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Freedom of Expression Tribute to Odd S. Lovoll
Press release, 1 September 2011
The Fritt Ord Foundation has decided to award the Freedom of Expression Tribute to Professor Odd S. Lovoll. The tribute will be awarded to Dr Lovoll by Guri Hjeltnes, a member of Fritt Ord's Board of Trustees, on Tuesday, 6 September 2011, at 5 p.m., in the Fritt Ord Foundation's premises at Uranienborgveien 2 in Oslo. Following the ceremony, Professor Lovoll will lecture on "A forgotten cultural heritage: The remarkable flourishing of the Norwegian-American immigrant press".
The Freedom of Expression Tribute is being awarded to Odd S. Lovoll for his significant contribution to writing the history of Norwegian America.
Through his comprehensive body of work, Odd S. Lovoll has shed light on a wide variety of Norwegian-American topics. The recipient of the Tribute has published general accounts and specific studies, covering not least the Norwegian regional societies (bygdelag) in America and immigrants' lives in Chicago and in small prairie towns. His latest book, Norwegian Newspapers in America, is a standard work on the Norwegian-American press.
Dr Lovoll is referred to as "the foremost historian of the Norwegian Americans", and few have a comparable level of knowledge about and understanding of this segment of the population.
The Promise of America (1983) is Dr Lovoll's best-known, most popular publication. The book portrays emigration from Norway to the USA and the society created by the immigrants in the new country. The Promise Fulfilled (1999) gives a contemporary depiction of that segment of the population at the change of the millennium. The book occupies a special position in recent American ethnic history.
Odd S. Lovoll is professor emeritus at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. He has worked at that institution for 30 years, holding the King Olav V Chair in Scandinavian-American Studies from 1992 to 2000.
Throughout his professional career, Professor Lovoll has maintained close ties with Norway as a lecturer and through speaking engagements at universities and colleges. He was employed as a professor II of History at the University of Oslo from 1995 to 2004. In 1986, Professor Lovoll was decorated with the Knight's Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit, and in 1989, he became a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
Odd S. Lovoll was born in 1934 in Sande in Møre & Romsdal County, emigrating to Seattle in 1946. Educated in Norway and USA, he studied Norwegian at the University of Bergen (1961) and history at the University of Oslo (1967). Further, he wrote his M.A. thesis at the University of North Dakota (1969) and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota (1973).
The Freedom of Expression Foundation is a public-utility private foundation that aspires to promote freedom of expression and public debate.
The Freedom of Expression Tribute acknowledges remarkable efforts to promote free speech, often in connection with current events. Tributes are bestowed when someone deserves them, without any constraints on their number. The tribute is accompanied by a crystal vase and NOK 100 000.
See the list of previous recipients of the Freedom of Expression Tribute.
Contact:
Odd S. Lovoll: Tel. 001 507 645 6058
Erik Rudeng, Fritt Ord Foundation: Tel. (+47) 230 14641
Oskar Kvasnes, Fritt Ord Foundation: Tel. (+47) 230 14644 or 408 53370 to obtain print-quality pictures.
Photo: Janne Lindgren
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Supported projects – examples
Death, shall we dance?
"Why is it that we in today's Norway hide death away so painstakingly, surrounding it with silence and taboos?" This is how the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) introduces the documentary "Death, shall we dance?" about Per Fugelli, who will be awarded the Freedom of Expression Foundation Prize for 2013 on 14 May. In the film, Fugelli reflects brutally and openly on life and death in the light of his own cancer. He wants to "release death from the prison of taboo words". Jæren, Værøy, Røst and Grønland in Oslo provide the background for a poetic, thought-provoking film about leaving life.
Invisible Symposium. A theater of ideas
Philosophers, authors, activists, politicians and artists were all asked the same set of questions with a focus on the current state of democracy. Why is it ailing? What challenges will it face in the years to come? Actors will portray the participating intellectuals in a staged exchange of ideas. PEN American Center, Fritt Ord, Jacobin, and The New School for Social Research invite to the 2013 PEN World Voices Festival’s Invisible Symposium on Saturday, 4 May 2013, 8-10pm, in New York City.
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Support for Norwegian factual prose
Among the Fritt Ord Foundation's minor grants in March 2013, we find 20 allocations for manuscript development and for the publication of new books in the factual prose genre in the broad sense. For example, Gunnar Ringheim has been granted NOK 50 000 to write the book "Abuse in the name of Jesus", while Cornelia Kristiansen has received NOK 75 000 for the interview book "The Class" about experiences from attending a multicultural school on the east side of downtown Oslo. Ingrid Vik has been granted NOK 50 000 for a book project entitled "Among the faithful", in which she investigates Norwegian Christian conservatives' attitudes to value-related questions in respect of family and equal opportunity. NOK 25 000 has been allocated to Trine Krigsvoll Haagensen and Martin Paulsen to translate and publish "A punk prayer for freedom" with lyrics by the Russian art collective Pussy Riot.
A list has now been published of the minor grants awarded by the Fritt Ord Foundation in March 2013.
A list has now been published of the minor grants awarded by the Fritt Ord Foundation in March 2013.
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