Nordic Reading Club in Madrid

The Ibero-American Institute of Finland, supported by the Finnish Ministry of Education, has launched a new initiative in Spain named ‘Club de Lectura Nórdico’, that is ‘Nordic Reading Club’. It will run throughout the autumn season and will continue until the spring of 2017. Among the collaborators is the bookstore Tierra de Fuego of Madrid, which is hosting the various planned events.

The Nordic Reading Club consists of a series of monthly basis meetings with authors, translators and experts in the literature, culture and society of the Nordic countries. The audience has the opportunity to interact with the guests, ask questions and reveal their opinions.

The initiative is promoted with the collaboration of the embassies of Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway. The idea is to propose the readings of Nordic authors’ books and to organize meetings with the authors, with the aim of encouraging and supporting the diffusion of Nordic literature, translated into Castilian, for a better understanding.

The first event took place on 5th October and it was dedicated to the Danish writer Thomas Rydahl, who had his debut with the book ‘The Hermit’: the novel which is being presented at the meeting. It is the story of a solitary man who finds an abandoned baby and, despite his isolation, struggles to discover the truth and to pursue justice. It demonstrates that nobody is an island, and even the most isolated hermit is still connected with others. With this thriller, Thomas has obtained the Danish Debutant Award, the Harald Mogensen Prize and the Glass Key Award, given to crime novels by Nordic countries authors.

The protagonist for the next meeting, planned for 17th November, is ‘Tonje Glimmerdal’, a piece of youth literature written by the Norwegian Maria Parr and winner, in this category, of the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature in 2009 and the Brage Prize in 2010. For this occasion, the book is presented by the translator Cristina Baggethun.

15th December is the last autumn date: Luisa Gutiérrez presents ‘The Wolf’s Bride’. Written by the Finnish and naturalized Estonian Aino Kallas in 1928, it celebrates women’s freedom from social norms and men in a time in which it was not allowed. This is a theme that can be considered still current.