Architecture critics are hailing Oslo’s new city library, which officially opened on Thursday under the new name Deichman Bjørvika. It’s a lively statement of a new strategy for libraries, according to newspaper Klassekampen. It fits every ideal for a modern library, wrote newspaper Aftenposten. Reviewers disagree, however, on whether the actual book collection has the […]
Heads shaking over new ‘Mein Kampf’
A Norwegian publishing firm is reportedly about to release the first new edition of Adolf Hitler’s autobiography Mein Kampf in Norwegian since Nazi Germany occupied Norway in 1941. Historians don’t think it’s a good idea. Newspaper Dagsavisen reported this week that Christhard Hoffmann, a professor of history at the University of Bergen, was asked to […]
Book lists Norway’s ‘most powerful’
Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Finance Minister Siv Jensen were, not surprisingly, included among Norway’s 252 most powerful people in a new book released on Tuesday. The list doesn’t rank those deemed most powerful other than in alphabetical order, but Solberg and Jensen made it into a selection of 25 people from politics, business, labour, academia, […]
Garden party allows the elite to meet
Rain was threatening the grandest of all Norwegian garden parties on Thursday, but those keen to “see and be seen” were likely to brave the weather and show up anyway. Publishing firm Aschehoug’s annual party for around 1,600 carefully invited guests is considered one of the social events of the year. “We’re looking forward to […]
Summer reading to enhance the mind
After a fall, winter and spring in a country facing the need for economic restructuring, it’s time to reflect and perhaps spend some time this summer reading about the art of being happy. Or simply coping with job losses and personal economic upheaval. Nicola McCaffrey, a clinical psychologist in Stavanger, shares some of her tips for books that […]
Publishing firms face collusion charges
Norway’s biggest book publishing companies were warned by competition authorities on Tuesday that they face charges of illegal cooperation and millions of kroner in fines. Cappelen Damm, Aschehoug, Gyldendal and Vigmostad & Bjørke (which took over Schibsted last year) were all named in the complaint issued by the state regulatory agency Konkurranstilsynet, which is in […]
Radical bookstore finds a new home
The fiercely independent Oslo bookstore Tronsmo Bokhandel has found a new home after months of uncertainty prompted by a cancelled lease. As it turns out, the bookstore can even stay in its current neighbourhood downtown. “I’m very relieved,” store manager Eva Stenlund Thorsen told newspaper Dagsavisen this week. Tronsmo and its 40,000 books will move just down the […]
Bookstore battle reaches a climax
The last of Oslo’s radical and independent book stores faces an uncertain future, after it received an eviction notice from its state-controlled landlord. The eviction has set off great public debate in the Norwegian capital, and raised interesting issues in a situation that’s full of paradox. Nearly 11,000 people have joined a social media campaign to save Tronsmo Bokhandel […]