Apart from nuclear war, few things caused more fear in the 1980s than AIDS. When the disease was discovered and reached newspaper front pages, some feared mass death, but the Norwegian healthcare system did not descend into panic.
Ketil Slagstad received both the Norwegian Booksellers’ Non-Fiction Award and the Critics’ Prize for his surprising and uplifting book about Norway’s AIDS history, Det ligger i blodet (2023).
Meet Slagstad in conversation with Dag Johan Haugerud.
Ketil Slagstad is a doctor, medical historian, author and editor.
Dag Johan Haugerud won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2025 for the film Dreams, the first Norwegian film ever to receive the award. He received the P2 Listeners’ Novel Prize in 2016 for Enkle atonale stykker for barn. His latest book was published in 2026: Sjelesorg.
The event is part of Kapittel – Stavanger International Festival of Literature and Freedom of Speech, 16–20 September 2026. More information, the programme and tickets can be found at www.kapittel.no.
Photography and video recording may take place at selected events at Sølvberget and during the Kapittel Festival for documentation and use on social media.
