COMING IN FALL 2008 TO DEUTSCHES HAUS, 420 West 116th Street, New York City THE SWEDISH PROGRAM OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESENTS Tuesday, September 23 at 7 p.m. The Poetics of the Scandinavian Welfare State   (.pdf) A talk in English by Lasse Horne Kjældgaard Assoc. Prof., Scandinavian Studies and Linguistics, Univ. of Copenhagen What is special about the Scandinavian welfare state model and what literary energies has it generated? Sponsored by the Swedish Program with the assistance of Denmark's Erik Hoffmeyer Travel Grant Foundation. Tuesday, November 11 at 7 p.m. Black Othello A New Play from Sweden by Cecilia Sidenbladh   (.pdf) Press release on Black Othello Meet the playwright  (.pdf) Translated from the Swedish by Verne Moberg Directed by Robert Greer Two actors playing different roles, onstage and in reality, deal with each other's lies, secrets, and longings to be loved for what they are not. This play is set in 1866, when Ira Aldridge, America's first black great Shakespearean actor, played Othello to his Swedish wife's Desdemona at Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theater. Intrigue, romance, and remarkable insight into a classic mystery of nineteenth century literary history follow. Sponsored by the Swedish Program with the assistance of Columbia's European Institute. For further information: Tel.: 212-854-4015; e-mail: [email protected].