Canadian author Margaret Atwood is a living legend. Since her debut in 1961 with the poetry collection Double Persephone, she has published more than 70 books of poetry, short story collections, novels, children’s books, essay collections and even opera librettos, including the world-renowned novels The Handmaid’s Tale and the MaddAddam trilogy. Atwood has truly made her mark with her literary explorations of totalitarianism, patriarchal structures and environmental destruction, and is known for her almost prophetic speculative fiction, set in societies curbing women’s rights or experiencing a worldwide pandemic or environmental collapse.

In her literature, Atwood is mischievous, fearless and original, frequently incorporating elements from classical texts, fairytales and works by writers like William Shakespeare or George Orwell. While her books often include elements from historical events, they also suggest new worlds and possibilities for the future.

Atwood was joined by journalist and writer Karin Haugen for a conversation about the past and the present, prophetic stories and her unique body of work.

This conversation was hosted by The House of Literature in Oslo and took place on October 31st, 2024 at the Oslo Opera House.

LitHouse is a podcast from The House of Literature in Oslo, presenting adapted versions of lectures and conversations featuring international writers and thinkers.

Music by Apothek.

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How can Africa reach its full potential when Europe is still the blueprint to model oneself after? Not only has centuries of colonization and exploitation stripped the continent of opportunities, but the term “development” has all but become synonymous with following in Europe’s footsteps.

This is the argument of Senegalese academic Felwine Sarr in his book Afrotopia, which has had great influence in academic as well as public discourse. In it, he explores the possibility of a new Africa, with the help of African thinkers, artists and philosophic traditions. Africa needs a utopia, a goal to strive towards, without comparing themselves to others, Sarr says. How might such an afrotopia look?

Felwine Sarr is a leading academic and a prominent voice in public discourse. He is professor in economics at the Gaston-Berger University in Senegal, and professor of French and francophone studies at Duke University, USA, as well as a musician and the author of several novels. Together with the philosopher Achille Mbembe, he has established Les Ateliers De La Pensée, which gathers academics and writers from across Africa and the diaspora. In 2018, commissioned by President Emmanuel Macron, Sarr and the French art historian Bénédicte Savoy authored a seminal report on repatriation of African cultural artifacts from French museums.

Andreas Liebe Delsett is a writer and former artistic director at the House of Literature, currently working on a book about South Africa's recent history.

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The author of twelve novels, along with a number of non-fiction books and plays, Rachel Cusk is one of our most prominent contemporary writers. Her brave, razor sharp and original voice has made her a favourite with readers and critics alike.

Cusk is a truly innovative writer, pushing the boundaries of the form for each new publication. Already in 2008, when she published her brutally honest depiction of motherhood A Life’s Work, she was miles ahead of contemporary feminist discourse. Her Outline trilogy was considered by many critics a revolution of the novel form.

Her latest novel Parade is no different. Here, Cusk continues her exploration of unconventional structures, delving into the lives of a number of artists all referred to with the initial G. Their stories are told through a nameless narrator moving seamlessly in and out of the different tales. The result is a boldly composed exploration of the role of the artist and what drives someone to create art, a novel about how both art and artist are shaped by society’s gaze. In Parade, Cusk dissects interpersonal relationships and existential questions with precision and clarity.

In The University of Oslo's Ceremonial Hall, Cusk will be joined by journalist and publisher Jessika Gedin, for a conversation about the connections between art and life, about gender roles, the artist and how we human beings are able to live side by side.

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Lately, much attention has been given to political attacks on prestigious writers. The attempted murder of Salman Rushdie and the deplatforming of Adania Shibli at the Frankfurt Book Fair sparked international outrage and raised awareness of ongoing threats to individual writers today.

Far less attention is given to the fact that across the world, writers are prosecuted and jailed for their supposed dissidence to autocratic regimes. Turkey is among the world leaders in its number of jailed authors, a trend that increases wherever war and conflict can form a forgiving political climate.

What is the effect of political persecution on individual writers? And how does such a climate affect the writers who remain “free”?

For decades, Yasemin Çongar has been one of Turkey’s most renowned journalists and oppositional voices to the Turkish regime. Since 2016, she has herself been on trial for her journalism, and is still fighting a lengthy prison sentence.

In 2018, Çongar also founded the Kıraathane literature house in Istanbul, where she worked as director until March 2023. At Kıraathane, as well as through her work as a translator and writer, Çongar has helped raise awareness of the challenges faced by writers today.

Now, Çongar visits the House of Literature for a philosophical and personal lecture on freedom, creativity, and the transcendent power of literature.

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Igoni Barrett is a Nigerian writer of novels and short stories, especially well known for his award-winning novel 2015 Blackass. In 2014, he was named on the Hay Festival's Africa39 list of African writers under 40. Barrett is also part of the House of Literature's artistic council, advising in our project to promote African literature.

This is Igoni Barrett's reading list:

• Abdulrazak Gurnah, Afterlives (Etterliv)
• Zoe Wicomb, You Can’t Get Lost in Cape Town (Ingen går seg vill i Cape Town)
• Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (De blåeste øyne)

                                   Jazz

• Alex Haley, Roots (Røtter)
• Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (Usynlig mann)
• Yambo Ouloguem, Le devoir de violence (Bound To Violence)
• Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, La plus secrète mémoire des hommes (Menneskenes mest fordekte minne)

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What do the Mings, The Rameses’, the Romanovs, the Assads and the Clintons have in common? They are all family dynasties who, for better or worse, have influenced the history of the world.

Historian and writer Simon Sebag Montefiore is a formidable storyteller, and his detailed and engaging works about historical figures such as Catherine the Great, Stalin and the Romanovs have earned him readers across the globe. In his most recent book, The World – A Family History of Humanity, his focus is no less than the entire world history, told through some of the most central family dynasties.

More than an ambitious and grand project, Montefiore’s latest colossal publication is also an exploration and re-thinking of how we tell history. “World history often has themes, not people; biography has people, not themes,” as he writes in the book’s introduction.

By emphasizing the family, he is able to combine the two – the great historical events with the stories of the people in the midst of it all. He also gives more space to the role of women, and tells parts of the world’s history that might not be as well known among most Norwegian and European readers, such as Sundiata Keita’s kingdom in Mali, Itzcoatl and the founding of the Aztek kingdom, and Ashoka and the Mauyrya empire in ancient India.

Diving into world history with Montefiore on stage is Shazia Majid, award-winning journalist and author of the book Ut av skyggene (“Out of the Shadows”), about the first generation of Pakistani migrant workers in Norway.

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Lecture by Denise DeCaires Narain

This lecture introduces two of the most prolific Caribbean women writers, Jean Rhys and Jamaica Kincaid, comparing their distinctive styles and thematic focus. Both writers have spoken of the significance of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre in their writing lives and the lecture will explore how this plays out in their work, particularly in their respective engagements with anger and madness.

For many feminist critics, Bertha Mason, Jane Eyre’s “mad woman in the attic, encapsulates the fury of women excluded (or expelled) by patriarchal structures. In this lecture, Denise DeCaires Narain argues that the unique forms that Rhys and Kincaid deploy give shape to that fury in productive and stylish ways.

Denise DeCaires Narain has worked at the University of Sussex for a number of years, where her research has focused especially on Caribbean writers and postcolonial literature. In this lecture, she offers a unique introduction to two of the most prominent writers from the Caribbean: Jean Rhys and Jamaica Kincaid.

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Leila Aboulela is a Sudanese writer, currently living in Scotland. She is the author of six award winning novels, including The Translator (1999), Bird Summons (2019) and River Spirit (2023), as well as a number of plays and short story collections. Aboulela was the first ever winner of the Caine Prize for Fiction, and an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

This is Leila Aboulela’s reading list:

• Maaza Mengiste, The Shadow King
• Tayeb Salih, Season of Migration to the North

                             The Wedding of Zein

• Naguib Mahfouz, The Cairo Trilogy (Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street)

                              The Thief and the dogs

• Ahdaf Soueif, In the Eye of the Sun
• Fatin Abbas, Ghost Season
• Isabella Hammad, The Parisian

                              Enter Ghost

In this podcast series the House of Literature in Oslo, Norway invites writers and thinkers to talk about their work, what they read and present their reading list from the African continent and diaspora.

Host in this episode Åshild Lappegård Lahn

Editing and production by the House of Literature

Music by Ibou Cissokho

The House of Literature’s project to promote African literature is supported by NORAD.

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Elizabeth Strout is one of the most distinct voices in contemporary American literature, and beloved by readers and critics alike. Her international breakthrough came with the novel Olive Kitteridge, which earned her the 2009 Pulitzer Prize, and which was later adapted into the award winning mini series of the same name. Since then, she has written four books in her Lucy Barton series; My Name Is Lucy Barton, Anything Is Possible, Oh, William! and Lucy by the Sea.

Her Lucy novels tell stories about exposedness, poverty, grief and childhood trauma, but also about the value of hope, art and love. Lucy grows up in a poor and dysfunctional family in the Illinois countryside and becomes a writer against all odds. Through her village upbringing and different periods in Lucy’s life, the novels depicts her slow awakening as a writer, someone who tells stories, who gives the world meaning through language.

In Strout’s novels and short stories, the great drama unfolds within unassuming everyday life. The emotional lives of ordinary people are portrayed with depth, warmth and complexity, while she simultaneously shows a keen eye for the larger societal structures and systems of which we, consciously or unconsciously, are part.

At the House of Literature, Strout is joined by writer Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold for a conversation about family, community and change.

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Elizabeth Strout is one of the most distinct voices in contemporary American literature, and beloved by readers and critics alike. She started writing at an early age, but it would take her many years to finally get published. Back then, her mantra was “just keep going”.

This year, Strout’s debut novel, Amy and Isabelle, is finally available in Norwegian (translated by Hilde Rød-Larsen). Her international breakthrough came with the novel Olive Kitteridge, which earned her the 2009 Pulitzer Prize, and which was later adapted into the award-winning mini series of the same name. Since then, she has written four books in her Lucy Barton series; My Name Is Lucy Barton, Anything Is Possible, Lucy by the Sea and Oh, William! – which have earned Strout a reputation of an unafraid and deeply thoughtful writer.

«You can’t write fiction and be careful,» Strout has said. Growing up in a small, rural town with a strict family – similarly to her beloved character Lucy Barton – books were miracles and refuges – places in which she realized she was not alone.

In this personal lecture, Strout will talk about her journey from when she first started to write, and to becoming a published author, highlighting some of the authors and books that have shaped and influenced her along the way, such as Alice Munro, Eudora Welty and Ernest Hemingway. A constant observer of those around her, she will talk about where she finds inspiration for her characters and how she learned to throw caution to the wind.

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Writer and therapist Glenn Bech sparked a larger debate about class issues in Denmark with his autobiographical novel The Fathership (forthcoming in Hazel Evans’ translation) and his manifesto Jeg anerkænder ikke længere jeres autoritet (“I no longer recognize your authority”).

The novel The Fathership depicts a brutal childhood characterized by violence, betrayals and toxic masculinity, but that also has a tenderness and love for the families and working class community portrayed. The novel was praised by the literary establishment, and the following year, Bech published Jeg anerkænder ikke længere jeres autoritet (“I no longer recognize your authority”), a furious manifesto about class struggle, the proletariat and the elite. In a self-scrutinizing, loud and emphatic prose, Bech rails against class contempt and the economic blind spots within the cultural middle class, showing the reader what it is like to be exposed, gay and poor.

Masculinity, homophobia and class are central issues in British poet and author Andrew McMillan’s critically acclaimed debut novel Pity. The book portrays three generations of men, spanning from the heyday of the coal industry, with long days of back-breaking labour in the mines, to a present characterized by unemployment and loneliness. In a sparse but urgent tone and with an eye for the raw and vulnerable, McMillan explores today’s gender roles for men, and how the past affects the present. At the same time, the book is a tribute to the working class and an invitation to reflection, change and acceptance.

McMillan and Bech are joined by writer and journalist Kristofer Folkhammar for a conversation about poverty, class and toxic gender roles.

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