Non-Fiction_BIOGRAPHY

Edvard Munch is not only celebrated as Norway’s preeminent artist, but he also stands as a singular figure who has etched a permanent mark on global culture. The Storm chronicles the life of this prodigious artist who, after rattling Kristiania with his revolutionary artworks, made a dynamic entrance onto the European stage, emerging as a formidable force from the north. From the iconic ‘The Scream’ to captivating pieces like ‘Madonna’ and ‘Vampire’, Munch did more than merely depict scenes; he rendered raw emotions on canvas. His life and oeuvre navigated through an era marked by monumental shifts in both global events and the artistic domain. To understand Munch’s journey is to journey through the tumultuous backdrop of his contemporary Europe.

The biography of Kirsten Flagstad, The Voice of the Century, is a story of triumph and tragedy. The shy and stubborn Norwegian singer who became world famous overnight, cultivated in the United States as the world’s greatest voice and in Europe for her vocal art, Flagstad rescued the New York Metropolitan from bankruptcy in the 1930s and revitalized interest in Richard Wagner’s operas in the United States. In music history, she is considered one of the foremost Wagner interpreters ever. She was also a big draw at Covent Garden in London, at the festivals in Zurich and at La Scala in Milan. During and after the war, she was unjustly accused of having had Nazi sympathies, of singing to Hitler and of profiting greatly from the war. These rumors are traced to leading officials in the Norwegian Foreign Ministry. A campaign was launched against her, resulting in major demonstrations around her performances in the United States. Her fortune was seized and she had to live under police protection.

This unique and ambitious work follows the footsteps of Norwegian explorer Carl Lumholtz (1851-1922) who was world-famous in his time for his expeditions to Australia, Mexico, and Borneo. Strøksnes follows the explorer around the world, from Lumholtz’ home in Lillehammer to distant rainforests, deserts, and mountains. These journeys are accompanied by extensive, pioneering research in the archives around the world. Strøksnes not only reveals Lumholtz’ life and society in all its splendor, savagery, and violence; he also uses Lumholtz’ era as a dark reflection of our own time – and all of its crises.

How are humans and animals able to navigate? And why are nearly all of our memories connected to places?

In 2003, brain scientists Edvard and May-Britt Moser made a sensational discovery at a lab in Trondheim, Norway, which changed everything we thought we knew about animals’ and people’s sense of direction.
Finding Places, The Search for the Brain’s GPS follows these two Norwegian scientists on their journey from young students who didn’t know what they wanted to pursue in life to acclaimed researchers receiving the world’s most prestigious scientific award: The Nobel Prize in medicine.

On May 25th, 1928 the Italian airship ”Italia” was wrecked north of Svalbard. It was on its way back from an expedition to the North Pole which had made headlines all over Europe. The wreck marked the beginning of one of the greatest rescue operations in Arctic history. The rescue action soon became part of a high political game for the Northern areas.

On June 18th the old Polar heroe Roald Amundsen left Tromsø to join the race together with five others on board the French plane ”Latham”. Three hours later signals were received from the plane on its way to Bjørnøya. This is the last time we hear from Roald Amundsen. ”Latham” and the entire crew disappeared without a trace.

On Saturday 26 June 1943, Hitler granted audience to the Norwegian author Knut Hamsun. The meeting started jovially, but ended in disaster. This is the first time this spectacular event in European cultural history has been used as the basis for an entire book. The book explores the trappings of literary genius and authority, as well as the uses of culture in Nazi Germany. The book’s main narrative, the seven-day journey to and from the meeting, ends with an epilogue which includes Hamsun’s obituary for Hitler, published on 7 May 1945. After a teaser which takes the reader straight into the journey, the book – in order to establish the premises of what took place – considers a few episodes from Hamsun’s life up until 1943.

Edvard Munch (1863-1944) is one of the world’s most important modern artists. Munch is a graphic biography, a unique project in the way it is told exclusively through quotes by Munch and his contemporaries.

Kverneland incorporates Munch’s art in the book, with samples and quotations expertly executed throughout the book. The overall effect is startling, and we get a loving and humorous close-up of the master expressionist, as well as a group portrait of the Scandinavian bohemia of the late nineteenth century.

Up until now, no Ibsen biography has fulfilled all of the three essential requirements of the genre, namely to be well researched, well written and well updated. De Figueiredo has scoured archives and other sources in order to reconstruct a fresh, independent history of Ibsen’s life. He skillfully interweaves the Man, the Author, and his Works in one single narrative.

With great care and impeccable handwriting the 15 year old Kathe Lasnik, student at a high school in Oslo, has written down her answers to the questions on “Questionnaire for Jews in Norway”. Answering the question “When did you arrive in Norway”, she has written: “I’ve always been in Norway”. The form is dated 16 November, 1942. Ten days later she, her father, her mother and a sister are transported to the ship Donau together with 528 other Jews. 1 December Kathe Lasnik is killed in the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. Two of her sisters managed to escape to Sweden.

In 2018 Kathe. I’ve Always Been in Norway was named one of the 10 best Scandinavian non-fiction books of the new millennium. The jury consisted of nine prominent critics, authors and academics from Sweden, Denmark and Norway.