The Most Nordic Fair – ever!
Would you like to experience what may be the most popular literature on earth at this very moment? Then make sure not to be anywhere else but at the Göteborg Book Fair between September 27 and September 30. Hundreds of Swedish writers and more than sixty of the foremost authors from the other Nordic countries will ensure that this year´s fair is a massive manifestation of Nordic culture.
Interest in Nordic culture in general, and literature in particular, is probably at an all-time high right now. As a case in point, last year´s book fair in Paris had Nordic literature as its main theme, and Nordic crime writers grace – or top – the sales lists in numerous countries around the world. The genre even has its own name – Scancrime!
Besides all the hundreds of Swedish writers who will visit this year´s fair – including Kerstin Ekman, PO Enquist, Peter Englund, Gunilla Bergström, Jens Lapidus, Arne Dahl, Mons Kallentoft, Camilla Läckberg, Mari Jungstedt and Åsa Larsson – writers from the other Nordic countries will put their mark on the seminar programme as well as other events. From Denmark: Anastassia Arnold, Kim Fupz Aakeson, Suzanne Brøgger, Ole Dalgaard, Lone Frank, Kirsten Hammann, Hanne-Vibeke Holst, Jesper Juul, Lene Kaaberbøl, Kim Leine, Anders Morgenthaler, Janne Teller and Mikael Wulff.
From Finland: Claes Andersson, Linda Bondestam, Monika Fagerholm, Nils Erik Forsgård, Lena Holger, Johanna Ilmakunnas, Kaj Korkea-aho, Rosa Liksom, Ulla-Lena Lundberg, Merete Mazzarella, Henrik Meinander, Robert Meriruoho, Riikka Pulkkinen, Peter Sandström, Åsa Stenwall, Maria Turtschaninoff, Nils Erik Villstrand and Robert Åsbacka.
From the Faroe Islands: Carl Jóhan Jensen, Marjun Kjelnæs and Tóroddur Poulsen.
From Greenland: Julie Edel Hardenberg. From Iceland: Ragnar "RAX" Axelsson, Hugleikur Dagsson, Áslaug Jónsdóttir, Gerður Kristnyì, Einar Már Guðmundsson, Steinunn Sigurðardóttir and Sjón.
From Norway: Oddgeir Bruaset, Per Arne Dahl, Gro Dahle, Gaute Heivoll, Anne Holt, Roy Jacobsen, Jan Kjærstad, Erlend Loe, Trude Marstein, Gry Moursund, Anne B. Ragde, Harald Rosenlöw Eeg, Linn Ullmann and Hanne Ørstavik.
The fair will be inaugurated by none other than Norwegian writer Merethe Lindstrøm, this year´s winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize.
The Nordic theme will also be evident in many other ways – especially by the Nordic stand which will offer a broad and thought-provoking programme.
"With new items on the programme every half-hour on the large Nordic stand there will be time to talk about a lot of things. Anyone who listens to the Nordic authors on the stage at the stand will get their picture. Politicians, journalists and creative artists will perhaps partially give another. We believe the Nordic identity lies in the eyes of the beholder," says Bodil Tingsby, Head of Communications, the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic Council.
Noteworthy amongst the participants in the Nordic programme on the stand are, for example, Sweden´s, Norway´s and Iceland´s Ministers of Culture, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, Anniken Huitfeldt and Katrin Jakobsdóttir, and Manu Sareen, Denmark´s Minister for Gender Equality and Ecclesiastical Affairs.
Irish Voices
The Nordic countries are definitely in vogue at the 2012 Göteborg Book Fair – but there´s more! Ireland Literary Exchange and the embassy of Ireland in Sweden will arrange seven seminars featuring several of their finest contemporary writers, including John Boyne, author of the international bestseller The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Colm Tóibín, a prose writer with a perpetual penchant for barren places and their inhabitants (most recently evident in his novel A Long Winter), and Siobhán Parkinson, one of this year´s ALMA Awards nominees. Other Irish participants include: Kevin Barry, Sebastian Barry, Paul Muldoon, Paul Murray and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne.
Voice From Elsewhere
In her novel Thursday Night Widows, Argentine journalist, script-writer and author Claudia Piñeiro steals behind the gates of an exclusive community to portray its collapse from within. Anna Arutunyan, a Russian political scientist and reporter for Moscow News, has penned a scathing Putin portrait, The Putin Mystique, which is to be simultaneously published in ten countries. Highly publicised French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt relates her experiences as a FARC prisoner in Even Silence Has an End. In The Hare with Amber Eyes, British writer and ceramist Edmund de Waal chronicles the fascinating story of his family through a collection of Japanese miniatures, known as netsuke. English crime writer Peter James has developed a close collaboration with the Sussex police, spending on average a day a week with them in order to create credible plots for his novels. Another writer for whom research is a deadly serious matter is British youth novelist Michelle Pavers, who travels to the most remote places of the world to sample things like seal blubber, fir resin and seaweed in order to get a feel for what life was like in the Stone age.
International Rights Centre
The Göteborg Book Fair is also the scene of many business deals. In the International Rights Centre, the area dedicated to trading in publishing rights, some 60 international literary agents and companies will participate. The fair provides a unique opportunity to get acquainted with Nordic literature.
Nobel glory
And finally, the greatest of the great – Tomas Tranströmer! The Swedish Nobel Laureate will visit the fair, who will honour him with a photo exhibition, a seminar and a daily 1 PM event at the Behold Man stage.
The Göteborg Book Fair is the biggest book fair in the Nordic countries, drawing around 100 000 visitors every year. The Book Fair takes place September 27–30 at the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre, Göteborg, Sweden.
For more information, writers´ portraits, contact and accreditation information, please go to: www.goteborg-bookfair.com
Here you can browse the English version of the seminar programme, including seminars in non-Scandinavian languages.