Programme 2019

Fokus for 2019 will be French speaking authors, but most conversations will be held in English or translated from French to Norwegian.

Monday

0:00 - 0:00

TO ENCLOSE ONESELF

Free with festivalpass

Lillehammer Kunstmuseum

One hundred years ago, in 1919, Nobel prize-winner Sigrid Undset relocated to Bjerkebæk, a house in the town of Lillehammer. For Undset, ‘home’ was a fundament...

Tuesday

19:00 - 20:15

FESTIVAL OPENING SHOW

Maihaugsalen

2019 is panning out to be a very significant year for Norwegian literature, with a year-round initiative across the country, and international exposure beyond ...

Wednesday

10:00 - 11:00

TO CLEAR A PLACE IN NORWEGIAN

Free

Lillehammer læringssenter

The book Ryddetid by Camilla Kuhn came out this autumn in two parallel-language editions, one in Norwegian/Somali and one in Norwegian/Arabic. Meet the transla...

Wednesday

11:00 - 11:50

SANSAL’S WORLD

150,–

Lillehammer Kunstmuseum

Boualem Sansal is one of Algeria’s most acclaimed contemporary authors. He did not start writing books until he turned 50 and quit his Government job, and he h...

Wednesday

12:00 - 12:50

MARSEILLE-PARIS

Cafe Stift

When you think of France, it is natural enough to think of Paris, and it’s not so unusual for a capital city to attract many of the artists and thinkers living...

Wednesday

12:00 - 12:45

TIDY-TIME – IN NORWEGIAN, SOMALI AND ARABIC!

Free

Bjerkebæk

It is tidy time, but Dad and Jens would rather go to the swimming pool. Unluckily, they are discovered trying to sneak out by Jens’ little sister. Strangely, n...

Wednesday

13:00 - 14:00

WEDNESDAY LUNCH

Free

Søndre Park

Enjoy a cup of coffee, alfresco, accompanied by readings from Nils Gullak Horvei, from his latest novel Riv Rom på en Dag, Kathrine Nedrejord, from her YA nove...

Wednesday

14:00 - 14:50

VERSIONS OF REALITY

Teltet på Stortorget

In his novel, 2084, Algerian author Boualem Sensa, has rewritten the future, as has Norwegian Bjørn Vatne in his latest book Nullingen av Paul Abel. But when y...

Wednesday

15:00 - 15:50

FELLOW MAN

Litteraturhus Lillehammer

Novels are populated by characters, and these characters relate to their own worlds and social situations. When we talk and write about books that, in diverse ...

Wednesday

16:00 - 16:50

TOWNSEND’S MAGICAL WORLD

200,–

Teltet på Stortorget

Jessica Townsend's debut book Nevermoor has received massive international attention. The debutant has received brilliant reviews for her books about the curse...

Wednesday

17:00 - 0:00

FESTIVAL EXHIBITION WITH HÅVARD VIKHAGEN

Free

Galleri Zink

Håvard Vikhagen is one of Norway's foremost artists. He is primarily a painter and excelled in his early career as a representative of the Neo-expressionistic ...

Wednesday

18:00 - 18:50

UNDSET AND THE NORTH: AN AMERICAN VIEW

150,–

Bjerkebæk

This year’s Undset lecture is given by Brad Leithauser, author and senior lecturer from the USA. He will look at Sigrid Undset's writing from an overseas persp...

Wednesday

18:00 - 18:50

ROUBAUD’S DIVERSITY OF WORLDS

Lillehammer Kunstmuseum

The importance of French poet Jacques Roubaud to post-war, European poetry cannot be overstated. Although two entire poetry collections have been published in ...

Wednesday

18:00 - 23:00

GARDEN PARTY FOR ALL

Nansenskolen

Traditionally the festival's garden party is a pleasantly lively affair - and remains open to everyone. Birger Emanuelsen presents three young Nordic authorial...

Wednesday

19:00 - 19:50

NEVERMOOR

Gratis

Gjøvik Library

One of last autumn’s biggest international children's book surprises was Australian Jessica Townsend's debut book, Nevermoor. The debutant has received brillia...

Wednesday

20:00 - 22:00

FRENCH EVENING: FROM BOOK TO FILM – HEAL THE LIVING

Lillehammer kino, sal 1

It all starts at dawn when three young surfers ride in the waves of the French Atlantic coast. A few hours later, when the surfers are on their way home, an ac...

Wednesday

22:00 - 23:00

LITERATURE, CHORDS AND KNOBS

200,–

Teltet på Stortorget

Wednesday night we invite you to the tent for a session of reading and electric strumming. The three authors Laura Vaxquez, Mona Høvring and Mette Moestrup, me...

Thursday

9:30 - 10:15

SECRET, MAGICAL, FANTASTIC!

Gratis

Litteraturhus Lillehammer

Jessica Townsend's debut book Nevermoor quickly became popular with anyone who likes a good fantasy novel. It is the story of a cursed girl, Morrigan Crow, who...

Thursday

11:30 - 12:15

NEVERMOOR

Gratis

Tyrilisenteret

One of last autumn’s biggest international children's book surprises was Australian Jessica Townsend's debut book, Nevermoor. The debutant has received brillia...

Thursday

12:30 - 13:20

SEXUAL/TEXTUAL POLITICS BY TORIL MOI

Teltet på Stortorget

Toril Moi is among the world's leading literature researchers and writes about feminism, everyday philosophy and literature in a way that everyone can understa...

Thursday

13:00 - 14:00

THURSDAY LUNCH

Free

Søndre Park

Enjoy a cup of coffee, alfresco, accompanied by readings from Cornelius Jakhelin, Ida Hegazi Høyer, Olaug Nilssen and Jessica Townsend. Your compère is Torun...

Thursday

13:00 - 13:50

WHEN GUEST COUNTRIES MEET – THE RETURN!

Elephant Kunsthall

What happens when a Norwegian writer travels through the Georgian Caucasus and wonderful Tbilisi in the company of a Georgian writer? In May 2018, to mark Tbil...

Thursday

14:00 - 14:50

AN AUTHOR IN POLITICS

Teltet på Stortorget

When the current French president first came to power, Leïla Slimani was one of his advisers. The French media reported that she was offered the position of Mi...

Thursday

14:30 - 16:00

TO KISS A DESERT. TO KISS A MARSH.

Gratis

Verdensteateret

Welcome to the launch of the anthology To Kiss a Desert. To Kiss a Marsh. This book has its origins in Azerbaijan, Egypt, Iraq and Eritrea, in Syria, Libya, Ch...

Thursday

15:00 - 15:50

UNDSET AS SEEN FROM THE OUTSIDE

Bjerkebæk

Prior to the festival, the American non-fiction author, Lauren Elkin, sits in the writing room at Bjerkebæk and immerses herself in Sigrid Undset's time spent ...

Thursday

17:00 - 17:50

LIKING AND LUNDEN

Lillehammer Kunstmuseum

To build a society is not a simple task, nor is it to build a school. Yet, there is some inherent art, something human that drives certain individuals to roll ...

Thursday

17:30 - 18:20

NORDIC POETRY SUMMIT

Elephant Kunsthall

Different styles, different moods and different tongues. Gerður Kristný from Iceland, Erlend Wichne from Norway, Ulf Karl Olov Nilsson (UKON) from Sweden and M...

Thursday

19:00 - 20:15

LITERARY GALA EVENING

350,-

Maihaugsalen

This is the evening where some of the festival's most acclaimed writers and performers - Han Kang, Per Petterson, Leïla Slimani, Nicolas Mathieu, Maylis de Ker...

Thursday

20:00 - 22:00

MY FRIEND BALTHAZAR

Verdensteateret

Lillehammer film club invites you to an evening showing of Robert Bresson's classic Au Hasard Balthazar, from 1966. Film lover and author Rune Christiansen has...

Thursday

22:00 - 22:45

D’BI YOUNG

Teltet på Stortorget

D'bi Young is an internationally recognized feminist dubpoet, skeptic and activist. She was born and raised in Jamaica but moved to Canada as a 15-year old. In...

Thursday

23:00 - 0:00

“DEI NYE KAPELLANANE” WITH JON ØYSTEIN FLINK / FLINKINI

Teltet på Stortorget

Carsten Tourrenc is a well-known singer and restaurateur from Trondheim, more often than not he can be found at Antikvariatet, the book bar in town. As his nam...

Friday

11:45 - 12:00

FRENCH BALLADS

Free

Søndre Park

Carsten Tourrenc is a well-known singer and restaurateur from Trondheim, more often than not he can be found at Antikvariatet, the book bar in town. As his nam...

Friday

12:00 - 12:50

FREEMAN’S 2019

Free

Elephant Kunsthall

For several years John Freeman has been a natural component of the festival, and every year he presents the upcoming issue of Freeman’s magazine, which he hims...

Friday

13:00 - 14:00

FRIDAY LUNCH

Free

Søndre Park

On Friday it is time for another round of reading in the park! Today you will hear from the Canadian-Jamaican poet and playwright D`bi Young; Jostein Gaarder w...

Friday

13:00 - 13:50

NORWEGIAN LITERATURE – NOW TRENDING!

Elephant Kunsthall

For the past ten years, Norwegian literature has sailed on a wave of success and attention in the English-speaking market, long enough to meditate deeply on wh...

Friday

14:00 - 14:45

OPEN MIC

Gratis

Elephant Kunsthall

Will you read something that you have written? Authors, writers, poets - anyone who would like to give it a try, the stage is yours!...

Friday

14:00 - 14:50

GONCOURT-DEBATE

Verdensteateret

The Goncourt Prize is one of the most important literary awards in the French-speaking world. It is, of course, heavily debated, with writings about the winner...

Friday

14:00 - 14:50

WHEN TIME DIVIDES

Teltet på Stortorget

In Gunnhild Øyehaug's new novel Presens Maskin we experience a dual universe, two different timelines that are created by a mistake in a Swedish poetry collect...

Friday

14:00 - 14:50

FLÂNEUSE

Galleri Zink

The American writer Lauren Elkin has been in residence at Maihaugen since May 15th and has been working in the writing room at Bjerkebæk. She was selected by t...

Friday

14:00 - 14:45

OPEN MIC

Free

Elephant Kunsthall

Will you read something that you have written? Authors, writers, poets - anyone who would like to give it a try, the stage is yours!...

Friday

15:00 - 15:50

WEREWERE IN NORWEGIAN

Litteraturhus Lillehammer

The Cameroonian queen of the avant-garde Werewere-Liking Gnepo has to a small degree been translated into Norwegian, however throughout the festival a group of...

Friday

15:00 - 15:50

BEYOND THE SAGAS

Free

Elephant Kunsthall

Many of us know more about the literature of the Icelandic sagas than we do about contemporary Icelandic literature. To remedy this, we are proud to introduce ...

Friday

15:00 - 15:50

HAN KANG

Bjerkebæk

With books such as Vegetarian and The White Book, Han Kang has become one of the most important authors in the world today. She has been translated into at lea...

Friday

16:00 - 16:50

WRITING THE DEAD ALIVE

Verdensteateret

Maylis de Kerangal has written a masterful and poetic book where grief, the human body and utility are central themes. In Mend the Living, a young man dies in ...

Friday

17:00 - 17:50

POST-POST-COLONIALISM

Lillehammer Kunstmuseum

It is not so strange that we still see today the repercussions of colonialism, which, during the last century, defined the relationship between the so-called f...

Friday

18:00 - 19:00

NORSK TOP HITS

Teltet på Stortorget

What have songs like "Tore Tang", " Hun er fri", " Hvite menn som pusher femti" and "Pinne for landet" got in common? In addition to frequenting playlists on S...

Friday

19:00 - 3:00

BANKNATTA – BANK NIGHT

Kulturhuset Banken

If you ask someone who has previously visited the festival what they remember best, chances are they will say Banknatta (Bank Night). Just over halfway through...

Friday

20:00 - 20:50

TWILIGHT POETRY

Cafe Stift

Late evening and nighttime is a time of poetry, when darkness falls and the distinction between shadow and light becomes clearer, the poem emerges as a preferr...

Friday

21:00 - 22:00

BOWIE, ENO, BERLIN

Cafe Stift

For a short period in the seventies, Berlin was the epicenter of pop music development. A collaboration between David Bowie, Brian Eno and producer Tony Viscon...

Friday

21:30 - 23:30

STAR-STUDDED SLAM POETRY

400,-

Kulturhuset Banken, Festsalen

Slam poetry is no longer just an underground phenomenon, the form has also taken to theater stages and literature festivals. Tonight, you can see and hear some...

Friday

23:00 - 2:30

DJ SAKPROSA

Cafe Stift

Behind this somewhat every day name (DJ-nonfiction), lurks a well-known Norwegian author - a writer who will spin discs into the night. He has recently become ...

Saturday

12:00 - 14:00

FRENCH FILM MATINÉ – THE INTOUCHABLES

Lillehammer kino, sal 1

The Intouchables is an uplifting comedy about friendship, trust and human potential, the true story of two men who should never have met each other. Multi-mill...

Saturday

12:00 - 12:50

DAGNY JUEL, GEORGIA, NORWAY

Lillehammer Kunstmuseum

While the marketing campaign behind "the big four" was in full swing, another group existed on the side of the best sellers. Today we remember this group as th...

Saturday

13:00 - 14:00

SATURDAY LUNCH

Gratis

Søndre Park

The weekend is here and there is no reason to work overtime! Come down to the park and listen to Fredrik Svindland read from his latest novel Engelsk Tåke, Ket...

Saturday

14:00 - 14:50

YOUNG EXILE POETRY

Cafe Stift

Here in the West it easy to forget how inflammatory a poem can be. Many live in exile because they have written opposing those in power. This is definitely poe...

Saturday

15:00 - 15:45

MAIN LECTURE

Litteraturhus Lillehammer

How did leaders like Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump come to power? How could the systems that promised so much after the fall of the wall lead us to the uncer...

Saturday

16:00 - 16:50

MASTER MEETING – HAUGEN & ETWEBI

Cafe Stift

Here is a rare opportunity to hear two lyrical masters in conversation. Libyan Ashur Etwebi and Norwegian Paal-Helge Haugen are both among their home country's...

Saturday

20:00 - 1:00

PUB CRAWL

Free

The pub crawl is one of the great traditions of the festival, and usually the theme has been contemporaneous. This time around, however, we travel about a thou...

Sunday

11:00 - 11:50

WHO WILL INHERIT THE EARTH?

Litteraturhus Lillehammer

History Professor Timothy Snyder has described to the whole world the mechanisms of the expansion of empires and the withdrawal that often follows, the vacuum ...

Sunday

12:00 - 15:00

SUPERHEROES

Maihaugen

POW! ZAP! BOOM! BAM! Bring your whole family to Maihaugen and experience a day full of performances, dance, activities and workshops. We get to meet both class...

Sunday

13:00 - 14:00

SUNDAY LUNCH

Free

Søndre Park

In the book Ten Knives in the Heart, Norwegian and Icelandic writers have been challenged to rewrite episodes from the Sagas. We have invited Simon Stranger an...