Meet the author: Victoria Kielland

Sun 26.03.2023
18:00 - 19:00
Victoria Kielland copy Julia Marie Naglestad 1 1

Category

meet the author, lecture

Price

weekend pass: €35/32 (€37 supporting united stages) - day pass: €20/17 (€22 supporting united stages)

discount

the preferential rate gives 3€ discount to all who benefit. paspartoe and article 27 accepted.

Language

in english

Up-and-coming Norwegian talent Victoria Kielland made waves last year with her psychological novel My Men. The book is an extraordinary portrait of an extraordinary woman: she left Norway at the end of the nineteenth century as Brynhild and arrived in America as Bella, one of America’s most famous female serial killers.

My Men is a work of fiction inspired by the real life of Brynhild, a Norwegian maid who emigrated to America in the late nineteenth century to become Bella Sørensen, then Belle Gunness from La Porte, Indiana. After her death, Belle became known as America’s first female serial killer. Kielland, however, writes about a broken person, about disappointments and abysses, about not losing yourself, about who may live and who must die: ‘No one who loves with their whole self can survive.’

Saskia De Coster will talk to the author about her motives and – how could it be otherwise –those of Brynhild.

about the author

Victoria Kielland (b. 1985) lives in Oslo and is one of the most original voices of her generation. Her first novel was published in 2016. Her second novel, My Men, became a bestseller in Norway, was nominated for the Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize and the Young Critic’s Award, and has been published in eleven languages. At The Norwegian Festival of Literature in Lillehammer in June 2022, Kielland was awarded the prestigious Dobloug Prize, the literature prize awarded to two Swedish and two Norwegian writers each year for their literary work. The jury said: ‘Kielland has a very physical way of expressing herself, a style that is unique in contemporary Norwegian literature.’

about the moderator

Saskia De Coster (b. 1976) is the author of a distinctive body of work. She has published eight novels, including Wat alleen wij horen, Nachtouders and the bestselling Wij en ik (published in English as We and Me). Her work has been translated into more than ten languages.

A novel should not give unequivocal answers to complex questions. What this rich and poignant novel does do is try to get as close as possible to the core of a human being struggling with what she is doing to the world and to herself. My Men is a literary achievement of the highest order.
Standaard der Letteren
 

Don't forget daylight saving time. On Sunday, March 26, the time will change from 2:00 to 3:00.

Org. Passa Porta, Uitgeverij Oevers, Editions Dalva, NORLA, Noorse Ambassade

picture © Julia Maria Naglestad

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