Louisiana Literature
20-23 Aug; Louisiana, Gl Strandvej 13, Humlebæk; festival pass: 175kr, one-day ticket: 115k; louisiana.dk

For the bookish out there, the sixth Louisiana international literature festival is opening its doors to top-quality authors from countries as far afield as Russia, China, Cuba and Kenya. Meetings, talks, debates and happenings in the literary world cover a wide range of genres on stages inside and around the leafy surroundings of the art museum.

One of the undoubted highlights will be the guest appearance of Ngugi wa Thiong’o, a Kenyan author often in the running for the Nobel Prize. Many of his works are written in his native African tongue of Gikuyu, and the political nature of his work has led to a lengthy life in exile.

Ljudmila Petrusjevskaja’s short story collection, There once lived a woman who tried to kill her neighbour’s baby, became a New York Times bestseller. The charismatic 77-year-old writer has been described as a “primal force” and she can be experienced as both a writer and singer at the festival.

There will also be a chance to listen to respected American author Richard Ford, regarded as one of America’s most important living authors and currently topical with his Let Me Be Frank With You.

Also on the guest list is Leonardo Padura, Cuba’s best known living writer. Padura’s crime novels are Hemingway and Chandler-inspired and give an insight into what he sees as the failed experiment of socialism.

Louisiana is the place to be for four days of heaven spent in the company of the literary elite.