Dahl admits that he feels bad when he doesn’t write. He considers writing a way to place himself with others and to achieve visibility: “I think I write to be. To be visible to myself. I write so that the world becomes visible to me.” Writing, he continues, is the language that he has, and something that doesn’t come easy: “The problem is that I don’t have that language when I don’t write. So the language I have, I must fight for every time in order to get into it.” Sometimes, he adds, he doesn’t succeed, and he has to remind himself that “the only way to get to write is to sit down and write.”

Niels Fredrik Dahl (b. 1957) is a Norwegian novelist, poet and dramatist. Dahl was awarded the Brage Prize in 2002 for the novel ‘På vei til en venn’ (Visiting a Friend) as well as The Ibsen Award that same year. Other books include ‘Herre’ (Lord) (2009) and ‘Mor om natten’ (Mother by Night) (2017). Dahl has also written scripts for TV series.

Niels Fredrik Dahl was interviewed by Anette Dina Sørensen in August 2018 in connection with the Louisiana Literature festival at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark.

Camera: Klaus Elmer

Produced by Christian Lund

Edited by Roxanne Bagheshirin Lærkesen

Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2020

Supported by Nordea-fonden