‘Northern Lights’

That Scandinavia has more to offer than attractive design and nordic noir TV series is well known. In literature too there is more to discover than thrillers and long-winded ego-documents. With Northern Lights, we present you with three of the most exciting contemporary Scandinavian authors: Johan Harstad, Dorthe Nors and Gunnhild Øyehaug. Author and compulsive reader Annelies Verbeke will moderate the conversation between her Scandinavian colleagues.

The work of the Norwegian Johan Harstad is fanciful and irresistible, ranging from absurdist short stories to the all-encompassing doorstopper of a novel Max, Mischa og Tetoffensiven (Max, Mischa and the Tet Offensive). From best-kept secret to the public’s favourite, from Oslo to Brussels: Johan Harstad!
Gunnhild Øyehaug is considered an important literary voice in Norway and is now breaking through on the international scene with her story collection Knots. Both Lydia Davis and James Wood are fans of her elegant and precise style.
Her short-story collection Karate Chop earned her readers around the world, and her wry novel Mirror, Shoulder, Signal made the shortlist of the Man Booker International Prize: behold the Danish talent, Dorthe Nors.