Aase Berg (1967, SWE) is an influential and idiosyncratic voice in the Swedish poetry field and is internationally praised as avant-garde ecopoetics. Berg once addressed young poets with the words: “Forget your readers, forget recognition. Poetry is not about making connections. You do not have to be understood, you do not even have to understand yourself. Poetry is only an investigation of the incomprehensible.” Berg’s work is sharp, surreal and experimental. Tighten your literary sweatband for this intense listening experience. Let yourself be taken to the depths of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench, meet its inhabitants and awaken in an anti-universe of language where you ask yourself: am I now human, animal or machine?

Where you might know this poet from

• Winner of Aftonbladet’s Literature Prize (2011), a prestigious Swedish newspaper award.
• Recipient of the Lagercrantzen Prize (2011) for her work as a literary critic.
• Previously performed at the 46th Poetry International Festival (2016).