Zadie Smith - Lecture and Live Stream

Silkeborg Library celebrates Zadie Smith as the 2026 recipient of the H.C. Andersen Literary Prize with an evening on the Knowledge Stage. Cand. mag. and literary commentator Britt Skjoldborg opens the evening with a brief lecture on Smith's authorship and offers concrete recommendations on which novels to start with.

Programme:
18:30-18:55: Lecture by Britt Skjoldborg on Zadie Smith's authorship and novel recommendations
18:55-19:00: Coffee/tea
19:00-20:30: Live stream of an interview with Zadie Smith from the Royal Library

The H.C. Andersen Literary Prize is awarded to authors whose genre or narrative style bears traces of H.C. Andersen's works. Previous recipients include Paulo Coelho, J.K. Rowling, Isabel Allende, Haruki Murakami, and Margaret Atwood.

Smith (b. 1975) made her debut with the novel White Teeth in 2000 and has since published six novels - most recently The Fraud from 2023. Her authorship also includes essays, short stories, drama, and children's books. She is known for sharp and humorous language and for depicting multicultural environments across generations, cultures, and classes - with echoes of classics such as E.M. Forster and Charles Dickens.