I drew this panel a few years ago in a story about a trip to Angoulême, France, for their international comix festival, where I met a Norwegian editor who, in addition to inviting me to the Nordic party that evening (more on that in my last Substack here), also had something to do with my being invited early this month as a guest of Oslo Comics Expo in what was truly the trip of a lifetime!!
Organized by the Grünerløkka branch of Oslo's Deichman library, the Expo ran much of its programming in English and, as in all of Norway, everyone spoke beautiful English, so I felt very spoiled.
Karl from Rosa Bøk welcomed me with a smile and a mountain of my books at his table, which was beautifully stocked and organized, even thought his bookstore was only two months old! Here we are, ready to get to work...
It was an honor and a joy to speak (again: in English! And the audience even laughed at my jokes!) on a graphic medicine panel with Swedish comics creator Klara Wiksten (creator of Mors Dag) and Norwegian creator Trond Bredeson (creator of Mora Mi). Our moderator Aleksandra Bartoszko led us through a wonderful discussion bridging four languages and cultures.
The spotlight turned next to my book The Story of My Tits, which my interviewer Tina Søreng-Christensen, had lovingly and carefully read. Tina is, in fact, the editor I'd met some years ago, without whom I'd never have received this invitation to Oslo, and we enjoyed a food court dinner before our presentation to catch up on all our news. And dammit, I forgot to take a picture of the two of us!
The Goddess smiled, I know she did, down on the all-female performance of Comics Out Loud, where I read a few of my recent short comix stories. The rest of the readings were in Norwegian, but I could tell from the pictures and the roaring laughter that the comics were funny and biting and fiendishly true. I felt so appreciated and warmly included by this comix community so far from home.
My daughter made the trip with me ("Do I want to go to Oslo? Of course I want to go to Oslo! What kind of a question is that?") Our first day was all about recovery (and trying not to go to bed at midnight, which was when it got dark out--the sun rising soon after at 4:30...) All we could really manage that day was to visit the famous Opera House (Operahuset in Norwegian, pronounced "oopra hooset" P.S. I love this language), a vast architectural marvel next to our hotel. I couldn’t stop climbing on it, like a white marble ship’s prow or maybe an iceberg jutting out of the harbor.
From afar, it looks like people are not walking but skiing down its slopes. Close up, you realize that the structure literally emerges from (or vanishes into) the water, as if maybe some walruses are about to haul themselves up on it for a snooze or maybe waddle into the building to take in a little Puccini...
On day two we got up early and had time for a two and a half hour electric hovercraft tour of the fjord where Oslo is built. OMIGOD!!! The weather was cold, windy, with brilliant sun: in other words, perfect. Because the city banned industry and commercial boating years ago from the harbor, it is clean and quiet and smells of fresh ocean air. The fjord is dotted with little islands connected to Oslo by small electric ferries, so people can live on an island and work in town. And all around the edges of the islands and the fjord are anchorages of pleasure boats. It felt like Cape Cod. Or Maine, with all the tall pines. I wonder how long the pleasure boating season lasts before everything freezes.
The city is clean and quiet as well, with electric buses and tram, everyone on bikes and scooters (standing very straight and tall: posture seems to be one of their national treasures, as well as handsome men). As the rain came and went, we walked around town. We saw the headquarters of the Deichman library, completed during quarantine. If Oslo is a city of the future (and I think it is, designed for a less polluting, less wasteful, simpler life), then this is a library of the future, with an elevator and escalator, stairs that work as tables and chairs, walls and ceiling of natural light, and video installations of quiet nature. And it holds an actual Library of the Future, pictured here, which contains books written by famous authors like Margaret Atwood Taylor. These books cannot be opened for ninety years. What hope this shows for our world, and for the future of reading on paper!
Taking a little wooden launch ferry out to a peninsula, we visited the Fram Museum, which houses the actual ship, The Fram, sailed by Amundsen, the Norwegian Antarctic and Arctic explorer. Behold the diorama of their icy adventure.
We also visited the Holocaust Center (built into the former house of a Nazi!) near the Fram and saw the Jewish Museum in town, a very moving place. There are stones everywhere set into Oslo sidewalks commemorating those lost in the Holocaust. The museum recounts all of their stories. “Remember us unto life”.
The day before we left, climbed the cobblestones of the Akershus Fortress to the very top, where the cannons look straight down to the harbor.
Where we plopped down on the grass to rest our feet as the neverending sun littered the water with sun chips. And we said goodbye to this wonderful place, which is literally so "chill". And we swore we would come back.
Tusen takk for a fantastic experience, Oslo Comics Expo!!
"standing very straight and tall: posture seems to be one of their national treasures, as well as handsome men"
I'm putting Oslo on my list of places with a visit! lol
Jennifer, loved hearing about your trip! sounds terrific! So glad you traveled with your girl-child!