Transborder Café: Erika Fatland

In August 2016, Norwegian author and social anthropologist Erika Fatland visited Pikene på Broen as she completed her 20,000 km journey tracing the vast Russian border from North Korea in the east to Grense Jakobselv in the west. Her eight-month, 20,000 kilometre journey took Erika through the lands that border the world’s largest country; from the far east and through the Caucasus, across the Caspian and Black Sea, through the European and Baltic countries on Russia’s western frontier and finally northward, through Finland and Norway. Her incredible journey provides the backdrop for her new book Grensen that, through unique histories and human encounters, shows how different countries are affected by their powerful neighbour, the Russian Federation.

Pikene på Broen is pleased to invite Erika Fatland back to Kirkenes for the presentation of her book Grensen that was released this November. Fatland is one of Norway’s most critically acclaimed and award-winning non-fiction writers whose books have been translated into several languages. She is the author of Foreldrekrigen (2009), Englebyen – Fortellinger fra Beslan (2011), Året uten sommer (2012) and Sovjetistan (2014).