Very few people know the story of Hans Jonathan, a free black man who was born into slavery, declared himself free, escaped the law, and lived and raised a family in early nineteenth-century Iceland. His story is improbable, the stuff of novels. And yet, it’s all true.
In The Man Who Stole Himself, Gisli Palsson unspools the incredible life story of Hans Jonathan (also known as Hans Jónatan) in stunning detail. Today, Hans has become something of an Icelandic icon, claimed as a proud and daring ancestor both there and among his descendants in America.
Palsson brilliantly intertwines Hans Jonathan’s adventurous life with a portrait of the Danish slave trade, legal arguments over slavery, and the state of nineteenth-century race relations in the Northern Atlantic world. Throughout the book, Palsson traces themes of imperial dreams, colonialism, human rights, and globalization, which all come together in the life of a single, remarkable man. Hans literally led a life like no other. His is the story of a man who had the temerity—the courage—to steal himself.
Direct descendants of Hans Jonatan, who live locally, will also be in attendance.
Initially set on being a dairy farmer, the aristocratic Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep) travels to Africa to join her husband, Bror (Klaus Maria Brandauer), who instead spends their money on a coffee plantation. After discovering Bror is unfaithful, Karen develops feelings for hunter Denys (Robert Redford), but realizes he prefers a simplistic lifestyle compared to her upper class background. The two continue on until a series of events force Karen to choose between her love and personal growth.
161 minutes. In English.
Directed by Sydney Pollack.
Free; donations accepted.
Films start at 1:30pm. Refreshments for attendees are served at 1pm. Lunch (not included) is available in the Kaffestugan, which is open until 3pm every Saturday.
After their public showing movies in our film series become part of the Scandinavian Library’s collection of DVDs available for borrowing by Library members.
Though she’s known as a Bach specialist, classical violinist Eva Ingolf also creates sonic memories of her Icelandic homeland with solo performances featuring haunting folk melodies as well as contemporary pieces like “A Troll in the Park.” Now based in New York, she’s released two acclaimed CDs and has appeared at Carnegie Hall, among other famed venues across the globe. She’ll the Nordic Hall to play a concert entitled Elves, Trolls and the Last Dance.
Saturday, November 12th | 1pm | tickets $15; $7 for SCC members
EVA INGOLF hails from a well-known musical family in Iceland. She began violin lessons at a very young age, and, after 6 years at the Conservatory of Reykjavik, left Iceland to study with some of the finest music pedagogues in Europe. During her years in Bruxelles, Geneva and Amsterdam, she was greatly influenced by the spirit of the Russian and East European violin schools. She won scholarships to participate in various master classes, studying with renowned pedagogues such as Stephan Gheorghiu, Victor Pikaizen, Zachar Bron and Tibor Varga Ms. Ingolf has traveled extensively, teaching and performing in such diverse places as Pakistan, Japan, Kenya and Zimbabwe. Her concerts in major music halls have received acclaim from music critics and audiences alike. In 1995-1996, Ms. Ingolf undertook studies in composition, conducting and orchestration at Harvard University. Her two CDs on the JAPIS label in Iceland feature music by Debussy, Chausson, Tartini, Wieniawski, Massenet, Franck, J.S. Bach and Shostakovich. Previous New York appearances include several recitals in Weill Hall @Carnegie Hall and other venues, a performance as soloist with the New York Scandia Symphony at Trinity Church, and an all-Szymanowsky evening with pianist Roman Markowicz at the Kosciuszko Foundation.
Bring your little crafter to the Scandinavian Library to make some Scandinavian crafts perfect for your tree. We will decorate a delightful dala horse and make paper tomten garland.
*Space is limited. Advanced tickets recommended**
Sunday, December 4th | noon | admission is $5; free for SCC members
The himmeli is a traditional Finnish holiday decoration made out of straw. Traditionally himmelis hung above dining tables to ensure a good crop for the coming year, and stayed on display from Christmas till Midsummer. The structure of a himmeli – especially a bigger and more complex one – is visually striking, with geometrical shapes made out of hundreds, or even thousands, of pieces of straw.
In this class you will learn how to construct your own himmeli and will take away a medium size finished project for your home. Your class instructor is Mia Saporito, an interdisciplinary artist from Finland.
Sunday, December 11th | 11am – 2pm| class cost is $20 | $15 for SCC members
Like a fish on a dry land, Kristofer is stuck in a dull everyday routine, working as a security guard. He got fired from the freight ship he worked on, when he was caught smuggling alcohol. Faced with money problems, he is tempted to accept the help of his friend, Steingrimur, who manages to pull some strings to get his old job back. He decides to take his chances one last time on a tour to Rotterdam.
Reykjavik-Rotterdam was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2010.
86 minutes. Icelandic with English subtitles.
Directed by Óskar Jónasson.
Free; donations accepted.
Films start at 1:30pm. Refreshments for attendees are served at 1pm. Lunch (not included) is available in the Kaffestugan, which is open until 3pm every Saturday.
After their public showing movies in our film series become part of the Scandinavian Library’s collection of DVDs available for borrowing by Library members.
Do you drink coffee? Have you read the book Out of Africa, by Danish writer Karen Blixen (whose pen name was Isak Dinesen)? Did you know that it is women who live and work in the world’s “coffee belt” who make it possible for us to enjoy Fika?
As a young girl in California, Erika Koss was a curious, voracious reader, who dreamed of traveling to the lands where her books were set. She longed especially to travel to Sweden, the place of her heritage, but never had the chance. Little did she know that reading about Karen Blixen’s years managing her family’s coffee farms in Kenya — in Out of Africa — would transform her own life, and lead her toward her own path of exploration about and through coffee.
After Erika’s first visit to Kenya in 1994, she returned this summer, including a visit to Karen Blixen’s coffee lands. Now Erika is writing a book that shares stories about the women behind the global coffee trade and the complex process from bean to cup.
Join us for this special preview of a chapter from Erika’s book-in-progress, where she will reveal what she’s learning from her travels to Africa and about why Out of Africa matters. Take a journey with Erika to discover the world inside your coffee cup will transform the way you drink these Magic Beans.
Finlandia Foundation and the SCC are excited to welcome author Anu Partanen to talk about her book “The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life”. Come hear Anu Partanen talk in your town about what America can learn from the experiences of Nordic societies.
A Book You Desperately Need to Add to Your ‘To-Read’ Pile This Summer
—Gizmodo
“This is a wonderful, hopeful book about what American society could be—not by adopting Nordic ‘socialism,’ but by embracing the values that have allowed Nordic citizens to enjoy more freedom and equality than in present-day America. The American Dream was once an inspiration to the world. Anu Partanen shows us how to rediscover it.”
—Robert B. Reich
Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at University of California, Berkeley,
and former U.S. Secretary of Labor
ABOUT ANU: Anu Partanen is a journalist originally from Finland, now based in New York City. She has lived in the United States since 2008, and her work has appeared in the New York Times and The Atlantic. She also worked at Fortune Magazine as a visiting reporter through the Innovation Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University. In Finland she has held many positions ranging from managing editor to columnist, features writer to news reporter, lecturer to on-air commentator. Her book “The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life” compares everyday life in the United States with life in the Nordic region.
Although anticipated, no one is really ready when the mountain pass above the scenic, narrow Norwegian fjord Geiranger, collapses and creates an 85-meter high violent tsunami. A geologist is one of those caught in the middle of it.
99 minutes. In Norwegian with English subtitles.
2015; Directed by Roar Uthaug.
Free; donations accepted.
Films start at 1:30pm. Refreshments for attendees are served at 1pm. Lunch (not included) is available in the Kaffestugan, which is open until 3pm every Saturday.
After their public showing movies in our film series become part of the Scandinavian Library’s collection of DVDs available for borrowing by Library members.
Sons of Norway, Norumbega Lodge and the SCC are thrilled to partner together again to present Steinway Artist, pianist Janice Weber. We welcome the Grammy Award nominee for an intimate performance that will feature Czerny, Beethoven, Schumann, Grieg, and Liszt.
Friday, October 7th | 7pm | $15 general admission; $7 seniors; FREE for SCC and Sons of Norway Norumbega Lodge members
ABOUT JANICE WEBER is a summa cum laude graduate of the Eastman School of Music. She was twice a fellowship student at Tanglewood and has appeared with the American Composers Orchestra, Boston Pops, Chautauqua Symphony, Hilton Head Symphony, New Bedford Symphony, New Hampshire Symphony, Sarajevo Philharmonic, Syracuse Symphony, and the Shenzhen Philharmonic. Her solo performances have been at the White House, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Weill Hall, National Gallery of Art, Boston’s Symphony Hall, and the 92nd Street Y. She has performed at summer festivals in Newport and Bard and returns regularly to China for concerts and master classes. Her eclectic recordings include the complete transcriptions of Rachmaninoff; with the Lydian Quartet, Leo Ornstein’s vast Piano Quintet; waltz transcriptions of Godowsky, Rosenthal, and Friedman; the world premiere recording of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes in the notoriously difficult 1838 version; solo piano music of Leo Ornstein; and Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. Seascapes, a collection of virtuoso water music, was released in April and is on the ballot for a 2015 Grammy nomination. A member of the Boston Conservatory and Tabor Academy piano faculties, Miss Weber is the author of eight novels. Frost the Fiddler, her third, was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times. She is the current Artistic Director of South Coast Chamber Players.
Very few people know the story of Hans Jonathan, a free black man who was born into slavery, declared himself free, escaped the law, and lived and raised a family in early nineteenth-century Iceland. His story is improbable, the stuff of novels. And yet, it’s all true.
GISLI PALSSON is professor of anthropology at the University of Iceland. He is the author, editor, or coeditor of many books.
Join us for this special preview of a chapter from Erika’s book-in-progress, where she will reveal what she’s learning from her travels to Africa and about why Out of Africa matters. Take a journey with Erika to discover the world inside your coffee cup will transform the way you drink these Magic Beans.
ABOUT ANU: Anu Partanen is a journalist originally from Finland, now based in New York City. She has lived in the United States since 2008, and her work has appeared in the New York Times and The Atlantic. She also worked at Fortune Magazine as a visiting reporter through the Innovation Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University. In Finland she has held many positions ranging from managing editor to columnist, features writer to news reporter, lecturer to on-air commentator. Her book “The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life” compares everyday life in the United States with life in the Nordic region.
ABOUT JANICE WEBER is a summa cum laude graduate of the Eastman School of Music. She was twice a fellowship student at Tanglewood and has appeared with the American Composers Orchestra, Boston Pops, Chautauqua Symphony, Hilton Head Symphony, New Bedford Symphony, New Hampshire Symphony, Sarajevo Philharmonic, Syracuse Symphony, and the Shenzhen Philharmonic. Her solo performances have been at the White House, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Weill Hall, National Gallery of Art, Boston’s Symphony Hall, and the 92nd Street Y. She has performed at summer festivals in Newport and Bard and returns regularly to China for concerts and master classes. Her eclectic recordings include the complete transcriptions of Rachmaninoff; with the Lydian Quartet, Leo Ornstein’s vast Piano Quintet; waltz transcriptions of Godowsky, Rosenthal, and Friedman; the world premiere recording of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes in the notoriously difficult 1838 version; solo piano music of Leo Ornstein; and Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. Seascapes, a collection of virtuoso water music, was released in April and is on the ballot for a 2015 Grammy nomination. A member of the Boston Conservatory and Tabor Academy piano faculties, Miss Weber is the author of eight novels. Frost the Fiddler, her third, was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times. She is the current Artistic Director of South Coast Chamber Players.