Press
Interview with Erlend Loe
1. Dear Erlend Loe, what have you been busy with lately?
I have been writing a novel called "Hell", about a woman who digs in her garden to put down some flowers, but then finds a gateway to hell. There she becomes the devil´s girlfriend. I am also working on several screenplays. In Norway, in Sweden and in USA.
2. Can you tell us a little about your work, the subject matters that you write about, where you draw your inspiration from?
The inspiration is mostly from the things that people say and do and don´t say and don´t do. Small things. I like our irrationality, our lack of communication. I think I write about the weirdness of modern society, and about freedom of mind. Trying to question everything.
3. Do you have any contemporary Norwegian authors that you enjoy reading yourself, that you could recommend for us?
Norway has many good writers these days. I would have to recommend Karl Ove Knausgaard. And Per Petterson. But there are also many others.
4. Are there any Chinese authors you are interested in?
I have read a few contemporary chinese writers, but not many. Mo Yan is the one I remember most from the last years.
5. What do you expect from your participation in StoryDrive in Beijing?
I am hoping to meet writers from China and other countries. Meeting people always interest me. It expands the world.
6. You have been active and successful across different genres and areas, as a novelist, a children’s book author and as a screen writer – is there something as an author you haven’t done yet but would still like to try out?
I am doing what I love to do and do not have any other ambition than to continue and get better at what I do.
7. (How) do you think the way we tell stories and make a living selling them will change in the future?
The only thing that is one hundred percent certain is that we always need stories and storytellers. The best stories and the best storytellers will always find a way to survive. But the competition is hardening as it is becoming easier to publish books and other texts. This makes for a fantastic undergrowth of writers. Not all of them will grow into the light. But at the bottom of the forest life is abundant.
8. Can you tell us a little about the book market in Norway, how would you characterise the publishing and the literary scene?
Norwegian writers are lucky to live in a country that actively supports literature. The state buys around one thousand copies of almost every book that is published, and makes it available in the libraries. A bit more than thousand if it is a book for young readers. And we have support systems that brings Norwegian literature abroad. We also have collective agreements for writers, no matters if they are debutants or experienced. More or less everyone will have the same contract. This makes it less risky to write books. But of course most writers do not make a lot of money. But I would guess that more writers can live partially from writing in Norway than in many other countries.
Erlend Loe will be speaking at the StoryDrive conference in Beijing (28 May - 1 June 2019).