The mundane and the mystical: A conversation with Karl Ove Knausgård (digital)

The stricter infection control measures adopted by the Norwegian authorities for the Bergen region from 7-14 February mean that LitFestBergen must cancel all physical events. All ticket purchases for physical events will be refunded. Streaming tickets costing NOK 40.00 for this event will be available at ticketco.no. A number of programme items will be shown free on YouTube.

When Karl Ove Knausgård published Morgenstjernen in Norway in 2020 (The Morning Star, due in English translation spring 2021), it was his first major novel since the My Struggle series. The plot unfolds on a warm day in late summer, some years into the future. A new star appears in the sky. Through nine different people from various generations, together and alone at different places around Norway, the author depicts the magical and the mystifying.

Knausgård will be interviewed from London by Claire Armitstead, associate editor, culture, for the Guardian. With Morgenstjernen as their starting point, they will plunge into the author’s literary universe – the mundane and the mystical, the simple and the supernatural, the unpleasant and the beautiful. And what is it about Bergen which makes it such a good frame for an apocalyptic story?