Wednesday 4 February 2026
Opening of LitFestBergen 2026
with Vónbjørt Vang, Eduardo Halfon, John Olav Nilsen, Magnus Thomassen and Teresa Grøtan
Meet this Year’s Winner of the Ossietzky Prize
with Jørgen Watne Frydnes and Norwegian PEN
Reading: New Texts on Betrayal
with Eduardo Halfon, Wanjiru Koinange and Afua Hirsch
Conversation: New Texts on Betrayal
with Eduardo Halfon, Afua Hirsch, Wanjiru Koinange and Priya Bains
System Failure 95. Original Performance. Concert with John Olav Nilsen
with John Olav Nilsen
Thursday 5 February 2026
Reading Banned Books Aloud
with LitFestBergen's International Book Club
Critics’ seminar: The Deceptive Nature of Literary Criticism
with Tue Andersen Nexø
Presentation of the Gullkroken Literature Prize
with Årstad vidaregåande skule
Critics’ Seminar: Deceptive Critics
with Frode Helmich Pedersen
Can Norwegians not be bothered to build the country any more?
with Martin Bech Holte and Frederick Studemann
Literary Festivals on Life and Death
with Yuliia Kozlovets, Wanjiru Koinange, Cristina Fuentes la Roche and Teresa Grøtan
Witches, Gypsy Girls, Runaways and Other Fallen Women
with Aina Basso and Jan H. Landro
Fifteen Years Later
with Gaute Børstad Skjervø and Marte Michelet
Ludvig Holberg and Niels Klim’s Fantastic World
with Jørgen Sejersted, Tue Andersen Nexø, Silja Leifsdottir and Gunnstein Akselberg
Against Contemporary Western Beauty Standards
with Afua Hirsch and Kari Jegerstedt
When Norway Fails Us Poor People
with Anna-Sabina Soggiu and Marte Michelet
Treacherous Literary Characters: God
with Olaug Nilssen
Knut Hamsun and the Right-Wing Radicals
with Hedvig Moe, Carline Tromp and Eirik Vassenden
Life, Literature and Betrayal – Betanien Hospital
with Hilde Kvalvaag
The Novel as Poetry
with Hanne Ørstavik
Betrayal, Butterflies, and the Metabolism
with Mette Moestrup, Eira Søyseth and Amanda Torsteinsdatter Hersvik
Friday 6 February 2026
Reading Banned Books Aloud
with LitFestBergen's International Book Club
City Walk: In the Footsteps of Karl Ove Knausgård
with Frode Helmich Pedersen
Infidelity!
with Selma Lønning Aarø
The literary journal and the writer
with Esther King, Ignacia Godoy and Priya Bains
Listening Post 1: Dyondzo Kwinika, Song Byeok, Amanda Marton
with Dyondza Kwinika, Song Byeok and Amanda Marton
DN Interview: Christian Ringnes’s Rich Life
with Christian Ringnes and Jorun Sofie Fallmo Aartun
What is home?
with Yohan Shanmugaratnam and Rima Iraki
DN interview: The spies among us
with Shaun Walker and Simen Ekern
Translators’ Seminar: Translating a Messiah
with Jan Henrik Swahn, Julia Aagenæs Wiedlocha and Agnes Banach
Life, Literature and Betrayal – Bergen Prison
with Eivind Riise Hauge
Literary date
with Christian Ringnes, Erna Solberg and Solveig Kloppen
Couples Therapy: North / South Korea
with Song Byeok, Bora Chung and Morten Traavik
DN Interview: In Her Father’s Shadow
with Marte Michelet and Simen Ekern
Decolonizing Literature
with Tsitsi Dangarembga, Wanjiru Koinange and Afua Hirsch
Palestine – History, Fleeing, Land
with Rima Iraki and Frode Bjerkestrand
Writing from a Country in the Shadows
with Gunel Movlud and Amund Trellevik
Trauma Game: Jewish Children at Summer Camp
with Eduardo Halfon and Daniel Medin
The Authors of the Future
with Sivert Nesbø
The Story of Dad
with Kjartan Brügger Bjånesøy, Marte Michelet, Hildegunn Dale and Hjørdis Losnedal
Translators’ Seminar: Taube in Translation
with Johannes Refsdal
Norwegian Slam Poetry Championship
with Henrikke Meidell
Saturday 7 February 2026
Reading Banned Books Aloud (Saturday)
with LitFestBergen's International Book Club
Eve, the First Betrayer?
with Pedro Carmona-Alvarez, Anne Katrine Bang and Preben Jordal
How is a Literary Prize Decided?
with Fred Studemann, Daniel Medin, Cristina de la Roche and Kjersti Løken Stavrum.
City Walk: In the Footsteps of Jon Fosse
with Margunn Vikingstad
How to win a literary prize
with Vónbjørt Vang, Dyondzo Kwinika and Kjersti Løken Stavrum
Treacherous Literary Characters: “The Spotless One”
with Jan H. Landro
A Betrayal of the Welfare State?
with Tue Andersen Nexø, Christine Hamm, Ola Morris Innset and Eirik Vassenden
Korean Feminism
with Bora Chung
The World on Saturday: Is Norway Ready for War?
with Eirik Kristoffersen, Unni Eikeseth and Kjersti Løken Stavrum
Espionage, Betrayal, and Family Secrets
with Shaun Walker
From Writing to Content Creation: Integrity at Stake?
with Silje Bekeng-Flemmen
Satire Under Pressure
with Song Byeok, Siri Dokken and Ignacia Godoy
Murder and Mystery in Láŋtdievvá
with Sigbjørn Skåden and Katarina Dorothea Isaksen
What Does it Mean to Be Good?
with Vigdis Hjorth and Olaug Nilssen
Prosalong: Is Weapons’ Research Unethical?
with Unni Eikeseth and Hege Cathrine Finholt
Whose Stories Should We Tell?
with Wanjiru Koinange and James Lamont
A Special Kind of Love
with Hanne Ørstavik and Margunn Vikingstad
The Liberation of a Woman and a Country
with Tsitsi Dangarembga and Kari Jegerstedt
Novels: Distortions of History and the Present
with Christian Kracht and Wolfgang Hottner
“Save the Whale, Screw the Shrimp”: A Conversation with Joy Williams
with Joy Williams, Gunnhild Øyehaug and Julia Aagenæs Wiedlocha
Poetic Punkgala
with Eira Søyseth, Vónbjørt Vang, Gunel Movlud, Thalente Ndlovu, Mette Moestrup, Abduweli Ayup, Mirigul Mosa, Hildegunn Dale and Michael Opara
Death – a Betrayal?
with Solveig Kloppen, Kjartan Brügger Bjånesøy and Eduardo "Doddo" Andersen
Feminist Horror
with Bora Chung and Vibeke Koehler
Writing Desire
with April Alexandersdottir, Vigdis Hjorth and Selma Lønning Aarø
Treacherous Literary Characters: Victor Frankenstein
with Vónbjørt Vang
Sunday 8 February 2026
LitFestMini/Little Sunday: Magic Wand Workshop
with Silje Bekeng-Flemmen
Reading Banned Books Aloud (Sunday)
with LitFestBergen's International Book Club
LitFestMini/Little Sunday: Children’s World History
with Erna Osland and Victoria Sandøy
City Walk Through Literary Bergen
with Henning Bergsvåg
The Librarians (documentary film)
with Andreas Hatlevik and Norwegian PEN
Care, Betrayal and What Shapes Us
with Sandra Lillebø and Olaug Nilssen
Life, Literature and Betrayal – Kirkens Bymisjon
with Vibeke Koehler and Signe Prøis
Listening Post 2: Christian Kracht and Joy Williams
with Christian Kracht and Joy Williams
Banned Books in the United States and Norway
with Siv Christine Bjørang Jørstad, school librarian, Julie Andersland, library manager at Bergen Public Library, Ine Marie Kørra, Andreas Hatlevik,and Norwegian PEN
Translators’ Seminar: The Second Life of Books
with Lea Ypi, Joy Williams and Julia Aagenæs Wiedlocha
When Fact Meets Fiction. Conversation With Lea Ypi
with Lea Ypi and Frøy Gudbrandsen
Treacherous Literary Characters: Brutus, Cassius, Iago and Peer Gynt
with Frode Helmich Pedersen
Closing Event for LitFestBergen 2026: Dylan’s Many Betrayals
with Pedro Carmona-Alvarez
LitFest MINI
LitFestMini/Little Sunday: Children’s World History
with Erna Osland and Victoria Sandøy
LitFestMini/Little Sunday: Magic Wand Workshop
with Silje Bekeng-Flemmen