30 January - 3 February 2025 | Hotel Clarks Amer, Jaipur

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Merete Pryds Helle

Merete Pryds Helle

Merete Pryds Helle made her debut in 1990 and broke through with the novel Fishing in the River of Life in 2000. Having published across a large variety of genres, she found massive success with the family saga The People's Beauty, which won both De Gyldne Laurbær Award and Politiken's Literature Prize in 2016. The novel has sold more than 100,000 copies in Denmark. The follow-up, We Knew It All, went straight to the top of the charts when it was released in 2018.

Session

‘Nora’: Retelling A Doll's House

Merete Pryds Helle in conversation with Supriya Dravid

Merete Pryds Helle’s book, Nora, is a retelling of Henrik Ibsen’s iconic play A Doll's House, first staged in 1879. Translated into English by Stewe Claeson, the book explores Nora’s character, tracing her childhood dreams, aspirations and inquisitive nature. Lyrical and poignant, the story traverses Nora’s journey through Norway and Italy, and examines the deep impact her father and husband had on her psyche and on the way she viewed herself and the world. In conversation with Supriya Dravid, Pryds Helle discusses the trajectory of her writing and explores the nuances of a woman’s path to liberation and its reflection on the illusions of love and choice as illuminated in Nora.

Pryds Helle is one of Denmark’s most popular writers. Her debut was the short story collection Towards Another Calm. She is also the author of the award winning novel The Beauty of the People and its acclaimed sequel We Knew It All. Supriya Dravid is the former editor-in-chief of ELLE India. She is the current editor of AJIOLUXE and is the author of A Cool, Dark Place.