Lithouse Podcast

Édouard Louis 2022: Alan Hollinghurst and Édouard Louis have long read each other’s books with great interest. While Louis has written brutally honest depictions of growing up gay in a homophobic family and environment, Hollinghurst’s fiction explores gay culture and experience through the decades, including the AIDS crisis and gay life prior to decriminalization in the UK. While Norway marks 50 years since homosexuality was decriminalized this year, LGBT rights are being curbed around the world, and this year’s Oslo Pride ended in a fatal shooting. In such a climate, is the gay writer forced into an activist role by virtue of their being gay? Is there a pressure to represent when writing from a minority perspective? In this conversation, Hollinghurst and Louis will talk about their relationship to each other’s books, about the role of gay literature and the plight of the gay writer. Leading the conversation is Knut Olav Åmås, director of the Free Word Foundation. Hosted on Acast. See acas

Édouard Louis 2022: In his most recent book, Changer : méthode, Édouard Louis shows just how indebted he is, as a writer and thinker, to the works of the French academic and author Didier Eribon. Ever since seeing him lecture early in his life, Louis and Eribon have developed a deep understanding of the other’s works and ideas, with Eribon’s novel Retour à Reims even providing the foundation for Louis’ debut novel En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule. In this talk, Eribon gives us his view on Louis’ authorship and explores the many ways in which his literature overlaps with the political and translates to real political power.Didier Eribon is a French philosopher, author and historian, and has written many highly acclaimed works on class, homosexuality, psychoanalysis and Michel Foucault, among other subjects. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Édouard Louis 2022: A lecture by Maaza Mengiste, introduction by Édouard Louis. What is the responsibility of the writer in documenting and unpicking the violence around us? In Édouard Louis’s book The History of Violence, he explores violence from the point of view of the victim of rape and attempted murder, but also the violence that the perpetrator has experienced from society. In the novels Beneath the Lion’s Gaze and The Shadow King, about the bloody Ethiopian revolution and Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia, Maaza Mengiste has herself explored forms of violence – both on an individual level and on the level of society.In this personal lecture, Mengiste will talk about her relationship to Louis’s novel and give us her own reflections on the writer’s place in a violent world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Édouard Louis 2022: A young gay person escapes their small town in search of friendship and love in the big city. A recurring theme as much in real life as in literature.In his most recent book, Change: Method, Édouard Louis delves deeper into his own journey – as told in The End of Eddy – from his poor upbringing and to the cultural elite in Paris, and the deliberate steps he took along the way to reinvent himself.In writing the book, Louis was deeply inspired by Alan Hollinghurst’s award winning novel The Line of Beauty. Both books follows a gay protagonist trying to fit in within a different class than the one they were born into.Alan Hollinghurst is the author novels such as The Line of Beauty, The Stranger’s Child and The Sparsholt Affair.In this personal lecture, he shares his reading of Change: Method and reflections on shared themes such as class, culture and sexuality. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This lecture was held on November 18th at The House of Literature in Norway, during their three days of conversations, lectures, and events from Édouard Louis’ writing and works.The lecture was written for this occasion and centres around Louis’ recent experience of losing his older brother. Few writers have championed the working class like Édouard Louis. In each of his five novels, he portrays the struggles and aspirations of an often undermined and ignored group, exemplified by a family member or himself. His literature concerns itself with the psychological obstacles to self-fulfilment and shows how the strongest contempt for the working class is often held by the people within it. Louis was also vocal in supporting the Yellow Vests movement in 2018. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Checkout 19 Claire-Louise Bennett writes about the joy of reading, about when fiction becomes so vividly alive that you take it with you into the real world. Through a series of chapters - told in I-, she- and even we-form - we follow the main character's development from a little girl to an adult woman, through childhood, promiscuity and bad boyfriends. At the same time, there is a development from reader to author, but not without a series of derailments and tortuous detours: A meeting with a customer at the supermarket becomes the starting point for a detailed story about his background. An early self-written story emerges in the strangest directions. Claire-Louise Bennett's language is a cornucopia, and in a playful and original way she takes us into her rich and curious world.This conversation took place at the House of Literature in Oslo. On stage Bennet was joined by the Norwegian author and poet Amalie Kasin Lerstang. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is life like for young and regime-critical Russians today? Kira Yarmysh is best known in Russia as spokeswoman for the Russian oppositional politician Alexei Navalny. Now her debut novel Incredible Incidents in Women's Cell No. 3 is making headlines. In Russia, the book was quickly branded as "gay propaganda" by Russian authorities, due to depictions of same-sex love. Throughout the book, Yarmysh depicts a modern and contrast-filled Russia. Like her main character, Yarmysh is no stranger to the inside of a Russian prison cell, having herself been arrested at several demonstrations. She has been open about the book being based on her own experiences.At the House of Literature, Yarmysh met Norwegian politician Jette F. Christensen for a conversation about Yarmysh’s novel. Christensen is a political scientist and former parliamentary representative, with more than ten years of experience from the Storting's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Today she is Vice President of t

“Ukrainians have never accepted censorship. They have always wanted to say and write what they think. That is why almost all Ukrainian writers and poets in the 1920s and 1930s were shot by Soviet authorities… If Russia succeeds, we will have a new generation of executed writers and politicians, philosophers and philologists." How should one fight for freedom of speech and facts in a war of propaganda? What can literature and art contribute in dark times? And when does the situation require the author to resort to other tools and weapons than literature? Andrey Kurkov is one of Ukraine's most prominent writers, with nearly 30 publications for adults and children under his belt, including the novels Death and the Penguin and Friends of the Dead. He has been translated into more than 30 languages.Kurkov is the leader of PEN Ukraine, and has been strongly committed to the Russian invasion and to Ukraine's independence and freedom of expression. In this lecture, Kurkov addresses the situation for Uk

Does a house equal a home? This is one question Deborah Levy explores in her recent book Real Estate, the third and final instalment in her series of "living autobiographies", autobiographies written in the storms of life, and not in quiet contemplation towards the end of it. The need for a place of one's own - whether it be a physical place or a place in one's writing – is a recurring theme in all three volumes. Things I don't want to know (translated into Norwegian by Anne Cathrine Wollebæk) depicts growing up in Johannesburg and London, and charts Levy's path into writing. In 2018 came The Cost of Living, where Levy describes the attempt to find a new identity - and a new place to write - after a divorce. In the three books, Levy explores the connections between the personal and the political, the role of women and motherhood, and enters into a dialogue with artists such as George Orwell, Marguerite Duras, Simone de Beauvoir and Virginia Woolf. Critic and former Vinduet editor Maria Hor

The new HBO mini series The Plot Against America is based on the Philip Roth novel (2004) by the same name. The novel tells the counterfactual story of Charles Lindberg’s presidency, based on the real man and what might happen if he, with his fascist sympathies, was elected president of the United States around 1940.The US has become increasingly racist and polarized during Donald Trump’s presidency. What is the current situation, and how does it compare to the works of Philip Roth? In this podcast, the American writer and literary critic John Freeman describes the atmosphere of the USA of today, starting from The Plot Against America and the other works by Philip Roth, as well as the American society. What does Roth’s story tell us about the USA of today and the crisis now facing the country?The actual Charles Lindbergh made a name for himself first and foremost by being the first to fly across the Atlantic ocean alone. He did, however, have a darker, political side, with which the actual F. D. Roosevelt con

Njabulo Ndebele grew up during the apartheid, and is one of South Africa's leading writers and intellectuals. He is the former vice principal at the University of Cape Town, and the author of the groundbreaking book The Cry of Winnie Mandela, in which he blends essay and novel, fact and fiction in an exploration of women’s position in the freedom struggle. Koleka Putuma was born in 1993, and belongs to the generation in South Africa known as «Born Free». She is behind one of the most critically acclaimed poetry collections in years, Collective Amnesia, in which the anger of broken promises is acutely felt. Hear Koleka Putuma and Njabulo Ndebele in conversation with journalist Elise Dybvig. The conversation took place on the 11th of february 2020.   LitHouse is the English language podcast from the House of Literature in Oslo (Litteraturhuset), presenting adapted versions of conversations and lectures from our program. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Through titles such as Cooked, The Omnivore’s dilemma and In defense of Food, Michael Pollan, Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley’ and of the Practice of Non-Fiction at Harvard University, has distinguished himself as one of the world’s foremost feature writers and authors of non-fiction. His latest book How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence is now out in its Norwegian translation, Psykedelisk renessanse. Pollan met Andreas Liebe Delsett in a conversation about food and eating habits that took place at the House of Literature on 11. December 2019. Delsett is the Artistic director at the House of Literature, as well as the author of Kjøkkenveien. En bok om mat og arbeid.   LitHouse is the English language podcast from the House of Literature in Oslo (Litteraturhuset), presenting adapted versions of conversations and lectures from our program. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Mexican poet Gloria Gervitz has been writing the same poem for over forty years. The epic poem Migrations (Migraciones) is one of the greatest poetic projects of our time – a poem in constant movement through family, religion, death and sexuality, but also through perpetual newly published versions. It is based on the history of Gervitz’s own Jewish family that fled persecution in Eastern Europe in the early 1900s. In this episode you can hear the legendary poet in conversation with the Swedish poet Athena Farrokhzad. Gervitz and Farrokhzad met in a conversation at the House of Literature that took place at the 5th of february 2020.   Lithouse is a podcast from the House of Literature in Oslo, presenting adapted versions of lectures and conversations featuring international writers and thinkers. Music by Apothek. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Is the assertion that freedom of expression is under pressure just a myth used to cover up more important political incompatibilities?   In this event with the british-Sudanese author and Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik, held at the House of Literature 22.january 2020, Malik opened Litteraturhuset’s Commission on the Freedom of Expression. In her lecture, she talked about freedom of expression. How has the climate for free speech changed over the last twenty years? What kinds of challenges does it create, and what measures are necessary to protect this cornerstone of Norwegian democracy? After the lecture, she talked with Nazneen Khan-Østrem, author of London: Among Gangsters, Rabbis, Oligarchs, Rebels and Other Legitimate Children of the British Empire and member of Stortinget’s Commission on the Freedom of Expression in 1999.   Lithouse is a podcast from the House of Literature in Norway, presenting adapted versions of lectures and conversations featuring international writers and thinkers. Music by Apoth

In Norway, Rachel Kushner is best known for her 2014 novel The Flamethrowers, set in New York’s art world. In Kushner’s new, critically acclaimed and Booker nominated novel The Mars Room, we are introduced to a very different yet also very American milieu. Here we meet Romy Hall, who is in prison for killing a man who followed and tormented her. Through Hall’s life inside the prison walls, Kushner is able to describe “her country’s fall from grace. This is not the land of the free; no one has choices and everyone is guilty,” as the Guardian pointed out in their review. In this episode Rachel Kushner talks about her authorship with Norwegian author and psychiatrist Finn Skårderud. The conversation took place on October 2nd 2019.   Lithouse is a podcast from the House of Literature in Oslo, presenting adapted versions of lectures and conversations featuring international writers and thinkers. Music by Apothek. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What if your view of the world is based on the experiences of black women, or those of working class, queer or transgendered women, and by that breaks with the way that the white middle class says a feminist is “supposed to be”? Gay’s collection of essays, Bad Feminist, flew right into The New York Times’ best seller list when it was published in 2014. Her sharp, vulnerable and funny voice has been applauded across genres. She is a visiting Professor at Yale University, she writes fiction, and as a columnist for The New York Times, she has been one of the most distinct voices in the American “Me too”-debate. In her memoir Hunger, she explores the underlying causes of her own overweight: a trauma after being gang raped at twelve. Gay met author Eline Lund Fjæren, for a conversation about power, feminism and privileges. The conversation took place at the House of Literature on August 21, 2019.   Lithouse is a podcast from the House of Literature in Oslo, presenting adapted versions of lectures and conversations

What happens when blackness and whiteness are turned inside out? The Metamorphosis by Kafka is an obvious literary model when the Nigerian writer Igoni Barrett lets the main character of his last novel, Furo Wariboko, wake up on the day of his job interview to discover that his skin color has changed: He has turned white. His ass, however, remains black, and for this reason, the novel bears the title Blackass. There is sharp satire and humor in this nuanced portrait of Lagos, its citizens and the identity of skin color. Barrett met cultural editor of Morgenbladet, Ane Farsethås, for a conversation about black and white bodies, identity and privileges. The conversation took place at the House of Literature on August 20, 2019.   Lithouse is a podcast from the House of Literature in Oslo, presenting adapted versions of lectures and conversations featuring international writers and thinkers. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The American writer Chris Kraus has previously visited The House of Literature to talk about I Love Dick, a semi-autobiographic novel first published in 1997, which still attracts new readers after more than twenty years. In the House of Literature’s series “literary guiding stars”, authors are asked to talk about a writer they greatly admire. In this lecture Kraus tells about another American writer, Mary McCarthy. McCarthy is best known for her novel The Group, first published in 1959. The novel’s groundbreaking treatment of gender and sexual liberation received a great deal of attention upon publication. How does Kraus read McCarthy today, and in what ways is she still considered innovative? The lecture was held on June 7th 2019.   Lithouse is a podcast from the House of Literature in Oslo, presenting adapted versions of lectures and conversations featuring international writers and thinkers. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In Siri Hustvedt’s new novel Memories of the Future, the grown up and well established writer S.H. enters into dialogue with twenty-year-old S.H., with her reflections, her writing and her experiences. What do we forget, and how can we use our memories? The writer Linn Ullmann is among those who have long followed Hustvedt’s writing, and in her last novel, Unquiet, she also examines the past and how we remember. The conversation took place at the House of Literature on June 12, 2019.   Lithouse is a podcast from the House of Literature in Oslo, presenting adapted versions of lectures and conversations featuring international writers and thinkers. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Several women who have survived brutal imprisonment and sexual violence in Syria are part of lawsuit initiatives against the current government. How may these initiatives contribute to hold the government responsible for their crimes, and to better the situation for Syrian women? Ibrahim Olabi is director of the Syrian Legal Development Program, and works with human rights issues connected to the Syrian conflict, such as sexualized violence against women. Olabi delivered the 2019 Saladin Lecture at the House of Literature, April 5, 2019.   Lithouse is a podcast from the House of Literature in Oslo, presenting adapted versions of lectures and conversations featuring international writers and thinkers. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.