The notion of home is usually associated with stability, or a stable physical/spiritual sanctuary. And so, home can be anything from a house on a piece of land, or an apartment in a building, to steady relationships of intimacy and comfort. Yet, such a limited understanding mistakes “home” for being the opposite of “movement”.

Instead of being embodied in one fixed place, home is portable. Home can be transported from place to place, even from concrete location to abstract space. In fact, the age of globalisation and migration sees home as residing in language(s) rather than in a nation. This portable nature of home raises several questions: What effect does our ability to handle multiple languages have on our sense of belonging? If language is a home, is a person with many homes homeless?

The “Literature for inclusion” is delighted to invite you to our free workshop. Together, we will discuss the concept of «home» through focusing on the relationship between identity and language.
This workshop is open for everyone: immigrants, Norwegians, students, academics, parents, and all those who are interested. We encourage you to bring along an artefact: poems/stories/songs in any language, a shirt, a flag, or whatever you think is relevant to the discussion of home. You’re welcomed to join us even if you’re not bringing anything.

FINDING HOME is a workshop series focusing on the concept of “identity”, “language”, and “home”, led by Minh Chau Pham and Gulabuddin Sukhanwar.

Minh Chau Pham is doing a master’s degree in English Literature at NTNU Dragvoll. During her one year of studying abroad at Newcastle University in England in 2018, Pham took courses in Creative Writing where she specialised in poetry. Her poems raise the question of home and belonging, as well as addressing matters related to immigrant identity.

Gulabuddin Sukhanwar is a published poet and writer. Originally from Afghanistan, he now lives in Norway and works at the Literature House in Trondheim where he leds the Literature for Inclusion initiative. This project uses literary works from around the world to promote cross-cultural understanding through workshops, guest lectures, musical events, and public debates in the region. During his time in Norway, Sukhanwar has collaborated with several organizations and schools as a guest speaker, writer, and consultant to promote cross-cultural understanding. Also, he is one of the authors of the Høre Hjemme, Trondheim’s very first multilingual poetry collection.

This workshop is free.