Conversation: Novelist Per Petterson, Author of ‘I Curse the River of Time’

The bestselling Norwegian author Per Petterson became known to American readers over the last couple of years after his 2003 novel “Out Stealing Horses” was translated into English. He now has a new novel, “I Curse the River of Time”, which takes place in Norway in the 1970s and 80s and deals with the relationship between an ailing mother and her (not really) grown-up son Arvid.

I recently talked to Petterson here at our studio:

Petterson also described how he became a writer — by being exposed to books at a young age and by sabotaging his other career experiences so that he had no choice but to write books:

Editor’s Note: You can watch Petterson read a passage from “I Curse the River of Time”.