Poetry trip to Shanghai with Fredrik Hagen - Fjell Hav Poesi 5th Anniversary

  • Fredrik Hagen (b. 1991) is a Norwegian poet, writer, and historian. He was the long-term editor of the poetry zine Forsvinningspunkt (Vanishing Point) and the moderator and organiser of the Poetry Salon event at the Bergen House of Literature.

    He studied art history at the University of Bergen and holds a doctoral degree in history from the Western Norway University, where he is currently teaching writing and history.

    Since 2017, he has published five poetry collections with Flamme Forlag, including Jeg kom plutselig til å slutte å tenke på deg (2017), Alt er barndom (2018), Han ligner en måte å sove på (2019), Omriss av åpne hender (2021), and LA DET BLI / EN ENSOM TID (2024).

Ben have just returned from an intensely “poetic” trip to Shanghai with Fredrik Hagen, the charming scholar and poet from Bergen. Over four full days in the megacity, we managed to fit in three events—each lasting two hours, plus additional time for meeting the readers—along with a podcast session.

The three events took place at Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum, the Asia Pacific Youth Exchange Center at Fudan University, and Sinan Literature House. At each venue, we were met with a full house of enthusiastic and attentive readers—nothing short of a minor miracle for a young Norwegian poet whose full-length poetry collection has yet to be published in Chinese.

Fredrik rewarded the audience with intelligent insights into his literary universe and beautiful readings from all five of his published collections in Norway. Through the translation and interpretation of our director, Ben Wenhou Yu, who is also a prize-winning literary translator from Shanghai, Fredrik reached deep into the hearts of the readers in a city with a profound literary heritage.

Our thanks go to the Norwegian Consulate in Shanghai, NORLA, and Bergen Municipality for their support, and to Fredrik for an unforgettable journey.