Writing the present, writing intimacy: Claire-Louise Bennett and Gunnhild Øyehaug in conversation

In their writing, both Gunnhild øyehaug and Claire-Louise Bennett investigate the strangeness of everyday life: solitude and longing, the experience of the present, and the way thoughts pass by.

Life is both dramatic and not dramatic at all in Bennett's and øyehaug's books.At last, these sisters in art will meet on stage to talk about their books, why they write them, and why relationships can be so difficult.

Bennett's latest book, Big Kiss, Bye-Bye , and øyehaug's Knutar (Knots) and Elskarane mine circle around topics such as communication, desire, and the impossibility of being fully understood by another living human being.

Love is certainly not easy!The conversation will be moderated by Espen Røsbak , former director of Kapittel, an avid reader of both Bennett and øyehaug, and head of culture in Sola municipality.Claire-Louise Bennett is an acclaimed British writer and essayist known for her lyrical, distinctive, genre-bending prose.

Her books Pond , Checkout 19 , and Big Kiss, Bye-Bye explore solitude, imagination, everyday life, literature, and the inner lives of women with great originality and wit.Her work has been shortlisted for several major prizes, including the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

In 2018, The Times Literary Supplement named her one of the twenty best British and Irish novelists working today.

And our own Karl Ove Knausgård is a huge fan.Gunnhild øyehaug is an award-winning Norwegian poet, essayist, and fiction writer.

Her story collection Knutar (Knots) was published by FSG in 2017, followed in 2018 by Vente Blinke (Wait, Blink) , which was adapted into the acclaimed film Kvinner i for store herreskjorter , and in 2022 by Presens Maskin ( Present Tense Machine) . øyehaug lives in Bergen, where she teaches creative writing.Photos: Mark Walsh and Helge SkodvinThis event is part of Kapittel - Stavanger International Festival of Literature and Freedom of Speech, 16–20 September 2026.

For more information see: kapittel.no .

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