The Endless Sphere of Time was the SECOND PLACE/Non-Fiction winner for the 2025 IndieReader Discovery Awards, where undiscovered talent meets people with the power to make a difference.
Following find an interview with author Geir Jordahl.
Thank you to the IndieReader for the SECOND PLACE winner for non-fiction in the 2025 IndieReader Discovery Award for THE ENDLESS SPHERE OF TIME. The IndieReader community of readers, authors, and writers encourages book creators like us to keep working and sharing our vision. THE ENDLESS SPHERE OF TIME features fifteen years of spherical images by photographer Geir Jordahl paired with poetry by Rolf Jacobsen, translated by Roger Greenwald. Kate Jordahl edited and designed it with essays by Scott Lankford and Ann Jastrab. Published by True North Editions, the book was printed and bound in Italy with great skill by Longo AG SpA. The journey from concept to design and editing to printing was rewarding and is enhanced by this recognition.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
The Endless Sphere of Time, Jan 2025
What’s the book’s first line?
“The Endless Sphere of Time” is a picture and poetry book. In this context the first line would be from the Introduction by Scott Lankford:
Like openings in a forest, Geir Jordahl’s gracefully circular images are vista portals: but if so, these wide eyed portals don’t open out onto some other-world beyond our daily, earthly, muddy, mortal existence. Instead they are lightning glimpses of the living, breathing, sensuous and sentient world that surrounds us everywhere and always. A world to which human beings have often, of late, been self-blinded.
The first line that introduces the images is:
Circles complete the stories we make in our passing….
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
“The Endless Sphere of Time” is about the stories we make in our passing—images of moments in the sphere of time that connect to everything. Our world is round. Eyes, earth, sun, moon—all round, all connected. Perception is round. Life, death, rebirth— all round. It is in these cycles that I have hope despite the darkness. In the sphere of time and the circle of life, death is overcome, briefly, in every image I make.
The images and poetry reflect upon the cyclical nature of all things. The narratives in each chapter are universal and personal while asking the viewer to place themselves into the larger picture of time.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
The inspiration for this book comes from life itself. It is my effort to see my place in the world and the cosmos using my camera and working with my collaborators. “The Endless Sphere of Time” is a collaboration between my photography, the poetry of Rolf Jacobsen and the design/editing of Kate Jordahl. Working with specialized spherical lenses for over fifteen years, I sequenced the images with my editor, the words of Rolf Jacobsen and the poetic translations of Roger Greenwald. Together, these elements come together to tell a story of seeing the world through loss and beauty.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
The main character is me, the photographer and my relentless efforts to see more and see the world with tenderness and clarity.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
This book is a journey. Each image and sequence of images join the poems to take the viewer/reader to the world and to themselves.
When did you first decide to become an author?
My dream since childhood has been to be an explorer. Books represent this journey. Books have been the method for me to share my vision and the blending of images and poetry with essays has been central to my creative process for over four decades.
Is this the first you’ve book you’ve written?
No. The is the third book of my photography.
San Joaquin River of Spirit (1997)
Searching for True North (2007)
I have also edited and designed numerous other book (approx. 40) including
Cultures in Transition (Oliver Klink, 2018)
Poetry in Motion (Oliver Klink, 2025)
Bill Owens the Legacy of Suburbia (Bill Owens, 2024)
America’s Fifty-Nine National Parks: Celebrating 100 year of the National Park Service (Quang-Tuan Luong, 2016)
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
Writing, editing, photographing is my life’s work.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
My creation Is fluid and all encompassing. Photography and writing are an intentional process and practice.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
The best part of being an indie is the freedom and control. Distribution and getting the books in the hands of readers and viewers is the greatest challenge.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Books can be many things from one-of-a kind to commercial publications. I am always open to collaboration, and I would be open to a traditionally published book. That being said, I value the independence and the realization of my vision that being an indie book creator, both of my work and as a small publisher allows.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
Telling my story through words and pictures motivates me.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
Jules Verne.
Which book do you wish you could have written?
The Family of Man, Edward Steichen.