TVEDESTRAND
NORWAY
Most of the town’s secondhand bookshops are in the old quarter… where the rows of white wooden houses and steep, narrow cobbled streets are popular with tourists.
Tvedestrand proudly combines both book town status and a (brief) stint as a Guinness World Record holder. This picturesque harbourside town in Norway held the record for the longest chain of books toppled as dominos – its 6,500 in 2015 beat United Biscuits’ previous high score of 5,370 (although this was overtaken a year later at the Frankfurt Book Fair with a grand total of 10,200).
The southern Norwegian book town has been officially known since 2003 as Bokbyen ved Skagerrak (as it is on the Skagerrak strait), and joined the International Organisation of Book Towns the following year. It is well supported financially, receiving state grants towards its work as well as sponsorship for everything from its website to its annual Bokbysommar children’s book festival, from businesses and national writing organsiations such as the Norsk Forfattersentrum (Norwegian Writers’ Centre). It also works closely with the Bokhottelet hotel, which offers its space for the annual book festival – as does the Tvedestrand Fjordhotell – providing large numbers of books in all its rooms for visitors.
Tvedestrand is also the host of a popular annual crime festival run by bestselling Norwegian crime writer Hans Olav Lahlum, whose books have been translated into English as The Human Flies, Satellite People, The Catalyst Killing and Chameleon People.
Bokbyen Forlag is the publishing arm of the town’s book association, publishing fiction and non-fiction, including local history and several focusing on maritime subjects, since 2006.
Most of the town’s secondhand bookshops are in the old quarter, especially on the main street Hovedgata, down by the harbour where the rows of white wooden houses and steep, narrow cobbled streets are popular with tourists.
Bokbanken, the book town’s HQ and publishing office, was previously home to a bank, and before that a distillery. It has a wide selection of books and plenty of activities for children in its ‘Snipp, snapp snute’ area.
The captivating harbourside setting of Tvedestrand.
Skagerrak Antikvariat (Hulgata) has a large stock of 70,000 books over three floors. It was initially based in Oslo before moving to Tvedestrand in 2003. Owner Arne Ivar Kjerland was a driving force in the Norwegian Book Town in Fjærland. The other major bookshop is Locus Antikvariat (Hovedgata), located in an old Swiss warehouse and run by Helge Baardseth, editor of the popular national travel magazine Vagabond. Unsurprisingly it’s strong on travel and polar literature as well as architecture and design. Other bookshops include:
– Bjorn Dahl Bokmølle (Hovedgata) – history, local history, political history and biographies
– Ex Libris (Hovedgata) – ten rooms of general stock with a good English section
– Tvedestrand Bok & Papir (Hovedgata) – new books plus stationery, maps and gifts
– Familia Antikvariat (Arne Garborgsvei) – housed in the former dairy with a focus on hunting, fishing and nature books
The House of Literature
Norway is home to a remarkable ongoing project called Litteraturhuset (The House of Literature), run by the independent, not-for-profit Freedom of Expression Foundation, which describes itself as a ‘democratic and pluralistic sanctuary’. Inspired by a similar movement in Germany, the first House opened in Oslo in 2007 in the city’s former teacher training college, and is spread out over 3,500 square metres. Over its five storeys are a café, bookshop, performance spaces, an entire floor dedicated to children and young people (especially those from immigrant backgrounds) and another with fifty free spaces in which writers can work. There is even a rent-free apartment for visiting foreign writers on short stays.
The foundation’s commendable aim is to promote literature in general and Norwegian and Nordic literature in particular, both fiction and non-fiction. It stimulates debate about books and the importance of freedom of speech via a busy programme of public meetings and seminars. There are now other literature houses in Bergen, Trondheim, Fredrikstad and Skien.
Oslo’s House of Literature.
The sign for Bokbanken, the book town’s headquarters.
A sign points towards a fellow book town, Wigtown in Scotland, just 900 kilometres away.
Former President of the International Organisation of Book Towns, Jan Kløvstad, reads to children in Tvedestrand.