Scandinavia House

NORDIC BOOK CLUB ONLINE | THE WHITE BEAR
2025-09-09 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | NY
Read and discuss literature with our Nordic Book Club Online! Nordic Book Club meets monthly via Zoom to discuss contemporary literature in translation. On September 9, we’ll be discussing the classic Danish novellas The White Bear and The Rearguard by Danish Nobel laureate Henrik Pontoppidan, out now in new translation by Paul Larkin from NYRB Classics.
Love, faith, and the political mingle in these two short novels by the Nobel Prize-winning Danish author. The White Bear follows the fate of the odd, gangly, red-bearded Thorkild Müller. Born in rural Jutland and destined for the ministry, Thorkild proves to be a poor student and is assigned to a remote Inuit tribe in Greenland. There, with his mythic-looking staff and dogskin skullcap, he becomes known as the White Bear—a beloved legend among the locals and a freewheeling embarrassment to his fellow priests. Grown old, he returns to Denmark, where again his flock adores him while his fellow men of cloth try to tame the “whirling dervish in their midst.”

In The Rearguard, newlyweds Jørgen Hallager and Ursula Branth are as different as night and day. The brash son of a poor village teacher, Jørgen is an avowed socialist whose revolutionary beliefs translate into his work as a painter of social realism; Ursula comes from a conservative, upper-middle-class family. At first, as they start their married life in Rome, they each try to change the other’s worldview with arguments and threats, but as time wears on and they wear each other down, it becomes clear there can be no reconciliation in this tale of art and idealism, individuality and love.
The White Bear and The Rearguard is available as a single volume in paperbook and eBook from Penguin Random House and other retailers.
*Please note that, while titled only as The White Bear, the book contains both novellas.*
“The ice, the fjords, the harshness of lonely winter and the revitalizing light of summer . . . This is vivid writing, reminiscent of Knut Hamsun on landscape, and Halldór Laxness on the comedy of life.” —Danny Morrison, Irish Examiner
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QUISLING: THE FINAL DAYS
2025-09-10 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
“A superb historical drama” —on September 10, see Quisling: The Final Days in New Nordic Cinema! Directed by Erike Poppe (The King’s Choice; The Emigrants), this intense, electrifying film stars Gard B. Eidsvold as notorious Norwegian politician Vidkun Quisling over the days leading to his sentencing and execution in 1945.
In this psychological drama of the former Prime Minister of Norway responsible for one of the greatest betrayals during World War II, Quisling: The Final Days (Quislings siste dager, Norway, 2024) opens as five years of occupation during WW2 have ended in Norway. Quisling, a Nazi collaborator who led the state administration under the German regime, is now in prison for treason. Can a priest help him find peace of mind? And can this traitor himself repent?
“A superb historical drama about the far-right’s threat to democracy… A penetrating psychological study of a delusional authoritarian.” (Variety)
“A must-see film” (Film Threat)
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BETWEEN TWO SOUNDS | WITH JOONAS SILDRE
2025-09-11 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Join us on September 11 for a book talk with Estonian comic artist and illustrator Joonas Sildre on his award-winning graphic novel Between Two Sounds, based on the life of world-famous Estonian composer Arvo Pärt! Presented in celebration of Pärt’s 90th birthday on this day, this program take place alongside celebrations of the composer this season at Carnegie Hall, including an October 23 performance with the Estonian Festival Orchestra.
Arvo Pärt stormed Soviet-occupied Estonia’s music scene in the 1960s as a brash young man pushing the limits of avant-garde modernism. Then he fell silent, no longer able to express what he felt through the musical language he had inherited. When he reemerged a decade later, he had found, in that silence between sounds, a new musical language inspired by ancient sacred music, the basis of his distinctive tintinnabuli technique.
Between Two Sounds: Arvo Pärt’s Journey to His Musical Language follows the composer’s life from his birth in Estonia in 1935 through 1980, when the Soviets forced him to emigrate because of the nonconformist and religious nature of his music. Based on years of research and close collaboration with Arvo Pärt himself, Joonas Sildre paints an atmospheric portrait of a restless artist who does not shy away from confronting state control or his own internal contradictions. Out in English translation by Adam Cullen, the book is the recipient of major awards including the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) 2025 — Gold Medal in the Graphic Novel category, and IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award 2025 — Gold Medal in the Graphic Novel category.

KEYBOARD CONVERSATIONS® | BELOVED NORDIC PIANO MASTERPIECES
2025-09-11 19:30 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Internationally acclaimed pianist Jeffrey Siegel returns this fall for his ever-popular Keyboard Conversations® series at Scandinavia House. Each evening comprises an informal commentary on the music and its composers, a full performance of each work, and a short Q & A session. The engaging format both makes friends of classical music and enriches the listening experience for avid music lovers.
In celebration of the 25th Anniversary Year of Scandinavia House, Mr. Siegel’s opening night features music from all-Nordic composers: Edvard Grieg, Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen, and Christian Sinding, among others.
Thanks to a generous loan by Victor Borge’s grandson Finn, concerts will be performed on Victor Borge’s personal Steinway piano.
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NORDIC TEXTILE TAKEOVER
2025-09-13 14:00 - 18:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Scandinavia House, in partnership with New York Textile Month, is pleased to present the second iteration of NORDIC TEXTILE TAKEOVER, a weekend exhibition, program, and workshop highlighting contemporary Nordic textiles. Featuring an exhibition in the Scandinavia House gallery, the program includes artist talks and curator walkthrough, a reception, and hands-on workshops. The weekend program will also highlight work from recent textile art graduates from Textilhögskolan Borås.
Join us for the the first day of this event, which will feature two artist talks, a curator walkthrough of the exhibition, and a reception.
NORDIC TEXTILE TAKEOVER is presented in partnership with New York Textile Month.
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HOT DOG! BJÖRK CAFE BRUNCH SPECIAL
2025-09-14 11:00 - 17:00 | Björk Cafe & Bistro at Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Hot Dog! In honor of Faroese artist Randi Simonsen’s “Crochet Hot Dog” workshop this Sunday in Nordic Textile Takeover, Björk Cafe & Bistro is offering a special brunch special with Swedish hot dogs — mini tunnbrödsrulle! Try out Chef Ulrika’s take on the Swedish street food dish (which Anthony Bourdain once called “the finest and best thing I ever had in my life”) paired with elderflower margaritas.
RESERVATIONS

THE HOT DOG WORKSHOP
2025-09-14 12:00 - 15:00 | NY
Join celebrated Faroese artist Randi Samsonsen on a crochet journey of the hot dog, a long-beloved NYC staple! There are endless possibilities to use left-over yarns. We are going to play with different gauges, structures, shapes and sizes. Let’s have fun!! To be able to crochet back and forth as minimum is required; if you only know how to knit, Randi will challenge you to knit the hot dog instead. Materials: Please bring left-over yarn, even tiny, small balls of yarn are welcome. It will be so great to see inactive yarns come to use! If you have crochet needles, preferably size 6 or 8, but anything goes. If you have knitting needles, bring them too. Once registered, we will send you instructions on how to crochet the “bun” ahead of time to have more flexibility with creating the wiener and toppings in the class!
This program will take place in this weekend’s NORDIC TEXTILE TAKEOVER.
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ABOUT RANDI SAMSONSEN
Randi Samsonsen is an internationally renowned textile artist based in the Faroe Islands. She graduated from Designskolen Kolding 2012 with a masters in Textile Design. She was recently awarded the “Art Event of The Year” by the Danish Art Critics Association in 2024 for her collaborative textile work, THINGS MATTER, at Trapholt, Kolding.
In addition to exhibiting internationally, Randi also works as a teacher and developer of the textile department at Tilvirkisatstøði, Glasir, Tórshavn Collage in the Faroe Islands, teaching Design (tools/methods) and Textile Tools (knit/weave/materials etc.)
She constantly investigates the possibilities within textile, thread, form, and color within design and art.

THE EXTRAVAGANT BLOOM BROOCH WORKSHOP
2025-09-14 12:00 - 15:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Inspired by trend forecaster Li Edelkoort’s prediction that “Extravagant Brooches” are trending, we’ll make one ourselves! Join celebrated textile and performance artist Heidi Hankaniemi on a quest to repurpose vintage embroideries and sew a brooch on a backing of industrial felt with a brooch clasp. Materials are provided, but if you have any old embroideries that you think are fitting and you wish to repurpose, please bring those. No sewing skills required.
This program will take place in this weekend’s NORDIC TEXTILE TAKEOVER.
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ABOUT HEIDI HANKANIEMI
Heidi Hankaniemi was born in Ekenäs Finland and currently lives in New York City. She received her BA (Hons) Degree in Critical Fine Art Practice from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, London, as well as a Diploma in Fine Arts from Kanneljärven Opiston taidelinja, Finland. Heidi has exhibited throughout Europe and the United States, including at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, St. Petersburg Metro Museum, and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
Heidi’s work has been featured in Artnet, Vogue UK, FJORDS magazine, Elle Deco ES, Elle Decoration UK, Elle UK, Architectural Digest, Frame, I.D. magazine, Interview magazine, Crystallized, Dazed and Confused, Marie Claire, Hello!, among others. She was featured in Episode #1 of the documentary series Adress: New York, Kaleido Productions/ YleFEM, Finland. She has also been featured in Art TV, with Felicity, a documentary series thatlaunched in April 2023 on Airline Entertainment networks Worldwide.

THE CRAFT KNIT CLUB HEL IN NYC
2025-09-14 12:00 - 15:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Let’s come together! Based on the popular Craft Club Hel gatherings in Helsinki, Finnish textile artist and knitwear designer Juha Vehmaanperä brings their passion for collaborative design learning to New York. Join Juha for a workshop to learn the hand knitting special techniques of wave pattern and tuck stitch. You’ll need needles of your preferred size, and two or more yarns that fit the needle size. Feel free to try different varieties of needle and yarn sizes for experimentation!
BYOY = Bring Your Own Yarn (and knitting equipment)
This workshop is part of the weekend-long NORDIC TEXTILE TAKEOVER, presented in partnership with New York Textile Month.
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Craft Club HEL is a knitting gathering held in Helsinki in varied locations, for example Architecture and Design Museum, galleries and local artist and designer studios. The aim is to create conversational culture around craft where people from different backgrounds can come together through a shared interest. By choosing locations that exhibit design, art and local professionals Vehmaanperä’s aim is to weave these cultures together seeing craft as an integral and often overlooked part of art and design worlds.
Juha Vehmaanperä is a Helsinki based Textile Artist and Knitwear Designer (Master of Arts, Aalto-University) They have taught numerous courses in the field of art and design in relation to soft materials. In 2022 Vehmaanperä was awarded Young Designer of the Year in Finland. Their work has received international acclaim at Hyéres Fashion Festival and Dutch Design Week. Vehmaanerä’s work has been seen on artists such as CL and Tate McRae.

HILMA AF KLINT'S BOTANICAL WORLD
2025-09-16 18:30 - 19:30 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Join us on Tuesday, September 16 for an evening with Dr. Jodi Hauptman (the Richard Roth Senior Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art) and Dr. Lena Struwe (Director of the Chrysler Herbarium and Professor at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University) as they discuss artist Hilma af Klint’s profound engagement with nature.
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HOMECOMING (MÁHCCAN)
2025-09-17 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On September 17, see the Homecoming (Máhccan), Suvi West and Anssi Kömi’s powerful documentary about the return of artifacts—long held in a museum—to their Sámi homeland.
Suvi West and Anssi Kömi’s latest documentary is a deeply personal pilgrimage to reclaim Sámi cultural heritage. The Sámi, Europe’s northernmost Indigenous people, endured the erosion of their sovereign and cultural rights during the 19th and 20th centuries under nation-state suppression. Graves were looted, artifacts and bones plundered and sacred drums removed from the hands of their last shamans. Set at a turning point in which museums must grapple with their colonialist history—including the National Museum of Finland, which has now returned thousands of everyday objects to the Sámi—the documentary tours museum vaults across Europe, where filmmaker West unravels layers of history, grappling with questions of representation, exploitation and the intricate tapestry of her own cultural identity.
As she takes the audience behind the scenes of the museum world, West reveals a visual, philosophical, and spiritual realm. She seeks a connection with ancestors through old museum objects, eventually arriving at the collective pain points of the Sámi people. How can the damage caused by outsiders be repaired so that collective pains can be left behind?
“This keenly observed film creates a profound statement about the legacy of colonialism as it vividly expresses the sustained soul-destroying impact on every person, particularly when they’re Indigenous” (Barbara Goslawski, POV Magazine)
This program is supported by the Monika and Charles Heimbold Fund for Exhibitions and Programs.
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WRITING THE WORLD FROM COPENHAGEN TO NYC
2025-09-19 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
Join us on September 19 for a conversation on “Writing the World from Copenhagen to NYC”! This program presents the work of four talented early-career writers who have been selected by faculty at Forfatterskolen, Copenhagen, and the Columbia University School of the Arts, New York, to represent the best of new writing in Danish and English: Sophia Acuña, Christian Fobian, Patricio Hernández Palazuelos and Krista Winther.
In cooperation between these two arts institutions, the four Word for Word Exchange Writers have been engaged in a collaborative project of mutual translation. Moderated by Katrine Øgaard Jensen, they will present excerpts from the resulting work here in a multilingual reading and discussion about international 21st-century art-making with writers on the faculty of both institutions.
This program is sponsored in part by Danish Arts Foundation.
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SWEDISH 1.1 — ENROLLMENT OPEN
2025-09-22 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-09-29 18:00 - 19:30 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Learn the Nordic languages in classes offered at Scandinavia House, held in-person and virtually! This course is for absolute beginners. Classes take place on Mondays from 6–7:30 PM beginning September 22 through December 8.
In this course students will learn vocabulary, the very basics of Swedish structure and pronunciation while also discussing some quirks of Swedish life. No prerequisites necessary. This class will take place as hybrid learning, with classes offered at Scandinavia House and online via Zoom.
At the end of the semester students will know:
• Sentence structure in statements and questions
• How to greet people
• Numbers and how to tell time
And be able to:
• Talk about themselves and what they do in their day
And be able to:
• Talk about themselves and what they do in their day
This hybrid class will be held both in-person and via Zoom; in-person attendance for the first four classes is highly recommended.
*Please note that there will be no class on October 13, Indigenous People’s Day.*
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SWEDISH 1.2 — ENROLLMENT OPEN
2025-09-22 19:35 - 21:35, 2025-09-29 19:35 - 21:35 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Learn the Nordic languages in classes offered at Scandinavia House, held in-person and virtually! This course builds upon Swedish 1.1 or its equivalent. Classes take place on Mondays from 7:35–9:35 PM beginning September 22 through December 8.
Students will learn sentence structure in sentences with more than one verb, placement of adverbs, plural endings, conjugation of adjectives, objective and possessive pronouns, and the past tense. Various cultural aspects will also be highlighted during the course. This class will take place as hybrid learning, with classes offered at Scandinavia House and online via Zoom.
At the end of the semester students will know:
• How to structure sentences with more than one verb
• The conjugation of adjectives
• The past tense
And be able to:
• Talk about themselves and what they do in their day
This hybrid class will be held both in-person and via Zoom; in-person attendance for the first four classes is highly recommended.
*Please note that there will be no class on October 13, Indigenous People’s Day.*
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WHEN THE CRANES FLY SOUTH | VIRTUAL TALK
2025-09-24 13:00 - 14:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Join us on September 24 for a virtual book talk with Swedish bestselling author Lisa Ridzén on her debut novel When The Cranes Fly South! The winner of the Swedish Book of the Year Award, this “powerful, sneakily emotional meditation on life and death” follows an elderly man’s attempts to mend his relationship with his son before it’s too late: an emotional story of love, friendship, fatherhood, dogs, and atonement that is already an international sensation.
Bo is running out of time. Yet time is one of the few things he’s got left. These days, his quiet existence is broken up only by daily visits from his home care team. Fortunately, he still has his beloved elkhound Sixten to keep him company … though now his son, with whom Bo has had a rocky relationship, insists upon taking the dog away, claiming that Bo has grown too old to properly care for him. The threat of losing Sixten stirs up a whirlwind of emotion, leading Bo to take stock of his life, his relationships, and the imperfect way he’s expressed his love over the years.
“One of those ‘you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to buy twenty copies and give them to everyone you love’ books.” —Fredrik Backman, bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, in The New Yorker
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INNSÆI | VIRTUAL TALK
2025-09-25 13:00 - 14:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Join us on September 25 for a virtual book talk with Icelandic author Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir on her book InnSæi. Moderated by policy researcher Tara McGuinness, this discussion will delve into intuition through the lens of InnSæi and its unique applications in addressing our contemporary crises, be it in the climate or the global economy. Gunnsteinsdóttir’s work is an ode to the magnificent, complex, largely incomprehensible but fascinating world that exists within us all– the titular InnSæi (pronounced In-Sy-Eh) – the Icelandic word for intuition that at once implies ‘the sea within us’, ‘to see within’ and ‘to see from the inside out’. It is based on the belief that the more we navigate life aligned to our InnSæi, the more we can open up to the beautiful, generous world that lies outside us.
In the mad dash for a different, more humane and eco-centric (rather than ego-centric) compass to navigate our ways into flourishing futures, Gunnsteinsdóttir weaves personal stories, diverse wisdoms, and the arts into “a transformative perspective on intuition that is desperately needed for today’s leaders.” Drawing on a blend of ancient wisdom, science, philosophy and practical tools, this book inspires readers to approach life in a more grounded, creative and mindful way.
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NORDIC BOOK CLUB ONLINE | GIRL, 1983 BY LINN ULLMANN
2025-10-07 18:00 - 19:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Read and discuss literature with our Nordic Book Club Online! Nordic Book Club meets monthly via Zoom to discuss contemporary literature in translation. On October 7, we’ll be discussing the novel Girl, 1983 by Norwegian author Linn Ullman.
Described as “a mesmerizing act of recollection and reconstitution” by Publishers Weekly, Girl, 1983 delves into Ullman’s unflinching recount of a fateful encounter nearly 40 years on: one between her 16-year-old self and a 40-something fashion photographer in the elevator of her apartment building in New York City. She accepts his invitation to a photo shoot in Paris, despite her mother’s objections. Looking back, she cautiously approaches describing what is clearly a traumatic episode, the details of which she gradually untangles through the confessional writings of women who she finds share her experience. Set in Oslo, New York, and Paris, Girl, 1983 is a genre-defying and bravura quest through layers of memory and oblivion. As in her landmark previous work, Unquiet, Linn Ullmann’s narrator continues to probe the elegiac sway of memory as she looks for ways to disclose a long-guarded secret. A delineation of time and place over the course of a life, this remarkable novel insistently crisscrosses the path of a wayward sixteen-year-old girl lost in Paris.
Girl, 1983 is available in hardcover and eBook from W.W. Norton and other retailers.
“While Ullmann is describing her exploitation as a young woman, she brings such precision and honesty to the telling, the book transcends the familiar #MeToo outline. An accomplished author… Ullmann captures the splintered, slippery nature of memory itself — a far more faithful rendering of how the mind works…” —Clare McHugh, Washington Post
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NORWEGIAN 1 — ENROLLMENT OPEN
2025-10-07 18:00 - 19:00, 2025-10-08 18:00 - 19:00, 2025-10-14 18:00 - 19:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Learn the Nordic languages in classes offered at Scandinavia House, held in-persona and virtually. This course is for absolute beginners. Classes take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6–7 PM beginning October 7 through December 8; enrollment is open through October 14, 2025.
In this beginner’s course, you will build your Norwegian vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar skills, while also learning about Norwegian culture and life. By the course’s end, you should be able to conduct simple conversations in Norwegian. Students are welcome to bring facts they know about Norway into class discussions.
You will get to practice small conversations and reading in class, and there will be a focus on pronunciation and certain Norwegian vowels and sounds which may be new to your ear. There will also be at-home assignments focusing on reading, writing, and grammar, as well as an optional end-of-semester presentation. Outside of class, students are encouraged to watch Norwegian shows/movies, read children’s books, and have podcasts on in the background.
This hybrid class will be held both in-person and via Zoom; in-person attendance for the first four classes is highly recommended.
*Please note that there will be no classes on November 26. Thanksgiving week classes will be held online only and will take place Monday, November 24 and Tuesday, November 25. Celebration and last week of class will be on Monday Dec 8, only.*
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ADVANCED NORWEGIAN — ENROLLMENT OPEN
2025-10-07 19:15 - 21:15, 2025-10-14 19:15 - 21:15 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Learn the Nordic languages in classes offered at Scandinavia House!
Continuing from Norwegian 4 or 5, this course will expand and refine your speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills as you deepen your knowledge of Norwegian culture. Hone in on your comprehension, fluency, and accuracy as you engage more confidently in conversations and discussions with your classmates and teacher, further expanding your vocabulary and mastering more complex grammatical structures. Through the study of themes related to daily life, students are encouraged to talk about their own experiences in Norwegian. In-depth focus will be given to pronunciation, Norwegian structure, tone, and flow. There will also be weekly at-home exercises, a film, and more, focusing on listening, reading, writing, and grammar, as well as an end-of-semester presentation which focuses on creativity, content, and delivery.
Students are strongly encouraged to watch and read Norwegian news and books, shows and movies, and to listen to podcasts/audio books, several times a week, to be as immersed as possible in the Norwegian language, thus advancing their fluency and listening skills.
Students should be comfortable leading conversations in Norwegian, using the simple past tense and present perfect. They should have knowledge of regular and irregular verbs, as well as their irregularities and rules. They should also be able to use indefinite, definite, and plural forms of masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns; conjugate adjectives; and apply intermediate Norwegian sentence structure, including “inversion.”
This hybrid class will be held both in-person and via Zoom; in-person attendance for the first four classes is highly recommended. Classes take place on Tuesdays from 7:15-9:15 PM beginning October 7 and ending December 9.
Classes take place on Tuesdays from 7:15-9:15 PM beginning October 7 and ending December 9; enrollment is open through October 7.
This hybrid class will be held both in-person and via Zoom; in-person attendance for the first four classes is highly recommended.
*Please note that the class on November 25 will be online only.*
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NORTH STAR RISING
2025-10-08 18:30 - 20:30 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On October 8, join us for a joyous, musical homage to Norwegian immigration to the United States. “North Star Rising: New York Opera Society (NYOS) and Opera Nordfjord celebrate Crossings 200” explores two centuries of rich transnational exchange through musical selections that honor the past while looking to imagine the future.
ASF Fellow Alisa Jordheim and NYOS will present Norwegian art songs and excerpts of an acclaimed new musical by NYOS’ Norwegian composer-librettist duo Gisle Kverndokk and Øystein Wiik. They will be joined by tenor Allan Palacios Chan, repetiteur Jason Wirth, and narrated by Øystein Wiik.
Tickets to this event must be reserved in advance online.
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NORWEGIAN 3/4 — ENROLLMENT OPEN
2025-10-08 19:15 - 21:15, 2025-10-15 19:15 - 21:15 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Learn the Nordic languages in classes offered in-person and virtually at Scandinavia House! Classes take place on Wednesdays from 7:15–9:15 PM beginning October 8 and ending on December 10; enrollment is open through October 15.
Norwegian 3/4 is a combined advanced beginner-level course that builds upon Norwegian 2 or its equivalent. All four core skill areas (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) are covered with an emphasis on conversational Norwegian. Continue to expand your vocabulary and master grammatical structures, while enhancing your conversational abilities, and deepening your cultural knowledge of all things Norwegian, through study of themes related to daily life. Students are encouraged to bring Norwegian topics of interest, into class, for discussion as well as talk about their own experiences in Norwegian. They will get to practice more in-depth conversations in class which will put grammatical structures to the test, all the while building on listening, and speaking skills. Focus will be given to pronunciation, Norwegian structure, tone, and flow.
There will also be weekly at-home assignments, and more, focusing on reading, writing, and grammar, as well as a recommended end-of-semester presentation. Students are strongly encouraged to watch and read Norwegian news, watch Norwegian shows and listen to podcasts/audio books, as often as possible, on a weekly basis at a minimum.
This hybrid class will be held both in-person and via Zoom; in-person attendance for the first four classes is highly recommended. Please note that there will be no class on November 26.
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KNITTING THURSDAYS! | LEARN TO KNIT WITH HILARY SNELL
2025-10-09 18:00 - 20:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Learn to knit at Scandinavia House this fall in classes in October and November!
When one thinks of Scandinavia, one of the first things that comes to mind is the distinctive patterns of knitted sweaters. Knitting has been an essential part of Nordic culture since the early 1500s and people, sheep and knitting have always been inextricably linked. The craft has been a source of artistic expression while also keeping generations warm during the long, cold winters.
Knitting is a symbol of self-sufficiency. Families tended the sheep, spun the wool from those sheep and used yarn to clothe themselves and their loved ones. They would also sell their work to support their families. Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland all have rich and varied knitting traditions and continue to express themselves through stunning design and wool work.
Join us for small, two-hour workshops to learn the basics of knitting. In a casual and supportive setting, you’ll learn how to cast on, knit, purl, and cast off. You’ll leave with your own knitted piece to continue your work at home. Scandinavia House will supply the needles and the yarn.
DID YOU KNOW? Repetitive motions like knitting, where your mind becomes fully absorbed in the task, can lead to increased happiness and decreased stress.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Hilary Snell, a longtime visitor services staff member of Scandinavia House, is of English, Scottish, and Irish descent, and loves everything about Nordic culture. She was taught to knit by her grandmother and mother when she was eight years old and took it up again in her late 20s, and has been knitting ever since. She enjoys sharing her love of the craft and of fiber arts in general. See her work at: https://www.instagram.com/lockwoodknits/
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ON HIGH HEELS IN AMERICA
2025-10-11 15:00 - 17:30 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On October 11, see the American premiere of a documentary following six women whose daring transatlantic crossings helped to revolutionize Norway, followed by a film talk by director Gunhild Westhagen Magnor and bestselling author Siv Ringdal! Based on Ringdal’s bestselling book of the same name, “On High Heels in America” reveals a cross-cultural journey of independence for Norwegian women who emigrated to NYC following WWII.
In the turbulent post-war period from 1946 to 1965, a lot of young, unmarried women left their pietistic home of Agder in the south of Norway— known as the “Nordic bible belt” —and emigrated to New York to find work. What awaited them was a completely new world: an American consumer society which gave them the opportunity to form a new identity and flourish in personal freedom. Many later returned to Norway, taking home with them customs and ways of life that helped shape Norwegian social development in the late 20th century.
Through intimate and heartfelt retellings from six of the women in this small but mighty movement, combined with unique archive footage, we get an intimate insight into their lives, shifting attitudes, and ever-present notions of home. They each tell the story of their grand journey with humor and wit, shedding light on timeless topics like social control, women’s liberation, migration, and the glitz of the American dream.

CAN YOU HEAR ME? THE INVISIBLE BATTLES OF UKRAINIAN MILITARY MEDICS
2025-10-14 18:30 - 20:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On October 14, see the documentary Can You Hear Me? the Invisible Battles of Ukrainian Military Medics, followed by a discussion with Alexandra Domaradsky (Razom for Ukraine), Dr. Anastasiia Vlasenko (the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University), and Sebastian Lindstrom (Head of International Cooperation at the Charitable Foundation Repower), moderated by award-winning journalist Jane Ferguson.
Filmmakers Francis Farrell and Olena Zashko followed a group of Ukrainian military medics as they journeyed from the heat of battle in war-torn Ukraine to the serene forests of Sweden for a short mental health retreat. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, witnessing an endless conveyer belt of severe injuries and deaths has taken a heavy toll on the medics’ mental health. Although crucial to address, the issue of their psychological well-being is rarely talked about and often overlooked, leaving them alone in this invisible battle.
As they find themselves in a peaceful, quiet environment in Sweden for the first time since 2022, the medics have a chance to process the accumulated trauma. Together, they open up about losing brothers-in-arms, surviving Russian captivity, and the inescapable feeling of guilt for not being able to save some of the soldiers they treated.
Filmed over the course of nine months, including multiple trips to the front line in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts as well as a 10-day visit to Sweden, the documentary also highlights the work of Repower NGO, which brings groups of medics to mental health trips in Sweden, Denmark and Spain. Since the organization’s founding in 2023, 755 military medics have participated in their program.
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