27.2.2026, 18.00-19.00

Location: Online
Language: Norwegian, Swedish

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?

These are some of the questions we will tackle during this hybrid event. Library developer Salomon Hellman will be with us from Nordic Culture Point in Helsinki and share his thoughts on how the nominated books will be welcomed by readers in Finland and look at the similarities with earlier nominees This will be followed by a conversation on site at the Nordic House in Reykjavík between author/literary critic Yukiko Duke and author/illustrator Halla Þórlaug Óskarsdóttir. The conversation will be moderated by Silje Beite Løken, literature mediator at the Nordic House and project manager for the Nordic Council Literature Prizes.

The event will be streamed by Nordic House.
NOTE: The event starts at 6 p.m. Finnish time (4 p.m. Icelandic time)