On 23rd February, UCL Scandinavian Studies was visited by three Scandinavian authors, Maria Parr and Harald Rosenløw Eeg from Norway and Merete Pryds Helle from Denmark. Together with a current and former member of staff, Dr Erin Goeres and Professor Helena Forsås-Scott, they presented and discussed children’s and young adults’ fiction in the rather stylish Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre in front of some 50 people, including UCL staff and students and members of the public.
The presentations were all very engaging, and the coupling of authors and academics worked very well. It almost got a little too exciting when a glass of water was spilled close to the laptop, but as these pictures show everybody stayed cool…
The final part of the event was something that I had been looking forward to. For this part, our language students (mainly Elettra’s Norwegian students) had prepared questions for the five panelists, and they themselves came on stage to ask them. I myself remember how nervous I was the first time I was speaking in front of so many people, and I think they did a great job – and the questions really elicited some interesting discussions!
Let me end by extending thanks to the organisations that made this event possible:
The Anglo-Swedish Literary Foundation
The Danish Arts Foundation
NORLA (Norwegian Literature Abroad)
The Royal Norwegian Embassy in London
SELCS
And a final big thank you to Nichola Smalley for taking all these great photos!