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Svein-Magne Tunli

Date: 05.02.2022

Time: 15:30 - 16:00

Location: Youtube

Bergen, Norway

You can watch Literature Live Around the World on YouTube.

Presented by Bergen International Literary Festival (LitFestBergen)

In Linn Ullmann’s most recent book Jente, 1983 (Girl, 1983) we meet a woman who finds her life, and the outside world, developing fractures. At the same time, she delves into suppressed memories and seeks to understand the girl she was at 16. Ullmann’s work has been translated to numerous languages and published in over 30 countries. In Literature Live Around the World, we meet her in conversation with Mona B. Riise, where she will also be reading from her book.

With a distinctive mix of jazz, blues, yodel and throat singing, musician Bjørn Tomren has taken Norway by storm. He will be assuring the music, live from Bergen.

Local host: Mona B. Riise

Linn Ullmann (b 1966, Norway) is an author, critic and journalist.She studied English literature at New York University and has worked for a number of years as a critic and commentator in Aftenposten and Dagbladet. With her debut novel Før du sovner in 1998, Ullmann quickly became established as an international author, and her books have been published in more than 30 countries.

In addition to receiving the Amalie Skram and Dobloug prizes, she has been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. Ullmann has also received the Gold Pen award for her work as a journalist. Her latest book, Jente, 1983 appeared in the autumn of 2021. 

Bjørn Tomren is a Norwegian musician, known for his participation in the NRK-series Stjernekamp (Star Battle), where he is referred to as the show’s “coolest artist ever”. He is part of the accordion duo Polkabjørn & Kleine Heine. As one of Norway’s most versatile musicians, Tomren plays jazz, folk, psychedelic protest songs and punk in dialect, and he masters both yodel and throat singing. In addition to his versatile musicianship, Tomren has been on many expeditions and crossed Norway both by foot, kayak and cross country skiing.

Mona B Riise (b 1972, Norway) is a journalist and host of TV and radio programmes. She studied such subjects as literature, medium and communication at the University of Oslo.

Riise has had a long career as a reporter and host for music and cultural programmes with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), including Lydverket, and has served for many years on the panel of experts for the NRK’s Stjernekamp programme.

She published Norsk pop-poesi in 2018, a collection of poetical highlights from Norwegian pop, rock and rap music, where she has also talked with the songwriters about the process behind chart successes.

Britta Badour (Canada), better known as Britta B., is a lyricist, slam poet, emcee and art teacher resident in Toronto. 

With an MFA in creative writing from the University of Guelph, she is professor of spoken word performance at Seneca College.

Britta B. received the Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award in 2021. Her works have been presented in print, as sound installations and on stage throughout North America. 

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