This year Roskilde Libraries are thrilled to be launching a new annual festival of literature. Roskilde are already famous for it’s iconic 50 years old music festival, Roskilde Festival, and will from this May be gifted with yet another festival with the dawn of Roskilde Festival of Literature to celebrate reading, stories, enlightenment and community.
Why does a public library system make a festival? For Roskilde Libraries the main purpose really is to support our main goals of fostering a stronger of reading and curiosity, support equal access to life-long learning and cultural activity and make room for a healthy and thriving community. With the festival format we are concentrating those things in a 3 days piñata tapping into that special festival feel of togetherness and community and hopefully we will also be able to attract people who don’t normally come to the library.
Roskilde Festival of Literature will take place every year in May and will be centered around a new theme every year. In honor of Tour de France coming to Denmark and having a stage start in Roskilde the theme of the festival in 2022 is cycling and we will explore what happens when literature meets pain and victories on two wheels, when the myth of the peloton, the race, the road gets explored by authors, journalists and photographers and how riders find perspective on cycling and life in literature.
The festival will last 3 days from May 19. to 21. 2022, will have around 20 events for and take place at Roskilde Library, The Library Garden and our Creative House for Children just 300 meters from Roskilde Library.
The program are diverse and holds both authors of fiction and cycling literature and poetry, cycling photographer’s, former pro cyclist, journalist and more. Personally I’m looking very much forward to the brilliant cycling photographer, Karen M. Edwards (check out her work), in conversation with living legend and former Danish pro cyclist Per Bausager; Danish writher and film director Daniel Dencik who wrote one of the best cycling books I’ve ever read – ‘Sportshjerte / ‘Sports Heart’ – in conversation with our very own librarian Jan M. Johansen; workshop for kids with childres author and illustrator Helle Laursen were you can create your own Tour de France stage with mountains, cobbles or even a stage on the moon; journalist and author Joakim Jacobsen who wrote one of the biggest – both physical and historical – books on Tour de France (see pic below) and lots more. Myself have the honor of joining a conversation with poet Victor Boy Lindholm who in his own words “needs to cycle to be able to write”.
Full program (in Danish) for adults and children
The last day of the festival will be wrapped up with cheese, wine and French tones by DJ Mademoiselle Jekel (which is also our very own music librarian, Sofie)
Huge shout-out to our amazing team at Roskilde Libraries who has pulled hard in front of the peloton – can’t wait for us to reach the finish line and open Roskilde Festival of Literature.
Chapeau!
The Library Lab 