Sanaa Aoun in conversation with Longyearbyen Parish priest, Siv S. Limstrand

Artica Svalbard - Podcasts

We are pleased to share a new podcast episode recorded with current resident Sanaa Aoun. Sanaa was joined in conversation with Longyearbyen Parish priest, Siv S. Limstrand and translator Rim Ibrahim. Their discussion covers Sanaa’s work, her time in Norway as a Free City author from Damascus, Syria and her experiences of Longyearbyen. Sanaa also shares readings from her recent work in Arabic. The podcast is in Norwegian and translated by Rim Ibrahim Siv S. Limstrand, Parish priest on Svalbard since 2019. Siv previously worked at the Lutheran World Federation in Geneve, she was a student priest at NTNU and HiST in Trondheim for several years, working with people affected by HIV/AIDS in mid-Norway. Limstrand also worked as a Street priest for the Church City Mission in Trondheim and was responsible for Our Lady’s church - the Trondheim city open care church. For Siv Svalbard is a point of extension - in life and geographically. Located on top of the world, connected, but far away. A place that gives views and perspective, meaning and challenges, that invites new joys and exploration of the fearsome. Sanaa Aoun is an author and teacher from Damascus, Syria and came to Tromsø, Norway as a free city author in 2016. Aoun has published two collections of short stories in Arabic, Red Lifelines (2007) and To Where the Compass Points (2018), and continues to be a regular contributor to Arabic online newspapers. In Norwegian, her texts have been published in Klassekampen and in the anthology For Folk Flest (2017). In June 2018, her monologue A Half Woman was performed at Hålogaland Theater. Several of her texts have been translated into English and German. Sanaa Aoun was nominated by Norsk Pen for a residency at Artica in June 2021.