Nordic Book Circle

Contemporary Nordic literature is full of diverse literary voices, styles, and genres. This September 2025 through May 2026 the ASI Nordic Book Circle will gather monthly, in-person, to read and discuss a work of Nordic literature in English translation.  We will focus on works of twentieth and twenty-first century literature that explore senses of place. From rural to urban, past to present, in the Nordic countries and beyond, we will gather monthly around the selected list of readings by Nordic authors to consider the varieties of places—and the environments, communities, and particular qualities that each of the places considered in these literary works—hold. If you love to read and discuss literature and would like to expand your appreciation of literature from various parts of the world (the Nordic world in particular), we would love to have you join! Limited to 20 attendees; please register in advance.

2025-26 Nordic Book Circle titles

Growth of the Soil, Knut Hamsun (Norway, trans. Sverre Lyngstad) – September 28, 2025

Witches’ Rings, Kerstin Ekman (Sweden, trans. Linda Schenck) – October 26, 2025

City of My Dreams, Per Anders Fogelström (Sweden, trans. Jennifer Brown Bäverstam)  – November 23, 2025

Popular Music from Vittula, Mikael Niemi (Sweden, trans. Laurie Thompson) – December 21, 2025

Out of Africa, Karen Blixen (Denmark) – January 25, 2026

The Atom Station, Halldor Laxness (Iceland, trans. Magnus Magnusson) – February 22, 2026

The Tower at the Edge of the World, William Heinesen (Faroe Islands, trans. W. Glyn Jones) – March 22, 2026

The Employees, Olga Ravn (Denmark, trans. Martin Aitken) – April 26, 2026

The Summer Book, Tove Jansson (Finland, trans. Thomas Teal) – May 31, 2026