History Revealed: Vikings in the Attic with Eric Dregni

Presented by Ramsey County Historical Society and Norway House

Thursday, March 6th

1:00 PM-2:30 PM

Free event, registration required

Who are these rather odd Scandinavians in our midst?

Join us for a presentation and Q&A with Eric Dregni at the Kaffebar at Norway House. In Vikings in the Attic, Eric Dregni tracks down and explores the significant—often bizarre—historic sites, tales, and traditions of Scandinavia’s peculiar colony in the Midwest. Dregni reveals the little-known tales that lie beneath the surface of Nordic America and proves by example why generations of Scandinavian-Americans have come to love and cherish these tales and traditions so dearly.

Eric Dregni’s Norwegian relatives hail from the Lusterfjord, at the end of the Sognefjord, 127 miles up this waterway. With his wife Katy, he moved to Trondheim as a Fulbright fellow in 2003. Thanks to two years on the Torskeklubben fellowship, he wrote about his experiences there having their first baby, surviving a dangerous dinner of rakfisk thanks to 80-proof aquavit, and taking the “meat bus” to Sweden for cheap salami with a busload of knitting pensioners in the book In Cod We Trust: Living the Norwegian Dream.

He has written twenty books, including Never Trust a Thin Cook and Weird Minnesota. In the summer, he is dean of the Italian Concordia Language Village, Lago del Bosco. He’s a professor of English at Concordia University and lives in Minneapolis.

This activity is made possible by the voters of MN through a 2025 Creative Individuals grant to Eric Dregni from the MN State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.