Nordische Literaturtage 2023

In the organizer's words:

ROSKVA KORITZINSKY (NORWAY)
Moderation (Norwegian/German): Andreas Donat

Opening the evening with three authors is Roskva Koritzinsky, one of the most promising voices in contemporary Norwegian literature. Her volume "I Haven't Seen the World Yet" was nominated for the Nordic Council Prize for Literature in 2018. With her new book, Roskva Koritzinsky "emerges as an author with a strong will" ("Morgunbladet"). "No Saints" (Karl Rauch; translation: Andreas Donat), seven "novellers" - that is, stories that are far more visible in the Northern European literary landscape than in the German-speaking one - broaden our perspectives on powerful 120 pages. A visual artist isolates himself to create exact replicas of paintings by others. A woman discovers the remnants of her childhood in Arkhangelsk. A boy seeks refuge in the forests of Sweden. Here, with linguistic sensitivity, an author knows how to spark thoughts beyond the text, about the past, loneliness and longings, and to evoke moods.

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JOHANNE LYKKE HOLM (SWEDEN)
Moderation (Swedish/German): Katharina Alsen

Atmosphere is also what is captivating in Johanne Lykke Holm's novel, which was nominated for the Nordic Council Prize for Literature in 2021. "A world of the highest density," Dorothee Elmiger calls it in the afterword to the German edition (AKI; translation: Hanna Granz). The title refers to the place on Lake Maggiore and leads to the supernatural - "Strega" stands for "witch" in Italian. Nine young women come to a remote hotel as seasonal workers - a setting that finds its references in film and literature. They perfect the work routines, perform them ritualistically. But guests never come. Until one evening a lavish party is held - and one of them disappears. An evocative examination of women's roles and femininity in the patriarchy. Swedish author Johanne Lykke Holm has translated Yahya Hassan from Danish, among others, and led "Hekseskolen" (the Witch School), a feminist writing course with Olga Ravn.

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HELGA FLATLAND (NORWAY)
Moderator (Norwegian/German): Clara Sondermann

From a mystical northern Italy we switch to a very Norwegian reality of the present with Helga Flatland's "The Resonances" (Ecco). Because of an intimate affair with her student Jakob, Mathilde loses her job. She flees from Oslo to the countryside, to the farm of the brothers Andres and Johs. The folk tunes there, intoned with the Hardanger fiddle, about female rebellion that always ends in misfortune, still resonate with them. Helga Flatland, who studied Scandinavian linguistics and literature as well as creative writing and is one of Norway's best-known young authors, allows these two worlds of life between tradition and emancipation to collide linguistically in her seventh novel: Mathilde's view is written in Bokmål, the dominant of the two official written languages of Norwegian; Johs has her say in Nynorsk. Elke Ranzinger and Ina Kronenberger have developed a kind of artificial language for their translation of Nynorsk. With believable as well as idiosyncratic characters, the story constantly holds surprises and moves in a stream until its ambiguous end.

AFTERWARDS: MODERATED AUDIENCE DISCUSSION

With the kind support of the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media and many other sponsors.

Graphic (c) Kathleen Bernsdorf