Time
29.4.2025 16.30 – 18.00

Address
Nordic Culture Point, Kaisaniemenkatu 9

Language
Danish, Norwegian, Swedish

Meet three Nordic authors – Amina Elmi, Robin Van de Walle and Adrian Perera – in a conversation about belonging and living among and writing in multiple languages. The conversation is moderated by Hilda Forss, doctoral student in Nordic literature at the University of Helsinki. The event is organized in collaboration with the university and serves as a standalone closing of the symposium Å leve i flere kulturer. Å skrive litteratur på et adoptert språk (in English: Living in Multiple Cultures. Writing Literature in an Adopted Language).

Amina Elmi (Denmark)

Amina Elmi was born in Somalia in 1994 and came to Denmark at the age of three, where she grew up in Aalborg. Elmi made her book debut in 2023 with the critically acclaimed poetry collection Barbar [Tavshedens objekt] (Barbarian [Object of Silence], not translated into English).

Robin Van de Walle (Norway)

Robin Van de Walle was born in 1994 in Belgium and is currently living in Bergen. He debuted in 2022 with the autofictional novel Han, Solo, about love, queer identity and the eternal search for a home and a belonging. The book was well received in the Norwegian press.

Adrian Perera (Finland)

Adrian Perera, born 1988 made his debut in 2017 with the poetry collection White Monkey, awarded the Swedish Yle Literature Prize, where the reader meets a woman from Sri Lanka who is trying to create a home for herself in a new country. After three novels, Perera returned to poetry this spring with the book Jag firar inte i år (I’m not celebrating this year, not translated into English).

Hilda Forss (Finland)

Hilda Forss (1987-) has a background as a graphic designer. She currently works for Svenska litteratursällskapet (Society of Swedish Literature in Finland) and is pursuing a doctorate in Nordic literature at the University of Helsinki, with a thesis on digital technology in Nordic poetry.