if I’m discovering my own book!”