Literature

Listen to a podcast on themes in Icelandic and Nordic literature on rewriting the past.

In 1936 the Finland-Swedish writer Sally Salminen won a literary prize for her first novel 'Katrina' which saw her life change. That someone like her,…

Introduktion

I 1944 udgav den berømte finsk-svenske romanforfatter Sally Salminen ’Kommer far hjem til jul?’ som en novelle i magasinet Juleroser.…

Introduction

In 1944, 'Juleroser' ('Christmas Roses') magazine published  the renowned Finland-Swedish novelist Sally Salminen's short story 'Kommer…

Sally Salminen's famous novel 'Katrina' was published in 1936 and changed her life. From then on, she could afford not to work as a maid and became a writer of both fiction and non-fiction. Her works wrangle with themes such as war and motherhood and deal with issues inspired by her own life which still resonate today.

Sally Salminen won a Finnish-Swedish literary prize for her novel 'Katrina' in the autumn of 1936 at a time when she was working as a maid in New York; it was the Great Depression and she had emigrated there six years earlier to work in wealthy households. It was a global sensation that someone like her, unknown and from the working class, could write such a good book. She was seen as a living example of the American dream and, all at once, she was able to return to the Nordics and put everything into her childhood dream: being an author. A further 16 books followed: novels, memoirs and travel stories which revolved around self-worth and social responsibility, captivity and freedom – and her debut novel has since proven to be a classic.

Listen to an overview of nordic crime fiction in either English or Danish!

Danish writer Dorrit Willumsen excels in historical, biographical novels.

Listen to 'A brief history of Sámi literature' in English or Finnish! This podcast is part of a series where existing material on nordics.info is read out in assorted languages by colleagues and friends. Great for learning Finnish or English. / Tämä podcast-jakso on nimeltään 'Lyhyt historia saamelaisesta kirjallisuudesta' ja se on käännös sivustolla julkaistusta samannimisestä artikkelista ”A brief history of Sami literature”. Jakso nauhoitettiin Århusin yliopistossa tammikuussa 2020 ja sen lukee Tuuli Veikkanen.

In this short video, Anna Sandberg, Associate Professor in the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies at Copenhagen University, gives an historical overview of the political and cultural relationship between Denmark and Germany over the last 200 years. Their relationship is an important one not least because it is the southern-most border of the Nordics - one of the 'gateways to Scandinavia'. Focus is specifically given to the events in 1864, when Prussia and Austria won a war against Denmark leading to the smaller state losing a great deal of its territory in Southern Jutland/Northern Schleswig. Another focus is 1920, when there was a plebiscite in this same borderland region to find out whether the people who lived there wanted to be Danish or German. This process of self-determination occurred without conflict, unlike other disputed regions after the first world war.