T H U R S D AY 6 F E B R U A R Y
Youth programme
Lynda’s journey
My mother and I
Official opening of LitFestBergen 2020
Lynda Blackmon Lowery was only 15 when she and many others marched along with Martin Luther King from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama to demand voting rights for black Americans. This event is recalled in her memoir Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom.
In 2017, 593 people took their own lives in Norway. One was the mother of author Tiril Broch Aakre. Why do some of us choose to end it all? Is there anything one can do to prevent this happening? And how does it feel to those left behind?
Welcome to the opening of the second Bergen International Literary Festival for Non-Fiction and Fiction. The ceremony includes performances by festival authors Frode Grytten (Bergen), Tishani Doshi (Chennai), Niillas Holmberg and Mir-O (Sápmi/Finland) and speeches by Teresa Grøtan, festival director, and Kristin Helle-Valle, managing director of the Bergen House of Literature.
In this conversation with pupils from Rothaugen lower secondary school, Lowery talks about her experiences from that time, what has changed – and what remains the same.
Broch Aakre relates what happened when her mother died in her novel Mødre og døtre. In this conversation with pupils from Rothaugen lower secondary school, she will try to answer questions about what is perhaps the most difficult subject of all.
Auditorium and Ol av H Hauge
Ol av H Hauge and Auditorium
Thursday 6 February 09.15–10.00 and 10.15–11.00
Thursday 6 February 09.15–10.00 and 10.15–11.00
Free of charge (by invitation only) English
Free of charge (by invitation only) Norwegian
Thursday 6 February 18.00–18.45 Free of charge English/Norwegian
L i s t e n i n g p o s t:
English literature from the whole world The Listening Post (Lytteposten) is LitFestBergen’s free offer to those who would like to listen to literature from around the world. Find a space, lean back, and listen to four of the festival’s writers in English read from their work. With Tishani Doshi (India), Mary Ruefle (USA), Raja Shehadeh (Palestine) and Jonny Steinberg (South Africa).
10
Auditorium
11
Alver
Thursday 6 February 19.00–19.45 Free of charge English
