Trends in Nordic Literature

The nominees for the 2026 Nordic Council Literature Prize will be announced on Thursday 26th of February. What are we reading here in the Nordics? Are there any tendencies or trends in Nordic literature?
Why are the Icelandic writers so nostalgic? Why does Norwegians always write about troubled family affaires, Danes about individuals who are kind of lost, Swedes about the difficulties with identity and Finns about accepting one’s destiny? What about the Greenlanders, Sami, Ålanders and the Faroese? Is it at all possible to place Nordic Literature into one set category?

We are going to discuss these and other questions in Elissa at the Nordic House on Friday 27th of February. Salomon Hellmann will be with us from Helsinki and share his thoughts on how the nominated books will be welcomed by the readers in Finland and look at the similarities with earlier nominees. Followed by a conversation between Yukiko Duke and Halla Þórlaug Óskarsdóttir moderated by Silje Beite Løken.
Everyone are welcome, Free entrance, light refreshments and the library will be open for all who would like to loan a Nordic book or two.
Language: Swedish and Norwegian. The event will be streamed.

Accessibility:

The Nordic House has good access to most of the building’s spaces. There is a wheelchair ramp that leads up to the house and inside the house there is an elevator that goes down to the exhibition space Hvelfing. Unfortunately, there are only stairs down to the children’s library from the library itself, but for wheelchairs it is accessible from Hvelfing.