Nordic education, culture and media:
Nordic culture, education and media
As well as content on culture, education and media, you will also find articles on art, literature, belief systems and public policy. Phenomena as diverse as Nordic noir, new Nordic cuisine and Nordic design have achieved global recognition more recently, as Nordic literature and architecture have done historically. Culture is taken in its broadest sense, including for example political culture and that of belief systems, such as the Lutheran church. Content about all these issues and more will be found on this page.
2019.10.01 | Article, Lill Tove Fredriksen, Literature, Minorities
A brief history of Sámi literature
Sámi literature's history can be traced from the 1600s and the course of this history can be interpreted in the context of important Sámi, national and international political movements. Sámi literature is literature written by authors who are Sámi, who are members of the Sámi people. In this short article, the Sámi socio-political development…
2019.08.28 | Biography, Bodil Marie Stavning Thomsen, The arts
Asta Nielsen (1881-1972)
The Danish theatre actress Asta Sophie Amalie Nielsen became a silent screen world star overnight after her leading role in the silent movie Afgrunden (The Abyss/The Woman always Pays) in 1910.
2019.08.27 | Biography, Tom Lundskær-Nielsen, The arts
Kjeld Abell (1901-1961)
Kjeld Abell is one of the most prominent and innovative Danish playwrights in the 20th century. In his early plays he satirises the narrow, conventional outlook of the bourgeoisie from a socialist viewpoint. Later, he focuses on political commitment and moral dilemmas, inspired by World War II and the German occupation of Denmark, while the…
2019.08.21 | Biography, Linda Haverty Rugg, Literature
Tomas Tranströmer (1931-2015)
Winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature, Tomas Tranströmer was one of those rare poets who is both acclaimed by scholars and critics as well as beloved by a broad readership in Sweden and internationally. Translated into over 60 languages, his poetry is characterized by powerful imagery, and focuses particularly on the human interface with…
2019.08.18 | Biography, Jenny Rood, Juliette Victor, The arts
Ulf Lundell (b. 1949)
Ulf Gerhard Lundell is a Swedish rock singer, composer, author, poet, and artist known as ‘the Swedish Bob Dylan.’
2019.08.07 | Article, Anne-Marie Mai, Literature
An overview of Nordic prose fiction since 1945
Post-war Nordic prose fiction forms a diverse literary landscape, starting with existentialism and a renewal of modernism, and developing with both Nordic and international currents, including realism, postcolonialism, and autofiction. A number of authors from the period are well known both in the Nordic countries and internationally. Among the…
2019.08.05 | Biography, Linda Haverty Rugg, The arts
Susanne Bier (b. 1960)
Acclaimed Danish film director with many awards to her credit, including an Oscar, Golden Globes, an Emmy, and numerous festival and European prizes, Susanne Bier concentrates on family dynamics and their relation to global concerns in her work, particularly poverty and violence.
2019.08.05 | Biography, Linda Haverty Rugg, The arts
Bille August (b. 1948)
Bille August is a Danish filmmaker in the realist tradition, and a winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 1988 for Pelle Erobreren (Pelle the Conqueror). He created a cinematic adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s Den goda viljan (Best Intentions, 1992) and of Peter Høeg’s thriller Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne (Smilla’s Sense of…
2019.08.05 | Biography, Linda Haverty Rugg, Literature
Inger Christensen (1935-2009)
One of Denmark’s most daring experimental twentieth-century poets, Inger Christensen pushes language to its extreme limits while also engaging with philosophical concepts and political issues such as gender, ecology, and nuclear war.
2019.08.05 | Biography, Linda Haverty Rugg, Literature
Mikael Niemi (b. 1959)
Mikael Niemi is a novelist, poet, playwright and short-story writer often focusing on the Tornedal region of Sweden where he lives. His work is steeped in fantasy, folklore, and science fiction, and expressive of a place and people at the margins of the Swedish national culture.