Get to know our faculty: Karen Havelin

Karen Havelin is a writer and translator from Bergen, Norway. She has a Bachelor’s degree in French, literature and gender studies from the University of Bergen and the University of Paris Sorbonne and she completed her MFA in Fiction from Columbia University. Her debut novel Please Read This Leaflet Carefully was published simultaneously in the US, UK and Norway in 2019 and shortlisted for the Not the Booker Prize by The Guardian. It shares the story of a young woman with endometriosis struggling to live a normal life.

Karen provides advice on completing a first book and discusses what it took to complete her novel.

What makes you most excited to be part of the Stockholm Writers Festival?
I hope to catch up with people I met last time I was there, and meet new people! There was such a fun and inspiring atmosphere last time.

How did you develop your book’s main character, Laura?
My book follows the main character, Laura, backward through about 20 years. For me, the novel is about bodies and physicality, both pain and pleasure. Laura initially came to me, as I was living in New York, as a pretty angry voice. I was thinking about not being able to get a seat on the subway on my way to physical therapy. I wanted to write about someone who felt isolated and to let her be as angry and inappropriate as I wanted. 

What was the most challenging part of completing your book, and how did you push through?
The most challenging part for me was finding an agent, even though I had some introductions and got encouraging rejections. In retrospect, I was a little too cautious and could have queried faster. I felt like I was calling into the great void. I was scared that I would never find a single champion for my unusual book, that it would never even get a chance. That was the dark point for me, where all my fears pooled. I didn’t feel like I had much choice about the kind of book I had written, and I had prepared so carefully, but at that point it came down to things I could not control, to whether anyone was ready for this kind of book. Every other part of the process has felt easier than that, even editing in two languages simultaneously with a tight deadline.

What’s one piece of advice for writers still working on their first book?
You need friends, readers and allies, but don’t be tempted to talk too much about what you’re going to do. Keep it close to your chest. Set aside time, and do it. Keep the promises to yourselves. Persistence is the main thing you need. And spend the time it takes to figure out how things work. Everything you need to know can be found on the internet, but you have to know to go looking.

What books are you currently reading?
“Circe” by Madeline Miller, such beautiful writing. I recently read “The Silence of the Girls,” by Pat Barker, and have been reading further about Greek myths too. I wish I’d done that years ago. I also recently read “The Collected Schizophrenias” by Esmé Weijun Wang, which was a terrifying read, but so good. For soothing fun, I’m reading a Tricia Ashley book called “Wedding Tiers.” It is full of detailed descriptions of work and cooking, which I love to read.

Learn more about Karen on her website: karenhavelin.com

See all SWF20 faculty on our faculty webpage.