Littpod

How do you write humorously about the grotesque character of everyday life in wartime? How can you dream when reality insistently intrudes? In his short story collection Jokes for the Gunmen, Palestinian-Icelander Mazen Maarouf writes with humour, force and intelligence about daily life in the midst of war. He meets literary researcher Daniel Medin for a conversation about how laughter can save us from reality, but also teach us something new. In English.

Angela Merkel har regjert i Tyskland sidan 2005, men har no trekt seg som partileiar og stiller ikkje til attval. Samstundes som hennar eige parti er i leiarkrise, er sosialdemokratane på veg mot avgrunnen, og fram stormar både Dei grøne og høgrepopulistane. Korleis ser den tyske partipolitikken ut i dag? Og kor vanskeleg blir det for den som skal ta over etter Merkel? Ingrid Brekke er forfattar og journalist busett i Berlin. I dette foredraget snakkar ho korleis endringane i Tyskland vil prege Europas framtid. Foredraget er på norsk.

Britain’s Leonora Carrington and Germany’s Paula M Becker were artists who often found themselves overshadowed by their male colleagues. Two innovative biographies capture – and challenge – their lives and art anew. Susanne Christensen published Leonoras reise, a biography of the surrealist artist, last year. She meets French author Marie Darrieussecq, who recently published her biography of Paula M Becker entitled Being Here is Everything in English. Their conversation will be moderated by literary researcher Kari Jegerstedt. The conversation is in English.

February 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s liberation from 27 years in prison. He has since been acclaimed by the whole world as the great reconciler. But many people in the “born free” generation – who came into the world after the fall of apartheid – take a less positive view of him. Njabulo Ndebele, author and head of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Jonny Steinberg, South African non-fiction author and Oxford professor, and Koleka Putuma, South African poet and activist, engage in a conversation about who Mandela was – and what he means today. Their discussion will be moderated by Teresa Grøtan, author and LitFestBergen director. In English.

When Patrick Chamoiseau was a young schoolboy in French Martinique, the Creole that the locals spoke in their daily lives had little space. How do you find your own language as an author when the words you use are unacknowledged and you belong to a population which has been oppressed and kept as slaves for several centuries? In this conversation with translator Synneve Sundby, Chamoiseau talks about the route to writing, about gender, Creoleness and what literature can mean. The conversation is in English and French. With support from Institut francais de Norvège

The Listening Post (Lytteposten) is LitFestBergen’s free offer to those who need a break from the festival programme – but don’t want to take one. Find a space, lean back, and listen to two of the festival’s writers in Arabic read from their work in English translation. With Khaled Khalifa (Syria) and Mazen Maarouf (Lebanon). In English/Arabic/Norwegian

I fleire hundreår har dei europeiske samfunna stått i front av verdas økonomiske og kulturelle utvikling. Men det siste tiåret har pilene peika nedover på fleire område: arbeidsløysa aukar, ekstremismen vinn fram, og reaksjonære krefter pregar verdikampen. Forfattarane Ingrid Brekke, Nazneen Khan-Østrem og Vibeke Knoop-Rachline er aktuelle med bøker om Polen, Storbritannia og Frankrike. Dei møtest til samtale om brexit, migrasjon og terror i Europa under leiing av Kjersti Løken Stavrum.

The Listening Post (Lytteposten) is LitFestBergen’s free offer to those who need a break from the festival programme – but don’t want to take one. Find a space, lean back, and listen to two of the festival’s writers in French read from their work. With Patrick Chamoiseau (Martinique) and Marie Darrieussecq (France). In French/English With support from Institut francais de Norvège

I fleire tiår blei norske samar utsette for ein brutal og undertrykkande fornorskingspolitikk, og dei blei nekta å bruke sitt eige språk. Kva konsekvensar har dette hatt for bruken av samisk som kvardagsspråk og som litterært språk? Og korleis vel ein som norsk-samisk forfattar i dag kva språk ein skal skrive på? Forfattarane Risten Sokki og Sigbjørn Skåden møtest til samtale under leiing av litteraturprofessor Harald Gaski. På norsk.

What is living in Palestine like following 50 years of Israeli occupation? After spending several decades in Ramallah, Raja Shehadeh and his wife Penny Johnson have each written a personal account of how life has changed – for both people and animals – but also how an occupied life quickly becomes an everyday existence. Shehadeh and Johnson meet Palestine researcher Kjersti G Berg in conversation. The conversation is in English

When Lynda Blackmon Lowery marched with Martin Luther King from Selma in Alabama in 1965, she was only 15 years old – but she knew what justice was, and knew she wanted it. Lowery relates this in her graphic memoir Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom. She has lived through – and participated in – major upheavals in US history. What was it like then, and what it is like being black in America in 2020? Lowery talks with critic Kaja Schjerven Mollerin about the experience of marching with Dr King, and life in the US South today. The conversation is in English.

In La mer à l’envers, the latest novel by France’s Marie Darrieussecq, the female protagonist – a psychologist in her 40s – takes a Mediterranean cruise. The ship picks up a boatful of migrants one night, and she gets to know the young Nigerian Younes. How can you know that you’re doing the right thing for yourself and others? Darrieussecq’s books are among the most read in her generation. Since her literary debut in 1996, she has written a number of works in various genres, from the linguistically experimental, via art novels and books on cloning, to essays on motherhood. She meets critic and translator Margunn Vikingstad for a conversation on her writing. In English With support from Institut francais de Norvège

Med klimaendringane blir spørsmålet om fordeling av ressursar sett i eit nytt lys. Når det blir knapt om gode som dyrkbar mark, rein luft og vatn, kan menneska sitt eigedomsforhold til naturen framleis definerast på same måten? Kven eig eigentleg naturen, og kva inneber det å eige den? Sigbjørn Skåden er i sitt forfattarskap svært opptatt av spørsmålet om naturforvalting, sett frå eit samisk perspektiv. Han møter klimaforskar Bjørn Samset til samtale, under leiing av forfattar og journalist Kjersti Sandvik. Samtalen er på norsk.

Samfunnsforskaren og presten Eilert Sundt var ein pionér i kartlegginga av det norske kvardagslivet og blir rekna som grunnleggaren av norsk sosiologi. Forfattar og kritikar Espen Stueland fortel i dette foredraget om arbeidet sitt med den formfornyande og kritikarroste boka Eilert Sundt-tilstanden – ei forskingsformidling i verseform. Foredraget er på norsk.

Kva er sjølvkjensle? Kvar startar og sluttar eit ”eg”? I sine bøker viser den nyleg avdøde nobelprisvinnaren Toni Morrison at ingen blir seg sjølv heilt aleine. I dette foredraget snakkar forfattar og kritikar Kaja Schjerven Mollerin om kva innsikter Morrisons forfattarskap gir oss om eg-kjensla og fellesskapet. Foredrag på norsk.

“I started late, at 26, but immediately understood that dance was going to exert an influence over every area of my life, particularly literature,” writes Indian poet, novelist and dancer Tishani Doshi in an essay written for the LitFestBergen catalogue. Her latest novel, Small Days and Nights, is a story of sorrow, anger and impossible ideals about what a nation could be, and she has created a new dance production based on this book. After performing it, Doshi talks with Tora de Zwart Rørholt about the relationship between life, dance and literature. In English.

Med boka Å lese verden tilbyr Tonje Vold lesaren ein alternativ måte å forstå verdslitteraturen på. Gjennom nye briller oppdagar vi at det finst andre måtar å lese klassikarane på, og ikkje minst oppdagar vi betydninga litteraturen kan spele for makt, motstand og frigjering. I dette foredraget snakkar Vold om kva som skjer når våre litterære verdsbilete oppstår og når dei kollapsar. Foredraget er på norsk.

“Place isn’t important,” Mary Ruefle has declared in an interview with The White Review. “I tend to write in my head, which I can carry with me wherever I go.” She has produced a number of poetry collections and essays which demonstrate time and again her ability to use language to twist expectations and create new, subtle and deep connections. In this conversation with author and critic Ida Lødemel Tvedt, Ruefle talks about why and how she writes. English conversation.

Korleis kan kvardagsspråket, som tar utgangspunkt i alt frå det konkrete og tinglege til djupt kulturelle fenomen – som til dømes sjølve omgrepet kvardag – bli omsett frå eit språk til eit anna? Kva om det ikkje er det spesialiserte språket som er vanskelegast å formidle på eit anna språk? Forfattar Laila Stien omsett frå nordsamisk til norsk og Synneve Sundby omsett frå fransk til norsk. Dei møtest til samtale under leiing av forfattar og omsettar Grethe Fatima Syéd. Samtalen er på norsk.

Work is under way in the truth and reconciliation commission for the Sami, Kvens (north Norwegians of Finnish descent) and Norwegian-Finns. In South Africa, they also opted for a truth and reconciliation commission in the wake of apartheid, rather than using the courts. What does it actually take to restore trust between people after centuries of conflict and oppression? And what role can literature play in such a process? Harald Gaski, professor of Sami culture and literature, and Njabulo Ndebele, South African professor of literature and head of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, meet for a conversation on the role of law and art in the work of reconciliation. Their discussion will be moderated by media professor Kristin Skare Orgeret. The conversation is in English.