Bogforum 2019

The biggest book convention in Denmark took place the 15th – 17th November in Bella Center Copenhagen. I was only able to participate sunday but I stil had a blast the seven hours I was there. Read my recap of the day about what I did, saw and bought 😉

Disclaimer: This year I had a press ticket. All opinions are still my own!

Talks I saw

Apart from looking at the stands and buying books what did I do? During BogForum a lot of talks are held. These take place at the more than 13 stages and the individual stands. So there is a lot to do and see! I went to seven talks. Most of them were about published books other about more culture and political related stuff.

One of the talks I went to were about the art of translations in books. Three translators from three different publishing houses had a discussion/conversations but this topic. They discussed whether one could make too many translations and whether somethings will be lost or gained in translations. One of the points I really liked were one about representations of other and original voices. We need more original voices and in order for us to do that we need more translations of original voices.

Books I bought

I bought four books, which may not seem as many but it was still three more than I had planed 😉

Forsvindingsnumre by Amalie Langballe

Translated into english this book is called ‘Disappearances’. I bought this book mainly because it won BogForum’s debut award 2019 but also because I could get it for more than half price! ‘Forsvindingsnumre’ is novel about a young woman’s grief after loosing her mother and about finding foothold again in life. The reviews have been amazing!

Til Min Søster by Dy Plambeck

This was the one book I had planed to buy at this year book convention and wouldn’t leave without. Translated into english the title says “For My Sister. I have a sister and we have a great relationship so I had to get this book! The book is about to sisters, their relationship and their lives which by the synopsis sounds a bit brutal. This books has also received great reviews in Denmark.

Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur

‘Women Without Men’ was first published in 1989 but was just this year translated into Danish. ‘Women Without Men’ was originally written in Persian. This book follows five women in post-WWII Iran. Shahrnush Parsipur was arrested and jailed for her portrayal of women’s sexuality. She now lives in exile.

YAHYA HASSAN 2 by Yahya Hassan

Last but not least I bought Yahya Hassans’ second poetry collection YAHYA HASSAN 2. This collections was published less than two weeks prior to the book convention. Hassan has had a turbulent life since his first poetry collection was published back in 2013. At the moment Hassan is freely hospitalised at a psychiatric hospital. So it was a bit of a surprise that his publisher announced that he would attend the book convention with a small reading followed by a signing. I was lucky to get a great spot for his reading and I also got my poetry collection signed! (not all did so I am soo happy that I got a good spot in the line) See picture below 😉