Event | Special Events Live! At The Library: A Celebration of Nordic Writers

As we move toward hygge season, when the temperatures get cooler and we start bundling up for the fall and winter,  join us at the Library of Congress for an event in collaboration with the Nordic embassies in Washington, D.C., celebrating vibrant fiction and nonfiction being published in five Nordic nations: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

By using the ticket button above, you will gain entry into all of the below events:

Collection Display
5 - 8 p.m. in LJ-110
The Library’s curators will be displaying unique items revealing of Nordic history in room LJ-110, on the first floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building.

Beyond the Snow: The Untamed Landscape in Nordic Lit with Josefine Klougart and Hanna Pylväinen
5:30 - 6:30 p.m. in LJ-119
The authors of “The End of Drum-Time” (Pylväinen) and “On Darkness” (Klougart) will move beyond stereotypical assumptions about the Nordic landscape — that it’s forbidding and cold. Library of Congress Program Specialist Anya Creightney will moderate. A book signing will follow, starting at 6:30 p.m. in LJ-113.

How Well Do We Know the Ones We Love (Even Ourselves)? with Hanne Ørstavik, Hildur Knútsdóttir and Moa Herngren
6:45 - 7:45 p.m. in LJ-119
The characters in these novels are keeping secrets, sometimes (quite strangely) from themselves. How have Ørstavik (“Ti Amo”), Herngren (“The Divorce”) and Knútsdóttir (“The Night Guest”) decided when and how to reveal their secrets? A book signing will follow, starting at 7:45 p.m. in LJ-113.

About the Authors:

Denmark: Josefine Klougart’s debut novel, “Rise and Fall,” and her third novel, “One of Us Is Sleeping,” both received Nordic Council Literature Prize nominations, making her the first Danish author ever to have two of her first three books nominated for Scandinavia's most prestigious award. “One of Us is Sleeping” was published in its English translation by Open Letter Books in 2016. Her fourth novel, “Of Darkness,” appeared in 2014 to massive critical acclaim throughout Scandinavia, and was published in English by Deep Vellum in 2017.

Finland: Hanna Pylväinen is the author of the novel “We Sinners,” which received a Whiting Award and a Balcones Fiction Prize. Her work has appeared in Harper’s Magazine, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Chicago Tribune and The Wall Street Journal; she is the recipient of fellowships from, among others, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, as well as residencies from MacDowell, Yaddo and the Lásságámmi Foundation. She has taught at the University of Michigan, Princeton University and Virginia Commonwealth University; currently, she is on the faculty at the Warren Wilson College Master of Fine Arts Program for Writers. She lives in Philadelphia.

Norway: Hanne Ørstavik published the novel “Cut” in 1994 and embarked on a career that would make her one of the most admired authors in Norwegian contemporary literature. Her literary breakthrough came three years later with the publication of “Love” (“Kjærlighet”), which in 2006 was voted the sixth best Norwegian book of the last 25 years in a prestigious contest in Dagbladet, and won the 2019 PEN Translation Prize. Since then, Ørstavik has written several acclaimed novels and received a host of literary prizes.

Iceland: Hildur Knútsdóttir was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, in 1984. She has lived in Spain, Germany and Taiwan and studied literature and creative writing at the University of Iceland. She writes fiction both for adults and teenagers, as well as short fiction, plays and screenplays. Knútsdóttir is known for her evocative fantastical fiction and spine-chilling horror. “The Night Guest” is her first book translated into English. She lives in Reykjavík with her husband, their two daughters and a puppy called Uggi.

Sweden: Moa Herngren is the Swedish author of the gripping and highly acclaimed relationship dramas “The Mother-in-Law” and “The Divorce.” Herngren is also a journalist, former editor-in-chief of Elle magazine and a highly sought-after manuscript writer, as well as the co-creator and writer of the Netflix hit show “Bonus Family.” She lives in Sweden.