Nordic Noir Book Club

When the Danish drama Borgen hit British television screens last month, our Twitter followers were keen to learn some Danish cultural background information - language, TV industry, coalition politics and pastries - that would help them make sense of this political drama. So our Borgen Briefing will include short, fun presentations by UCL experts on Danish language and culture, and a Q&A with our very special guest from Denmark, Annette K. Olsen, who directed episodes 9 and 10. We couldn’t find an expert on the cultural history of Danish pastries, so we'll just serve up lots of coffee and wienerbrød on the day.

As any Norwegian crime aficionado knows, all those forests, mountains and cabins make a spine-chilling backdrop to the thriller tradition. For this Nordic Noir event, Visiting Professor Ellen Rees (University of Oslo) leads us into the Norwegian woods and back to the early days of crime and horror fiction. Ellen will screen the classic Norwegian thriller The Lake of the Dead (De dødes tjern, 1958, 75 mins) and explain how the forest cabin has become a classic location for crime and horror fiction and film. We'll also hear about annual Easter crimewave in Norway. And all of this takes place over a glass or two of wine in the spookily atmospheric surroundings of the UCL Grant Museum of Zoology. Shiver.

We are delighted to announce details of our first Nordic Noir Reading Group meeting, which will take place on Wednesday 29 February in the Arts & Humanities Common Room, Room G24, Foster Court, UCL where we will discuss the book 'The Boy in the Suitcase'.