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Monday, 17 August 2026

The Norwegian Highlights newsletter is back from its summer break! Future newsletters will be sent once a month, with the next edition in your inbox on Friday 4 September.

How Norway’s Øyafestivalen Became One of Europe’s Best Music Fests | Ellise Shafer profiles the Oslo music festival in Variety.

Savage Mountain | The Guardian included the film, which uses footage captured by mountaineer Kristin Harila, as part in its TV tonight tips this week. 

"Sorrow into rapture" | Writing for Bachtrack, Christopher Woodley reviewed Monday's Prom which included a performance by Vilde Frang as the soloist in Berg's Violin Concerto.

Sigrid on her love of pop and rock | Andrew Trendell interviewed Sigrid for NME ahead of her European tour this summer.

In the Spotlight: Sondre Lerche | Bill Cummings is joined by the singer-songwriter for the podcast.

Until 31 August, Edinburgh Fringe Festival: This year's edition of the world's largest performing arts festival brings an exciting roster of Norwegian acts to Scotland. Expect an entertaining mix of stand-up, cabaret, puppetry and musical theatre. 

Until 29 August: Plexus Polaire: Dracula - Lucy's Dream. A hypnotic reimagining of Bram Stoker’s immortal masterpiece; centred around Lucy Westenra, it deals with obsession, control and the demon inside. Read more here. (Photo above by Christophe Raynaud De Lag)

Until 22 August: Thor Theatre / Guliz Portakaloglu: La Musicca von Scene/Sonata. A solo performance in which a former actor creates a show through improvisation and objects found on stage, reflecting on love, home and music. Read more here.

Until 23 August: Karen Houge: Dreamgirl. An immersive storytelling and clown performance inspired by Houge's experiences accompanying Syrian refugees on their journey towards asylum in Europe. Read more here.

Until 29 August: The Producers: With the Possible Exception of Abraham Lincoln. A political drama imagining a meeting between Donald Trump and Abraham Lincoln, exploring themes of loss, legacy, hubris and honesty. Read more here.

Until 30 August: Adrian Minkowicz: Latin America. The award-winning comedian takes audiences on an epic road trip through 500 years of Latin American history, from Bolivia and Machu Picchu to the Galápagos Islands. Read more here.

Until 30 August: Viggo Venn: Only One. The Britain's Got Talent winner returns to Edinburgh with his signature blend of absurdity, audience interaction and high-energy comedy. Read more here.

Until 30 August: Pernille Haaland: Nordic Operations. The award-winning Norwegian comedian is back with sharp observations on NATO jobs, dating, culture clashes and keeping calm in a chaotic world. Read more here.

Until 30 August: Henning Nilsen: A Letter To My Parents. A dark comedy about leaving a career in finance to pursue stand-up, touching on mental health, depression and modern masculinity. Read more here.

Until 30 August: Adrian Minkowicz: Hand of God. A political satire about football, FIFA, human rights, Messi, Maradona and the absurdities surrounding the world's most popular game. Read more here. 

Until 31 August: Hanna Kanon: Comfortable. The Norwegian comedian explores discomfort, small talk, cosmetic surgery, financial security and family life in a sharp stand-up show. Read more here. 

Until 31 August: Sjur Hjeltnes: Go Go Go Cake and Piano. A musical comedy celebration of art, music, cake and other wonderfully unnecessary pleasures, exploring happiness and enjoyment through delightfully imperfect English. Read more here.

Find out all about the festival here: Edinburgh Festival Fringe

17 August: Mariko Miyata Jancey
Everybody Dance! with Mariko Miyata Jancey | Edinburgh International Book Festival

20 August: Odd Arne Westad
Kenneth R Rosen & Odd Arne Westad: Polar Power | Edinburgh International Book Festival

24 August: Åsne Seierstad
Åsne Seierstad: Russian Lives at War | Edinburgh International Book Festival

24 August: Camara Lundestad Joof
Immortalising Sisterhood: The Salon | Edinburgh International Book Festival

29 August: Vigdis Hjorth
Helle Helle & Vigdis Hjorth: Ordinary Miracles | Edinburgh International Book Festival

29 August: Future Library
Future Library | Edinburgh International Book Festival

22 August: Vilde Frang
Vilde Frang & Friends | Edinburgh International Festival

Photo: Vilde Frang, credit: Marco Borggreve

The Proms run from 17 July - 12 September: The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra return to the Royal Albert Hall for this year's Proms on Saturday 29 August, with music by Sergey Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky, and Norwegian composer Øyvind Torvund (above) on the programme.

Proms from earlier in this year's season are available on BBC Sounds until October - including:

John Wilson conducts Respighi’s 'Roman Trilogy': Cellist Jonathan Aasgaard performs with the Sinfonia of London under the baton of John Wilson.

From the Alps to the Auvergne: including Kristine Tjøgersen's work Beyond Trees in its UK Premiere in a performance by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Salonen Conducts 20th-Century Classics: including Violinist Vilde Frang as the soloist in Alban Berg's heartbreaking elegy of a Violin Concerto, with its embedded Bach chorale, dedicated ‘to the memory of an angel’.

Photo: Øyvind Torvund, credit: Helge Skodvin.

Recitals in Carlisle, Howden, London, Coventry, Bath until 25 August: Victoria Ulriksen gave her debut recital at age 15 in Oslo Cathedral, and abroad in 2023 on Scandinavia’s only Cavaillé-Coll organ in Copenhagen. Ulriksen will be giving organ recitals at a number of English cathedrals, beginning in St Paul's Cathedral in London this Sunday 16 August.

Photo by Levent Ultanur.

London, UCL East Cinema, 2-4 October: As UCL celebrates its bicentenary, this new three-day festival celebrates the richness and diversity of contemporary Nordic film. The festival showcases recently released films from across the major languages of the Nordic region: Danish, Greenlandic, Faroese, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Old Norse, the Sámi language group, and Swedish.

The festival promotes the creativity of pan-Nordic filmmaking in the UK and provide a platform for students and members of the public to watch and appreciate Nordic arthouse, as well as shining a spotlight on student and staff excellence in both Nordic and Film studies.

Among the screenings is Armand (2024) from director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, starring Renate Reinsve. Tickets are free and open to the public - follow the link below to secure your place.

Photo courtesy of the festival.

London, 26-29 November: The UK premiere of Nobel Prize-winning playwright Jon Fosse's latest work, Skodespelet (The Play) performed by Det Norske Teatret, comes to The Coronet Theatre this November. Darkly comic, mysterious and unexpectedly uplifting, the play follows four travellers waiting for a boat whose destination remains unknown. Directed by Johannes Holmen Dahl and presented in Norwegian (Nynorsk) with English surtitles, this acclaimed production premiered at Det Norske Teatret during the 2025 Fosse Festival.

Lucy Moffatt has been translating professionally since the mid-1990s, first from Spanish, later from Norwegian. Since 2017, she’s translated nearly twenty Norwegian fiction and non-fiction titles for publishers in the UK and Canada. Authors she’s worked with include Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, Andreas Tjernshaugen, Are Kalvø, Bjørn Berge, Dag O. Hessen, Hilde Østby, Nina Brochmann and Ellen Støkken Dahl.

Lucy Moffatt. Photo: Ole Brodersen.

Applications for the 2026/27 round of Emerging Translator Mentorships open now, deadline 24 August: Celebrating its seventeenth anniversary in 2026, the Emerging Translator Mentorship programme was founded by Daniel Hahn in 2010 with the aim of developing successive new cohorts of literary translators into English, particularly for languages whose literature is currently under-represented in English translation. 

The scheme matches up experienced translators with emerging translators for a six-month period during which they work together on practical translation projects, developing their craft through working on a chosen text or texts. The mentor acts as an adviser to the mentee on aspects of life as a professional translator, such as time management, meeting deadlines, managing finances and understanding contracts, and as an advocate for their mentee with publishers in search of literary translators. 

The Norwegian language mentorship with Rosie Hedger is funded by the Embassy and NORLA.

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Happening Now:

▶ The exhibition Nomenclature for the Time Being gathers the work of Sandra Mujinga and over ten other artists whose practices span sculpture, performance, writing, photography and video. At Raven Row in London until 6 September.



▶ 20 August, Edinburgh

A cappella sextet Nordic Voices return to Edinburgh after 30 years for the concert The Maid of Norway - A Queen of Scots, 1286-90 at Edinburgh New Town Church.


▶ 20-23 August, Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons)

Smerz are playing Green Man Festival.

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