Eric Utne, founder of the Utne Reader, will visit Seattle to discuss his book "Brenda, My Darling".

Fridtjof Nansen, Norway’s greatest explorer, humanitarian and winner of the 1922 Nobel Peace Prize, met the writer Brenda Ueland in New York City in 1929. He was 67 and she was 37. They had a brief love affair and a year long correspondence until his death.

"Brenda, My Darling" presents Nansen’s letters to Ueland, (hers to him are lost), and a sampling of Ueland’s published work and unpublished diaries. Available for the first time, his letters are some of the most passionate, candid and eloquent in the English language. "Brenda, My Darling" offers profound insight into the lives of two extraordinary individuals.

“Over 80 years after they were written, these letters take us far from the mists and glaciers of Nansen’s Arctic adventures,” writes Per Egil Hegge in the book’s Foreword. “They give us the opportunity to admire the literary Fridtjof Nansen and his abilities as a writer of love poetry.”

Eric Utne is an entrepreneur, publisher and educator. In 1984 he founded Utne Reader magazine, a “field guide to the emerging culture,” which he edited and published for 15 years. Utne is a member of the executive committee of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum and of the advisory boards of Ecotrust and the World Future Council.

He has a B.E.D. (Environmental Design) from the University of Minnesota and serves as a Senior Fellow at the University’s Center for Spirituality & Healing. Utne is the step-grandson of Brenda Ueland, who called him her grandson and said they were “closer than kin.”
He lives in Minneapolis.

Read a review of the book by Kim Ode of the Star Tribune here: http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/137208923.html

The event will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 5, at the Nordic Heritage Museum.

There is a suggested donation of $5 for the lecture. For reservations, call 206-789 5707 x10 or email rsvp@nordicmuseum.org.

For more information, visit www.nordicmuseum.org.