Dag Solstad in Germany, Nature and Literature and in the mind of a writer. These are the names of four of 15 program posts in total that the Norwegian Festival of Literature is hounored to have at the official program at the Frankfurter Buchmesse. In cooperation with NORLA (Norwegian Literature Abroad) there will be held a mini festival on the guest land pavilion. Read the complete program below.
The Norwegian Festival of Literature in Frankfurt runs from morning to night on the private visitor’s day – Saturday 19 October. The program will consist of 15 events, embracing literature and other forms of artistic expression, with a particular focus on a general German audience.
– By concentrating on the things that make the Norwegian Festival of Literature one of the world’s best – carefully developed and planned author meetings across language boundaries, conversation leaders who have been responsible for some of the best events at our festival – we are confident that the German audience will enjoy a wonderful experience of Norwegian literature, both individually and together with international voices, such is the belief of artistic adviser Mathias R. Samuelsen.
He particularly highlights the meeting between Norwegian Merethe Lindstrøm and Argentine Samanta Schweblin, resident in Germany, moderated by American John Freeman, and a unique conversation between husband and wife authors Linn Ullmann and Niels Fredrik Dahl.
Program Saturday 19th of October:
All posts are interpreted to German.
10.00-10.25: The old Kings
With his book Hvitekrist (White
Christ), historian Tore Skeie, have single handedly revitalized the public
interest in the Norwegian Viking kings. The book became the talk of Norway soon
after its release. Meet Tore Skeie in conversation with Aslak Sira Myhre.
10.30-10.55: Short stories after Askildsen
Kjell Askildsen is the undisputed star of the Norwegian short story, known for his minimalistic style and unique tone. But what came after Askildsen? Meet the Norwegian short story authors Roskva Koritzinsky and Tomas Espedal in conversation with John Freeman.
11.00-11.25: Borders
Erika Fatland and Stephan Orth are travelers, and through their travels
they chronical something larger than the movement of one person across borders.
Meet Erika Fatland and Stephan Orth in conversation with Thomas Böhm.
11.30-11.55: Solstad in Germany
Dag Solstad is one of, if not the most important living author in
Norway. Every new book is an event, and the conversation about the work starts
immediately. Meet Dag Solstad in conversation with Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel.
12.00-12.25: New Protagonists in Nordic Crime
Unni Lindell is a seasoned veteran of Scandinavian Noir, but her last to books have introduced a new protagonist. Ruth Lillegraven the author of Sickle is a poet that decided to write a thriller. Meet Unni Lindell and Ruth Lillegraven in conversation with Ellen Sofie Lauritzen.
12.30-12.55: Nature and Literature
Few Norwegian authors have reached an international audience like Maja
Lunde. She has undoubtedly hit a nerve. Two
of the books in her “Climate Quartet” is published in German already, so how
will the story continue? Maja Lunde in conversation with John Freeman.
13.00-13.25: Freedom of Expression series
Censorship and Self-Censorship in the Western World, with Lars Svendsen in conversation with Kjersti Løken Stavrum.
13.30-13.55: In the mind of a writer
Some writers manage to reach the depth of the readers mind, to take us on a journey where we end up seeing the literature mirroring ourselves. Though the Norwegian writer Merethe Lindstrøm and the German-Argentinian writer Samanta Schweblin are from different corners of the world, they have a lot in common and excel in just this. Meet Merethe Lindstrøm and Samanta Schweblin in conversation with John Freeman.
14.00-14.25: A personal story
Linn Ullmann and Niels Fredrik Dahl are important Norwegian writers.
They are also wife and husband. In a relationship like theirs, how does the
writing process work? Do they influence each other’s books? Meet Linn Ullmann
author of Die Unruhigen and Niels Fredrik Dahl the author of Mother by Night, in conversation with
Thomas Böhm.
14.30-14.55: The possible Novel
Gunnhild Øyehaug and Johan Harstad are two of our most imaginative and
daring writers in Norway at this moment. With humor, pop culture and fantastic
narratives they match the best writers in contemporary literature. Meet Johan
Harstad and Gunnhild Øyehaug in conversation with John Freeman.
15.00-15.25: Inside the outsider
The literary outsider is nothing new. The Norwegian writers Thure Erik
Lund and Carl Frode Tiller delves into the deep of loneliness like few others
and describes chronical pain, anger and sorrow in unique ways. One might even
say there’s more than a little Ibsen in their books. Meet Thure Erik Lund and
Carl Frode Tiller in conversation with Ellen Sofie Lauritzen.
15.30-15.55: The struggles of man. Ibsen from Brand to Peer Gynt
Ibsen’s scenes and characters are universal and
timeless, he demands hard choices of them all. The righteous Brand and the
adaptable and callous Peer Gynt stand as polar opposites that challenge and
entertain audiences across the world.
Meet Ellen Horn, artistic adviser of the Peer Gynt Festival, and Roger Vontobel, theater director, in conversation about Norway’s most famous author Henrik Ibsen, Brand and Peer Gynt. With a monologue from Brand by actor Heiko Raulin (Schauspiel Frankfurt). Moderator: Olav Brostrup Müller, Director Lillehammer UNESCO City of Literature.
16.00-16.25: Just Right. A Brief Story of Almost Everything
Whenever Jostein Gaarder publishes a book, his audience knows that it will concern the larger questions of life and our existence. His latest, Just Right. A Brief Story of Almost Everything, deals with sorrow, love and long-lasting consequences. Meet Jostein Gaarder in conversation with Thomas Böhm.
16.30-16.55: Mytting, Norwegian legends and German
fascination for Stave churches
There are 28 Stave churches in Norway and they don’t pop up that often
in contemporary literature, but in Lars Mytting latest book, Die glocke im see, they do! Meet Lars
Mytting in conversation with Olav Brostrup Müller, Director Lillehammer UNESCO
City of Literature.
17.00-17.30: Guitar and Literature
Two poets, two prose writers. A collection of the finest authors in Norway right now, Ruth Lillegraven, Øyvind Rimbereid, Tomas Espedal and Ida Hegazi Høyer, are reading with the leading Norwegian jazz guitarist Hedvig Mollestad. This is going to be a fantastic ending to a fantastic day!
17.30-19.00: Happy hour
