International Authors' Stage: Alex Schulman (SE) in conversation with Hanne-Vibeke Holst
In Schulman's writing, he unravels memories and traumas to understand his family and himself. This has made him a literary, Nordic star. In May, he can be seen at the Royal Danish Library.
"Why write about all that, the traumas and failures that created the wounds in me that I struggle with?" This is what Alex Schulman asks himself in an interview with Weekendavisen in November 2023. "Why relive your unhappy childhood over and over again?"
The question arises in the interview because it cuts across Schulman's autobiographical writing. Here he has - in book after book - torn open old wounds and letter exchanges to try to understand his family, his upbringing and ultimately himself.
This spring, when you can experience Alex Schulman on stage in The Black Diamond in conversation with Hanne-Vibeke Holst, it is in dialogue about writing to understand and come to terms with a trauma that passes through generations.
Fact, fiction, stories and interpretation
Because Schulman's writing is so clearly autobiographical, it has been a real treasure hunt for journalists in Sweden to fact-check his novels. Novels are novels - stories first and foremost - Schulman insists, but this gives rise to exciting questions. It is questions about memory and literature, stories and facts that have been central to the Scandinavian literature debate in the 2010s.
These are also questions that have been central to the author Hanne-Vibeke Holst, who interviews Schulman for the event in the Queen's Hall. Holst has also several times in her writing had to deal with telling - and dramatising - the stories of real people. In doing so, you shape interpretation and perhaps ultimately history. In dialogue, Schulman and Holst will talk about their considerations about writing about their own lives and family.
Into the archives
When you start working with reality, with lived lives and memories, the boundaries between literature and history can become blurred, and therefore it is an advantage to be able to resort to archives, letter exchanges and other forms of preserved text.
In Schulman's novel Brænd alle mine breve, which will become a literary pillar of the conversation, he tries to write his way to an understanding of the anger that echoes through his family history. In the search for an answer, old letters and diary extracts from his grandfather, the writer Sven Stolpe, become invaluable.
Participants
Alex Schulman
Alex Schulman is one of Sweden's foremost writers and widely read in the Nordics, where his touching, personal, investigative novels have made him a household name. Schulman has also made several TV programmes, he is an active columnist in the Swedish media, and he - with his author colleague Sigge Eklund - is behind one of Sweden's most popular podcasts, Alex and Sigge's podcast.
Hanne-Vibeke Holst
As an author, Hanne-Vibeke Holst has received a large number of awards for her writing, including De Gyldne Laurbær (2009) and Jeanne and Henri Nathansen's Mindelegat (2014). Her writing has been published in several countries and the novels The Crown Princess, The King's Murder and The Queen's Sacrifice have been made into films. In addition, she graduated as a journalist from Denmark's Journalisthøjskole in 1984 and has contributed to the development of the scripts for several TV series and feature films.
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