André Brink

At the end of the month André will be a guest of the Bjørnson Festival in Molde, Norway.

Kiran Desai who has visited the CTBF in 2007 will also be attending.

From the homepage of the festival:

Journeys

At the time when Bjørnsonfestivalen 2007 chose climate as our framework festival theme, it was already evident that extensive migrations would be one likely consequence of global climate changes,- migrations on a larger scale than ever before in human history. Due to global warming, extreme drought, floods and other environmental disasters will accelerate on our overcrowded planet, increasing the level of poverty, hunger and conflicts and forcing countless thousands of people to flee – become climate refugees.
In 2008 we have witnessed just how dramatic the consequences are for people in the most vulnerable parts of the world when food and oil prices soar. The same parts of earth that also will be hit hardest by eventual large scale climate changes. Thousands of the most helpless people will be forced to flee, and even though the vast majority will become internal refugees or migrate to neighbouring countries, Europe and Norway will have to deal with an increased flow of needy people in the years to come. The question is hardly if more people will have to migrate, but rather; how we, in the most secure part of the world, will receive them. And how we will shoulder our responsibilities as fellow humans.

Naturally, Bjørnsonfestivalen is no humanitarien organisation, nor is this year’s festival a conference on climate change. But, loyal as we wish to remain to the ideals of our prominent Norwegian author Bjørnson, we always seek to let the festival reflect his strong and dedicated humanism. Those who wonder what role authors and literature play in the development of a society, may in our country start by studying the two great champions for social change: Henrik Wergeland and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson.

There are a number of reasons why the festival 2008 has been titled JOURNEYS. Partly because of what the most disturbing aspect of climate change and large scale migrations might do to our sense of compassion, but also because of the crucial role migrations have played in the succesful developement of our species. The small bands of Homo Sapiens that journeyed out of Africa about a 100.000 years ago and began populating the planet, were our common ancestors. Current scientific evidence suggests that these, our earliest relatives, used basic language, or at least were familiar with the use of the closest cousins to languages, namely, symbols and pictograms, pictures, dance and music. Thanks to evidence that has survived on stone and bone, we know that our forefathers and mothers early mastered the arts of preserving and disseminating knowledge and visions.

All following journeys of humans have served to develop, enhance and expand our uniqe human abilities of creating, interpreting and changing our environments. Like blood through veins, human narratives have travelled through all times, by all means of expressions, from continent to continent, from language to language, stimulating and feeding civilisations with fresh impulses. Thanks to the discovery of writing in Mesopotamia ca. 7000 thousand years ago – todays Iraq – very different civilisations could make boundless leaps forward in inspiring and mindbending literary encounters. It is tempting to call the worlds literature our spiritual Silkroad, as we remember that through countless generations of journeys and encounters we have borrowed and learned, have become mutually enriched and inspired. Thus we will find it exceedingly difficult today to define the concept national culture without simultaniously giving credit to the endless global sources we have harvested from.

It is therfore in this spirit of thankfulness we most warmly invite everyone to this years Bjørnsonfestival, where the public will be treated to a multitude of enriching encounters with authors and books, readings and debates, lectures and concerts, performances and workshops. We are extremely proud of hosting one of the world’s most prominent authors as Bjørnsonfestivalens Writer in Residence 2008, the southafrican nestor Andre Brink.

For more information and the programme click here.