Diktardagen 2025

Mona Høvring Awarded the Diktartavla 2025

The award ceremony will take place at Hardanger Folk Museum on Monday, August 18th at 6:00 PM.

The recipient of the Diktartavla 2025 is poet Mona Høvring. This award ceremony will be held on the Diktarstien (Poet’s Path) in Utne on Monday, August 18th at 6:00 PM. The prize is awarded jointly by the Haugesenteret in Ulvik and the Hardanger Folk Museum in Utne. Poet Per Olav Kaldestad, who was awarded the Diktartavla in 2024, was unfortunately unable to attend last year’s ceremony. Therefore, this year we will celebrate both laureates, making it a truly poetic evening—especially fitting as it falls on Olav H. Hauge’s birthday. After the unveiling of the Diktartavla plaques in the out door museum, the program continues indoors. Mona Høvring and Per Olav Kaldestad will read from their work and engage in conversation with Stein A. Hevrøy, curator at Haugesenteret.

Welcome to the celebration!

Mona Høvring (b. 1962) has a diverse body of work in both poetry and prose and publishes in both Nynorsk and Bokmål. She debuted in 1998 with IIK! Ein dialog and has since published fourteen books, eight of which are poetry collections. Her most recent poetry collection, Skogsinteriør med rev og andre dikt (Forest Interior with Fox and Other Poems), was published this year. Three fitting words for this year’s recipient are: complex, sensual, and exploratory. Her literary universe is distinctly her own within the landscape of Norwegian poetry. Høvring’s lyrical tone is unmistakably unique, and her poetic language is rich and layered.

Since his debut collection Kikkert in 1973, Per Olav Kaldestad (b. 1947) has published poetry, non-fiction, translations, plays, and a substantial number of books for children and young adults—over 40 titles in total, nearly half of which are poetry collections. His most recent poetry book, Sonettar (Sonnets), was released in 2023. Kaldestad brings a special poetic strength to his modern poems, skillfully using classical verse forms, particularly the timeless sonnet. In Sonettar, he takes the reader on a rich journey where love for the world and its people is a central theme. Kaldestad is also a skilled translator, having brought poets like D. H. Lawrence, Thomas A. Clark, and William Shakespeare into Norwegian.

Diktardagen (Poet’s Day)

Diktardagen is an annual event honoring a Norwegian author by placing a Diktartavla (Poet’s Plaque) along the Diktarstien near the Hardanger Folk Museum. The first plaque was placed in 1992, and the day was officially established on Olav H. Hauge’s 85th birthday in 1993. Hauge himself helped initiate the Diktarstien project.

Diktarstien (Poet’s Path)

Diktarstien is a beautiful stone walkway adorned with 32 poet plaques at the scenic museum grounds of Hardanger Folk Museum in Utne. With the addition of Høvring and Kaldestad, they join a distinguished line of poets who have received the Diktartavla, including: Olav H. Hauge, Halldis Moren Vesaas, Jan Erik Vold, Kolbein Falkeid, Tone Hødnebø, Jon Fosse, Gro Dahle, Eldrid Lunden, and Øyvind Rimbereid.

Tickets: NOK 200 Purchase tickets at nynorsk.no