Bonereapers is a murder mystery set in the hostile environment of Svalbard. We chatted to author Jeanne Matthews about the book. One of the fringe benefits of writing a guidebook for a major publishing house is the opportunity to meet other authors. Jeanne Matthews is the author of the Dinah Pelerin international mysteries published by Poisoned Pen Press, including Bonereapers, set in the … [Read more...]
Norwegian Culture Blog
Nikolai Astrup: Norwegian Painter
It's only in the last two years that the colourful work of the Norwegian painter has become known outside of Norway. Although both artists are expressionists who used lurid colours to record brilliant Norwegian summer evenings on canvas, Edvard Munch is known the world over whereas Nikolai Astrup - who was born after and died before Munch - is not. But perhaps not for long. Inspiration and … [Read more...]
Think you know about the Vikings?
Learn the truth about the Vikings with a free audio course. How much do you really know about the Vikings? What is fact, and what is fiction? In a series of 36 vivid lectures by an honored teacher and classical scholar, you have the opportunity to understand this remarkable race as never before, studying the Vikings not only as warriors, but in all of the other roles in which they were equally … [Read more...]
One Of Us: The Inside Story of Utøya
When terror hit Oslo and Utøya in July 2011, the world was stunned. As it emerged that the perpetrator was Norwegian, the country struggled to come to terms with the fact that these awful acts had been committed by one of their own. One Of Us by Norwegian journalist Åsne Seierstad (originally published in Norway as En av oss) opens with a prologue telling the harrowing tale of what it was like … [Read more...]
Five Novels Inspired By Svalbard
My bucket list of places I want to see while I'm living in Norway seems to go on forever. But having recently ticked off Lofoten, Svalbard is the one that really sticks out. I want to discover the (what must be) close-knit community of Longyearbyen, experience the isolation, see the absolute best definitions of the midnight sun and polar nights, and maybe, just maybe, spot a polar bear. Still, … [Read more...]
The Wave: Norway’s First Disaster Movie
A tsunami in a Norwegian fjord? Seriously? Well, as the trailer for Bølgen (The Wave in English) states: Det har skjedd før. Det vil skje igjen It has happened before. It will happen again. Rockslides in Norway occur frequently. When they occur above a fjord, the results can be potentially catastrophic. In 1934, over forty people died as a rockslide 700 metres above the fjord created a … [Read more...]