September Bokprat: I Talk About It All the Time by Camara Lundestad Joof
September 5, 2025 | 7-8:15 PM CT
Location: In-Person in Vesterheim Commons and Online on Zoom
Join us for a discussion of "I Talk About It All the Time" with author Camara Lundestad Joof and Dr. Maren Johnson! This event will be held live in Vesterheim Commons and will be livestreamed for an online audience. Registration for this free event/class is required. Sign up here:
https://bit.ly/SeptBokprat25
Dr. Maren Johnson, Luther College’s Associate Professor of Nordic Studies and Torgerson Center for Nordic Studies Director, facilitates a monthly bokprat, discussing Scandinavian authors and Scandinavian life.
In this biting, lyrical memoir, Camara Lundestad Joof, born in Bodø to Norwegian and Gambian parents, shares her experiences as a queer Black Norwegian woman. Joof’s daily encounters belie the myth of a colorblind contemporary Scandinavia. She wrestles with the fickle palimpsest of memory, demanding communion with her readers even as she recognizes her own exhaustion in the face of constantly being asked to educate others. “I regularly decide to quit talking to white people about racism,” writes Joof. Such discussions often feel unproductive, the occasional spark of hope coming at enormous personal cost. But not talking about it is impossible, a betrayal of self. The book is a self-examination as well as societal indictment. It is an open challenge to readers, to hear her as she talks about it, all the time.
📸 by Odin Drønen
Also check out other Arts events in Decorah, Literary Art events in Decorah, Workshops in Decorah.