Go to main content Skip to footer content

bogforum@bogforum.dk

Perspectives and Outlook – Gender and Class

Literature reflects its time and opens up nuance and connection. Here, we’ve gathered voices who, both at Bogforum and in their books, engage with the major questions of our world as well as the central themes of our time, such as class and gender.

  1. Frontpage
  2. Bogforum Magasin
  3. Book List: Perspectives and Outlook – Gender and Class

All Roads Lead to Mecca (Waleed Safi) & One Tyrant Less (Adam Holm)

What shapes the present‑day Middle East? And what has formed the region’s history? In All Roads Lead to Mecca, Middle East correspondent Waleed Safi travels to Saudi Arabia disguised as a pilgrim to understand why the Middle East repeatedly erupts into war or conflict. At Bogforum on Friday, he will be in conversation with Adam Holm, journalist and author of One Tyrant Less, a powerful account of the Syrian civilian population’s severe oppression over more than fifty years — and of the brutal methods employed by the Syrian regime, including torture, executions and surveillance.
Moderator: Helle Malmvig, author and one of Denmark’s leading Middle East scholars.

The Palestinian

In The Palestinian, ten voices share personal stories about heritage, identity and growing up in Denmark with Palestine as both backdrop and burden. Together, they reflect on identity, displacement, resistance and hope — and on collective trauma. On stage, you can meet Abdel Aziz Mahmoud, Nada Omar and Tarek Ziad Hussein.
Moderator: Paula Larrin.

Greenland (Bo Lidegaard & Jens Heinrich)

Greenland has long been a geopolitical hotspot, but only now are we truly beginning to take Greenland’s own history and identity seriously. Historians Bo Lidegaard and Jens Heinrich will appear at Bogforum on Saturday with their book Greenland – A Journey from the Earliest Times to a Modern Society, written in collaboration with Mira Maria Jo Kleist. Told by two Greenlanders and one Dane, the book challenges clichés and stereotypes. Joining them on stage is geologist and professor Minik Rosing, one of the most knowledgeable voices on Greenland today.

The World Situation – Europe, China and the United States

On Saturday at the Knowledge Stage, Bent Meier Sørensen (The Borderless), Christina Boustrup (The Green Superpower) and Steffen Kretz (In the Eye of the Hurricane) will discuss the current global political situation, focusing on the superpowers the United States and China and their relationship with Europe.
Moderator: Clement Kjersgaard.

Climate Lexicon – William Sass & Anton Geist

Journalist William Sass and executive editor Anton Geist from Dagbladet Information will be at Bogforum with Climate Lexicon, a must‑read for anyone who wants a firm grasp of the facts in the climate debate. What is the albedo effect? How did the idea of an Anthropocene age emerge? And why is it crucial to understand the drivers behind ecological crises in a time that calls above all for action? This conversation takes place on Sunday at the Perspective Stage — focusing on the knowledge we all need.

Just a Drop – Kristian Jensen

Former Danish Minister of Finance Kristian Jensen has written a book that challenges climate pessimism. Just a Drop is both personal and political, exploring Denmark’s and Europe’s role in the fight against climate change. Jensen takes the stage together with Connie Hedegaard immediately after Climate Lexicon, offering both hard data and political vision in one continuous conversation.

Before the Year Is Out – Lea Korsgaard

In Before the Year Is Out, butterflies become symbols of the meaning of life and death. In the book, Lea Korsgaard embarks on a kind of literary field trip through the Danish landscape, and along the way the text becomes a call to protect the nature we risk losing. Here, the green transition takes on a very different tone than in political debate — perhaps softer, but no less serious. Korsgaard appears with Victor Boy Lindholm on the Main Stage on Saturday.

Whiter Than Snow – Sylvain Tesson

The French author and adventurer Sylvain Tesson is known for his extreme journeys and expeditions, as well as his existential writing. In his latest work, Whiter Than Snow, Tesson guides us through the winter‑emptied silence of the Alps. The journey unfolds as a poetic reflection on the purity of nature, human vulnerability and the longing for silence in a noisy world. Experience him in conversation with Carsten Jensen on Saturday at the Perspective Stage.

Gender and Class

Returning to Reims (Didier Eribon & Rune Lykkeberg)

How is our sense of self shaped by the environment we grow up in? In Danish, Didier Eribon is currently available with the self‑analytical masterpiece Returning to Reims, in which he reflects on his working‑class upbringing and social ascent. In his native France, Eribon is one of the most important voices in public debates on class, inheritance and sexuality. At Bogforum on Friday, you can hear him in conversation with Rune Lykkeberg, where class, gender and sexuality intertwine with reflections on shame, escape and the shaping of a (new) identity.

Arguments for Men (Svend Aage Madsen)

Across societies, men and masculinity are increasingly under discussion. Men top statistics on suicide, addiction and premature death. Many also struggle within the education system, lack close relationships and are less likely to seek medical help. On Saturday at Bogforum, psychologist and masculinity researcher Svend Aage Madsen, in conversation with author Lotte Kirkeby, will talk about paths toward healthier, longer and more meaningful lives for men.

Love in Seoul (Sang Young Park)

In South Korea, gender roles and expectations placed on young people are still strongly shaped by tradition — yet beneath the surface, a new generation is stirring. In the Korean bestseller Love in Seoul, Sang Young Park writes about queer love, the longing for freedom, abortion rights, HIV and wild nights in the city. Meet him on Saturday at Bogforum, where he gives voice to both the inner and outer conflicts tied to social inequality.

DJ Bambi (Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir)

Icelandic author Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize, is one of the major figures in contemporary Nordic literature. In Danish, she is currently available with the novel DJ Bambi, which centres on 61‑year‑old Bambi, a transgender woman waiting for the operation that will allow her to feel at home in her own body. Ólafsdóttir appears at Bogforum on Saturday with the novel, which was named Book of the Year 2023 by Iceland’s largest newspaper.
Interviewer: Maja Linea Ernst, winner of last year’s Debutant Prize.

I’m Not Finished with You (Glenn Bech) & Bunker (Thomas Bach)

What does it mean to grow up in an environment — a social class — where traditional masculinity is the dominant ideal? Thomas Bach’s debut novel Bunker is a powerful account of growing up in the shadow of both class and gender. Together with Glenn Bech, who has addressed similar themes in I No Longer Recognise Your Authority and is now current with I’m Not Finished with You, the conversation turns to identity, masculinity, social class — and writing oneself free from one’s origins.