From her sickbed at the nursing home in Warsaw, Satska tells the story of her almost ninety-year-long colorful life. Without inhibition, she tells her granddaughter Magda juicy anecdotes about falling in love, horniness, drinking, politics, and her eternal struggle against patriarchal attitudes. Both women stand outside the rest of the family – Satska because she is too much, Magda because she is trans. But they have each other.
When Polish author Sylwia Chutnik is translated into Norwegian for the first time, by Julia Wiedlocha, it is to portray a bond between two vastly different women from different generations. The novel Tyłem do kierunku jazdy (Against traffic) sets a clear contrast between the two main characters: Where Satska is combative, shameless and defiant, Magda is worn out and disillusioned. She dreams of being the life of the party, but in everyday life she tries to avoid too much attention while simultaneously navigating her relationship with the rest of the family, dating and sex, and all the daily challenges that come with living as a trans woman in today's Poland.
Sylwia Magdalena Chutnik is a Polish cultural scholar, activist and author. She has published around twenty books in Polish, including children's books, non-fiction, novels, short stories and poetry, and has won numerous awards both as an author and as an activist. Her literature circles around themes such as feminism, queer perspectives, freedom and struggle.
Molly Øxnevad is a Norwegian author, and with novels such as Feminin gange and Spiro, she has herself explored trans themes in fiction here in Norway. Now she meets Chutnik for a conversation about freedom, feminism and queer lives in Poland.
The conversation will be in English.
The event is part of the House of Literature’s Pride program, and supported by The Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs.
