Panel discussion Europe in Turmoil: Historical Fiction From World War II

Litquake 2021: Europe in Turmoil: Historical Fiction From World War II Courtesy: Litquake

Sat, 10/09/2021

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM PT

Online

Litquake 2021 | October 7 - 23

Sponsored by Center for the Art of Translation. This event is part of Litquake and co-presented by Goethe-Institut San Francisco.

It’s the late 1930s, and in Europe, war is already on the horizon. Hitler’s Germany is on the move. Some countries are already occupied, others are swarming with spies. Join these two authors to celebrate their latest works, set in the pre-war tensions of Oslo, Manhattan, and South America. With Norwegian noir writer Kjell Ola Dahl, and German writer Ulla Lenze, whose book fictionalizes some of her own family history. Moderated by David Corbett.

This is a live, virtual event held on Zoom Webinar. Please register here.

One of the fathers of the Nordic Noir genre, Kjell Ola Dahl was born in 1958 in Gjøvik. He made his debut in 1993, and has since published 11 novels in 14 countries, the most prominent of which is a series of police procedurals cum psychological thrillers (Oslo Detectives series) featuring investigators Gunnarstranda and Frølich. In 2000 he won the Riverton Prize for The Last Fix and in 2015 he won both the prestigious Brage and Riverton Prizes for The Courier. His newest translated work is The Assistant (Orenda Books). He lives in Oslo, Norway.

Ulla Lenze was born in Germany in 1973, and studied music and philosophy at the University of Cologne. In 2020, she was awarded the Lower Rhine Literature Prize for The Radio Operator (HarperVia), her first novel available in English. Lenze has been Writer-in-Residence in Damascus, Istanbul, Mumbai and Venice. In 2016 she received the Literature Prize of the Cultural Committee of German Business. She currently resides in Berlin.

David Corbett (moderator) is the author of six critically acclaimed novels, including The Devil’s Redhead (nominated for both the Anthony and Barry Awards for Best First Novel); Done for a Dime (a New York Times Notable Book); Blood of Paradise (named one of the Top Ten Mysteries and Thrillers of 2007 by the Washington Post), and most recently, The Long-Lost Love Letters of Doc Holliday. His nonfiction has appeared in Writer’s Digest (where he is a contributing editor), The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Narrative, Zyzzyva, MovieMaker, Bright Lights, The Writer, and numerous other venues.

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