Founding Editor: Jennifer Fergesen

Jennifer Fergesen is an American writer and editor. She arrived in Longyearbyen in the summer of 2023 as a resident at the Spitsbergen Kunstnersenter and founded Polarlit as a way to give back to the community that welcomed and continue to inspires her. Her main area of interest is the food of the Asian diaspora, and her nonfiction writing on the subject has received awards from the James Beard Foundation, the International Association of Culinary Professionals, the Food Writers Association of the Philippines and others. She has an M.A. in creative writing from the University of California, Davis and has served as editor for magazines and publishing houses in the United States and Europe. jenniferfergesen.com

Editor: Paula Sankelo

Paula Sankelo is a Finnish citizen, living in Longyearbyen with her family since 2021. Paula works as an editor in a Finnish deep ecological culture journal Elonkehä (“Biosphere”, www.elonkeha.com), where she edits the literature review and poetry sections. She is also a receptionist at Svalbard Museum and a freelance literary critic. She is on a leave of permission from Finnish Environment Institute until 2024. She has an M.A. in Finnish literature, an M.Sc. in Physics and an M.Tech. in Energy Technology. She studied Arctic Geophysics at UNIS in 2002–2003.

Editor: Eirik Bø

Eirik Bø is a Norwegian librarian and writer. He’s been living in Longyearbyen since March
2023 and works at the public library as the children and youth librarian. He has a B.A. in
creative writing from The Arctic University of Norway (UiT) and later studied to become a
librarian at Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMET). His interest include fiction and poetry, mountains and skis. His writings are published in a variety of Norwegian magazines under a variety of pen names, including the anthology Signaler 2021.

Graphic Designer: Anita Horowska

Anita Horowska is a Polish architect with a northern heart. She is a collector of memories and frames from the High Arctic, a creator of photographic exhibitions, a lover of the polar regions, and a traveler in white, cold, remote regions of the world. Based in Poznań, she participates in summer and winter ski trips to Svalbard, Iceland, and Norway.

Marketing Designer: Susanne Havsberg

Susanne Havsberg is a new artist and designer, finishing up her bachelor’s degree in
psychology. She is planning to work with design and communications, and hopes to
bring this to a reality with her love for visual design and new challenges. She works hard
to spread joy and love. You can find her on @susannehavsberg.