Book

The book Rites of Life depicts people at some of the most emotional moments of their lives. For more than seven years Anders Ryman has travelled the world documenting life cycle rituals. The result is a book that portrays more than thirty rituals from all corners of the globe in intimate and stunning pictures.

The rituals span from the blessing of the newborn in a small village in Spain to a girl’s intitiation into womanhood among the Apaches of Arizona; from the Xhosa male initiation ceremony in South Africa to the communion with the dead during Todos Santos in Bolivia; from a woman’s first chilbirth in Palau to the wedding ceremonies in the Shinto shrines of Tokyo.

This is book about man’s journey through life, about cultural diversity and what unites us all as human beings.

The Swedish Publishing Award

At the Swedish Publishing Gala in Stockholm, October 15, 2009, the book Rites of Life was awarded the Swedish Publishing Award for best book in the non-fiction category.

Several languages

Rites of Life has so far been published in seven languages. Max Ström has published it in both Swedish and English, while the German publishing company Taschen has published two seperate trilingual editions. One in English, French and German and the other in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.