The town Førde is located in the county of Sogn and Fjordane, Norway. Førde has approximately 10,000 inhabitants. Centrally located in Førde is “Førdehuset”, where you find the public library together with a movie theatre, a swimming pool and a sports hall.
In Førde, a group of immigrants wrote and published a book of short stories and poems – in Norwegian. The project gave them a voice. It also helped them improve their language skills and strengthened their sense of belonging to their new country.
Førde Library received NKR 80 000 from the National Library for this book project. The project included all employees in the library. The library initiated a cooperation with the Red Cross and Førde Norwegian Centre (Førde Norsksenter) and established a writing and language café at the library.
In 2015, refugees from Eritrea, Iran, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan and Syria met at Førde Library to exchange cultural experiences. The course was offered to all participants in the Norwegian language education in Førde, regardless of the refugee status. This became a challenge, since some of the refugees moved on to other municipalities in the middle of the course, and new participants entered.
Creating good writing requires both educational and literary abilities. Erna Osland joined the project and became the author, which was very fortunate.
The Language café started with 10 participants at Førde Library. In addition to the writing project, the language café offered group discussion about music, adventures, recreation, public rights, traditions and poetry. Coffee breaks were important at the Language café. The participants were introduced to basic Norwegian cuisine, such as pikelets, milk cakes, penny buns, KitKat, orange and rice porridge.
Writing in the new language was an essential and demanding part of the book project. The participants experienced long days of creative working.
Erna Osland explained: “Getting to a foreign country is not easy. Learning a new language is also difficult. Using this new language to express your feelings can be viewed as almost impossible».
After hours of proofreading between the teacher/author, the library and the participants, the manuscript was finally ready in February 2016.
On March 9, 2016, the library held a successful release party to promote the book «The New World». The book was beautiful, and the participants of the project were very proud. With guidance from the author and educator Erna Osland, they have written their own book. More than a hundred guests came to the release party, and local media wrote about the event.
“The text is short, and their Norwegian language is new – and so bright and shiny that it provides an extra clear pictures of how it is to be new in this country,” says Erna Osland.
She decisively helped the participants to articulate important feelings, be more familiar with the Norwegian language, and to use proper grammar as well as a richer vocabulary.
Expressing yourselves in a simple language:
«The simple language can be complex by using the simplicity. A simple language can be a useful tool to express thoughts and feelings»