Get ready for a Merry Band of Pranksters-style Further bus event, but for serious people. CROWD, The international network of literary activists, has put together an unmatched reading tour. On 9th May, the Omnibus Reading Tour reaches the arctic circle and Scandinavia. When it hits Norway’s Tromsö, it will have travelled about 1500 km, starting from Helsinki. The event brings 16 international authors to Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
During the tour, 100 authors from 37 countries will travel through 14 countries to introduce literature as a bridge between European countries.
CROWD believes literature knows no borders. Why not merge literature in Europe to a manifold literary European “mother tongue”? Tom Bresemann, one of CROWD’s founding partners, explains:
“Talking about independent literature in Europe nowadays, we discussed whether it’s actually necessary for literary activists in a digital age to stick to their nationalities and national literary scenes.”
To that end, CROWD gathered 100 authors from various independent European literary scenes to travel through Europe, celebrating literature with locals and internationals alike.
In addition to bringing these writers on the road in order to support literature diversity across Europe, CROWD also has teamed up with skilled web-developers from Deepametha. Not everyone can be on the tour bus, of course, and travelling authors alternate throughout the tour. Thus, the need for a digital platform to document the tour became apparent. Just follow the link and you can enjoy the tour on your portables.
If you’re into literature and want to know more about what’s going on around the European literary scene, get yourself to one of these events! There’s nothing else like it happening in the region and we hope it will continue to grow around the world.
“Barthes reads today like ad copy, like a handbook of cross-media marketing rather than anything with a revolutionary impact.”
on an author imposing a limit to a text
“My brain is interesting. More interesting than I am as a person. Writing is a way of releasing my knowledge. But I wouldn’t consider myself an authority. On the other hand, I don’t believe in God either.”
“To have an effect on all of the senses, that is what I understand ‘text’ to do. For me, text is something alive, an organism, which has different forms, like written letters, visual contours, sounds, and a live existence.”
Reading Schedule
Teemu Manninen (FI), Aase Berg (NO), Odile Kennel (GER) Barbi Marković (RS), Maxime Coton (BE), Markus Köhle (AT), Ondřej Buddeus (CZ), Vakis Loizides (CY) will perform in the following venues in Norway:
- 9th May, 7pm: Discussion and Meeting round in Café Aunegården, Sjøgata 29, Tromsö
- 11th May, 6pm: Reading with Poesiti Reading series in Coffee Annan, Kulturesenteret ISAK, Prinsens gate 44, Trondheim
- 12th May, 7pm, Reading at Library Lillehammer, Wiesesgate 2, Pb. 986, Lillehammer
- 13th May, 5pm, Discussion round and reading at Goethe Institut Norway, Grønland 16, Oslo.
Eino Santanen (FI), Ervina Halili (AL), Martin Jankowski (GER), Kinga Tóth (HU), Lilly Jäckl (AT), John Holten (NO), Eftychia Panayiotou (CY), Jan Kaus (EE) will perform in the following venues in Sweden & Denmark:
All events are free of charge (yahoooo!). The authors will read in their working languages. Translations for texts into local languages will be provided.
This article was brought to you by ARS BALTICA, the initiative for cultural cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region, and Scandinavia Standard. By teaming up, ARS BALTICA and Scandinavia Standard wish to promote great cultural initiatives from the region together.
– Cover image: Nuoren Voiman Liitto