Mona Høvring is the author of six poetry collections and four novels. Her previous novels include the acclaimed Something That Helps (2004), The Waiting Room in the Atlantic (2012), winner of the Unified Language Prize, and Camilla’s Long Nights (2013), nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. Because Venus Crossed an Alpine Violet on the Day that I Was Born won the Norwegian Critics’ Prize for Literature, was a finalist for the Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize, and was included on numerous critics’ Best of 2018 book lists.
Mona Høvring appears as part of Nordic Bridges 2022.
Helene Flood is a psychologist specializing in violence, revictimization and trauma-related shame and guilt. She lives in Oslo with her husband and two children. The Therapist is her first novel.
Helene Flood’s Festival appearance is generously supported by NORLA – Norwegian Literature Abroad.
Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, Norway (where he still resides with his wife). He made his debut at the age of twenty-two with Seasons of Innocence and in 1977 he published the first book in the Varg Veum series. He is the author of over twenty titles, which have been published in twenty-four countries and sold over four million copies, with twelve film adaptations starring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Espen Seim. Staalesen has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour) and the Petrona Award for Nordic Crime Fiction.
Gunnar Staalesen’s Festival appearance is generously supported by NORLA – Norwegian Literature Abroad.
Karl Ove Knausgaard‘s first novel, Out of the World, was the first ever debut novel to win The Norwegian Critics’ Prize and his second, A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven, was widely acclaimed. A Death in the Family, the first of the My Struggle cycle of novels, was awarded the prestigious Brage Award. The My Struggle cycle has been heralded as a masterpiece wherever it appears.
Agnes Ravatn is a Norwegian author and columnist. She made her literary début with the novel Week 53 in 2007. Since then, she has written three critically acclaimed and award-winning essay collections: Standing still (2011), Popular Reading (2011) and Operation self-discipline (2014). Her second novel, The Bird Tribunal, was an international bestseller translated into fifteen languages, winning an English PEN Award, shortlisting for the Dublin Literary Award, a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick and a BBC Book at Bedtime. It was also made into a successful play, which premiered in Oslo in 2015. Agnes lives with her family in the Norwegian countryside.
Please be advised that Agnes Ravatn, originally scheduled for MOTIVE Festival, can no longer appear. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this change.
Thomas Enger is a former journalist. His debut novel, Burned, became an international sensation before publication and marked the first in the bestselling Henning Juul series. He is an award-winning YA author in his native Norway, and his English thriller Inborn was adapted for the adult fiction market from Killer Instinct. Most recently, Thomas has co-written a bestselling series of thrillers with ex-police officer and author Jørn Lier Horst. Enger’s trademark is his dark, gritty voice paired with key social messages and tight plotting. Besides writing fiction, Enger also works as a music composer, and lives outside of Oslo.
Roy Jacobsen is a Norwegian novelist and short-story writer. Born in Oslo, he made his publishing debut in 1982 with the short-story collection Fangeliv (Prison Life), which won Tarjei Vesaas’ debutantpris. He is winner of the prestigious Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature and two of his novels have been nominated for the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize: Seierherrene (The Conquerors) in 1991 and Frost in 2004. The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles was published in Britain in 2008. Jacobsen lives in Oslo.