International law the focus at Uppsala International Literature Festival
Christina Kullberg. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt.
The Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences will be participating in the Uppsala International Literature Festival on 27–29 March 2025. The research programme Democracy and Higher Education will take part in conversations on literary creation around major contemporary areas of conflict.
“The Festival’s most important ambition is to highlight voices, authors, texts and literary forms that are not seen or heard in the literary field in Sweden. We don’t hear much in Sweden from or about literature from Africa – those authors who publish locally and in particular in languages other than the colonial languages,” says Christina Kullberg, Professor of French at the Department of Modern Languages, and a co-organiser of the Literature Festival through the research programme Democracy and Higher Education.
Christina Kullberg’s areas of research include French-language colonial and post-colonial literature. Central to this research are questions about the origins of racism and the construction of race. This year, main emphasis of the Festival is on Nigeria.
“Lola Shoneyin – author, poet and founder of the Book Buzz Foundation and of the Aké Arts and Book Festival – has been instrumental in curating the Literature Festival. There will also be a lot of poetry – about and for young people, and about and for growth. But the Festival will also deal a lot with the conditions for literature and how it can intervene in politics, and how it operates as politics.”
International law in focus
As usual, the Festival also makes reference to topical discussions, this year there is a special focus on international law.
“Göran Rosenberg and Kenneth Hermele will speak about “Jewish vengeance”, which can be seen as a follow-up to last year’s initial conversation with Haaretz journalist Gideon Levy in the Humanities Theatre. The Festival this year will also be about women and resistance in Ukraine. We will also hear Palestinian poetry by Fady Joudah, translated and read aloud by Johannes Anyuru.”
Finally, what do you hope to get out of the conversations?
“That poetry and prose are seen and heard! In particular, it will be a great pleasure to have the opportunity to hear Nigerian literary stars talk about their authorship, about what literature can do in the world, and in people’s lives.”