NSA Programme 2024-25

Meetings, unless otherwise stated, are held in the Royal
Norwegian Consulate, 12 Rutland Square, Edinburgh EH1 2BB.
Generally, a charge of £3 will be made at the door.


A rare opportunity to visit some of the Nordic holdings at the National
Museums Collection Centre at Granton. Led by Senior Curator, Dr Sarah
Rothwell and colleagues, and specially for NSA, a talk and object viewing
session to see the results of the recent Scandinavian-inspired Northern
Modernist Jewellery collecting project, and to learn about a selection
of historic and contemporary Nordic Textiles held in Scotland’s national
collection. Booking essential (contact us).

Where did it travel to, who was the driver, what was the timetable
and who were the passengers? The Shetland Bus – a modern saga
which provides a background to Shetland’s Nordic links, a little of the
island’s history and tales about some astonishing people. A personal
look at the topic from veteran of the print & publishing industry, Kathy
Hay, variously based during her long career in Edinburgh, London and
Australia!

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) looks after 187
UK gravestones of Norwegian service personnel who died during the
Second World War. Some 70 of these gravestones are located here in
Scotland – but who do they commemorate and what are their stories?
Elaine Edwards, Public Engagement Coordinator with the Commission,
answers these questions and more, as we near 85 years since the
Invasion of Norway in 1940.

Join us at the Golf Tavern, Bruntsfield, for a screening of the 2017
documentary Queen Without Land (Dronningen uten land). Directed by
Asgeir Helgestad, the film tells the story of an epic journey made by
a struggling polar bear mother and her cubs as the ice melts under
their paws. An unpretentious and sensitive film about the meeting
between Frost, a beautiful polar bear mother, and a Norwegian wildlife
filmmaker and the five-year journey since their first encounter in 2013
at her arctic home in Svalbard. Booking essential (contact us).

According to poet and translator Daniel Weissbort, “there are as many
approaches to poetry translation as there are poetry translators”. This
talk with translator, poet and researcher Dr Rachel Rankin will illustrate
three different approaches to poetry translation – from the relatively
uncreative to the radically creative – using the poem ‘Septemberkveld’
by Halldis Moren Vesaas (1907-1995).

Haftor Medbøe, Professor of Music and Jazz musician, muses about
the complexities of national and cultural identities as experienced by
a Norwegian living in Scotland and working in the creative sector as
musician and educator. Drawing on his twin careers as jazz musician
and academic, he explores notions of community and belonging in
relation to personal and creative identities. There will be examples
of film and recorded music illustrating a life lived with ties across seas
and borders.

Join musician & musicologist Dr Sally Garden for a visit to nineteenthcentury
Vienna and an intimate insight into the creative partnership of
Nina & Edvard Grieg. For 3 weeks in 1896 Nina walked the parks and
pavements of the Austrian capital whilst Edvard lay ill, a concert diary
in uproar. Based on Nina’s sole extant dagbok (diary) and Sally’s archive
and field research to decipher its contents, follow in the footsteps of
Norway’s musical heroine for what turns out to be far more than a ‘walk
in the park’! (Followed by a short AGM).

National Day celebrations with a hint of the new – details to follow.