Current & Recurring Events
The Kierkegaard Library hosts lectures and other research activities throughout the year. Here, you will find details to upcoming and recurring events. Please feel free to email hkl@stolaf.edu with any questions.
The Tenth International Kierkegaard Conference will be hosted by the Kierkegaard Library on St. Olaf’s campus, from June 15-19, 2026. The conference theme is “Readings of Kierkegaard.” For more information and to register by May 1st, please see the 2026 International Conference Page here.
The Kierkegaard Summer Institute (KSI) will take place at the Kierkegaard Library this summer from June 2 – July 31, with the Junior Research Fellows program and the Danish course taking place from July 1-30.
KSI welcomes scholars with varying seniority, from undergraduate students to seasoned scholars. June and July at the KSI is full of activity, including the opportunity to participate in close-reading groups, present research, and work in collaboration with new colleagues.
Applications deadline: April 1, 2026
For more information and to apply, visit our Research Fellowships page.
We are pleased to announce a Call for Submissions for the next issue of the International Journal of Kierkegaard Research (IJKR).
The IJKR is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal founded in 2024 and published by the Hong Kierkegaard Library at St. Olaf College. We are open to a broad range of approaches, disciplines, and traditions, and we support efforts to build bridges between different schools of thought.
The deadline for submissions to be considered in the 2026 issue is May 1, 2026.
To learn more about the submission process, please visit our “Submissions Guidelines” page:
https://wp.stolaf.edu/
We also welcome you to read and share the 2025 issue, which can be found online and in downloadable PDF format (free for all) here:
https://manifold.open.umn.edu/
For more information, please visit the IJKR page or contact us at: IJKR@stolaf.edu
The Kierkegaard Library hosts monthly reading group sessions for community members to discuss Kierkegaard’s works in a casual setting. Participants collaborate to decide on the text and the Kierkegaard Library provides the refreshments. No expertise required—only an interest in Kierkegaard. We meet monthly on a Thursday from 11:30-12:30. Dates vary by semester.
Location: The Kierkegaard Library, Steensland Hall, Upper Level.
Guest parking available in the Buntrock Commons lot.
To join the mailing list or for more information, email: HKL@stolaf.edu
As part of the Kierkegaard Summer Institute (KSI), the Kierkegaard Library is pleased to host an eight-week seminar series consisting of weekly or bi-weekly scholar presentations every June and July.
These in-person events take place either in the Kierkegaard Library (Steensland Hall), Lower Level or in the nearby location room 290 of Regents Hall of Natural Sciences.
To learn more about upcoming and past presentations, please visit the KSI Internal Seminar Series page.
The George Utech Memorial Series is an annual two-day, intensive seminar led by an expert in the field of Kierkegaard studies. It is made possible by a generous donation from the Utech family in honor of St. Olaf College alum and Kierkegaard enthusiast, George W. Utech ’53.
The Utech Seminars are held in person on St. Olaf’s campus during the Kierkegaard Summer Institute.
Visit the Utech page for more information on past and upcoming seminar leaders and topics.
Typically held during spring or fall semester, the Julia Watkin Memorial Lectures bring distinguished speakers from around the world to share their work with students, faculty, and the broader scholarly community. The lectures reflect the wide range of contemporary engagement with Kierkegaard’s writings—spanning philosophy, theology, literature, and cultural studies—while fostering dialogue between established scholars, emerging researchers, and the public.
Find detailed information about speakers and topics (as well as links to recordings) here.
Through International Kierkegaard Conferences, the Hong Kierkegaard Library hosts a global community of scholars devoted to the study of Søren Kierkegaard in Northfield, Minnesota roughly every four years. Typically held in the summer, the multi-day conference brings together researchers, students, and readers for lectures, panels, workshops, banquets, and other scholarly and social events.
Information about past conferences can be found here.
For details about the upcoming conference in June and to register, please visit the 2026 Conference page.
Past Events & Announcements
Please view the following archives of past events, news, and announcements, including the Poul Lübcke Memorial Lectures and other talks by Kierkegaard scholars. Recordings are included when available.
The Kierkegaard Library summer programming took place online in 2021:
June 9, 2021 – Marcia Robinson, Syracuse University
Recording – “Out over 70,000 Fathoms with the Lilies and the Birds: Easter as Philosophia in Kierkegaard’s 1849 Discourses on the Lilies and the Birds”
June 16, 2021 – Frances Maughen-Brown, College of the Holy Cross
Recording – “The Call in the Response: Kierkegaard’s Patterns”
June 23, 2021 – Antony Aumann, Northern Michigan University
Recording—“Kierkegaard on Risk, Loss, and Finding Happiness”
June 30, 2021 – Jason Mahn, Augustana College
Recording —“Kierkegaard and Camus on Neighbor Love through Pandemics”
July 14, 2021 – Rick Furtak, Colorado College
Recording—“Love of the Individual”
July 21, 2021 – Ulrika Carlsson, Athens
Recording —“You are what you love”
July 28, 2021 – Matias Tapia Wende, Universidad de Los Andes
Recording – “‘Hazlo en el nombre de Dios’: El asunto de conciencia en Kierkegaard“ / “‘In God’s Name Do So’: Kierkegaard on Matters of Conscience”
During the summer and fall of 2020, the Kierkegaard Library hosted the online Poul Lübcke Memorial Lecture series in honor of the Danish philosopher and Kierkegaard scholar Poul Lübcke (1951-2020).
June 10, 2020 – Gordon Marino, Hong Kierkegaard Library, St. Olaf College, Minnesota
“Danish Lessons”
June 17, 2020 – Vanessa Rumble, Boston College, Massachusetts
“Kierkegaard’s Vendepunkt: Reflections on Shame and the Categories of Crisis”
June 24, 2020 – Sergia Hay, Andover College, Massachusetts
“Ethical Purposes of Silence”
July 1, 2020 – Troy Wellington Smith, University of California, Berkeley
“The Blotting Paper on a Heavenly Letter: Johannes Climacus on the Hegelian Paratext”
July 15, 2020 – Charles Djordevic, St. Olaf College, Minnesota
“Description as a Doing: Wittgenstein, Kierkegaard, and the Impossibility of Disinterested Depiction”
July 22, 2020 – Deidre Green, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California
“Transforming Love”
July 29, 2020 – J. Aaron Simmons, Furman University, South Carolina
“Militant Liturgies: Practicing Christianity with Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer, and Weil”
September 29, 2020 – Patrick Stokes, Deakin University, Melbourne
Recording—”To Eternity by Telegram: Time and Judgment in The Sickness unto Death”
October 22, 2020 – Nigel Hatton, University of California, Merced
Recording—Kierkegaard and the Ethics of Advocating on Behalf of Others
The Kierkegaard Library regularly hosts lectures, conferences, seminars, and workshops that help foster dialogue and advance Kierkegaard studies. Below is a selection of recent events. Click on the links (where applicable) to see abstracts or programs, or the recordings (where available) to view the talks.
March 17-18, 2025 – “Kierkegaard in Brazil: A Fragment,” Online Conference
Hosted by the Kierkegaard Library, organized by Victor Fernandes and Presley Martins
More information here.
October 20, 2024 – “The Daemon of Negativity in Kierkegaard”
Co-hosted by the Kierkegaard Library and the Enduring Questions Program
Guest lecture by Visiting Scholar, Lucas Lazzaretti, Brazil
More information here.
October 16, 2024 – “Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky on Heaven and Earth”
Plenary Lecture at Annual “Friends of the Kierkegaard Library” Banquet
Guest lecture by Visiting Scholar, Maxwell Parlin
March 13-15, 2024 – “Kierkegaard & the Negative: Re-Examining the Dialectical,” Online Conference
Co-hosted by the Kierkegaard Library and the Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre, organized by Anna Strelis Söderquist, K. Brian Söderquist, and René Rosfort
More information here.
Spring 2024 – “Kierkegaard and Vocation Lecture Series”
Co-hosted by the Kierkegaard Library and the Lutheran Center for Faith and Values, sponsored by the NetVUE – Life on Purpose Grant
Guest speaker: Deidre Green, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California
More information here.
January 21, 2021 – Online Conference
Recording – “Taking Kierkegaard Personally”
July 25, 2017 – Paul Houe
Recording – “Liberal Democracy between Liberalism and Absolutism”
Summer 2017 – David Lappanno
Recording – Talk on book, Søren Kierkegaard’s Theology of Encounter
We are pleased to announce the 2025 issue of the International Journal of Kierkegaard Research (IJKR).
The IJKR is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal founded in 2024 and published by the Hong Kierkegaard Library. The publication is both a continuation and transformation of the Søren Kierkegaard Newsletter, which prior to 2023 published articles in Kierkegaard studies for over 40 years. We are open to a broad range of approaches, disciplines, and traditions, and we support efforts to build bridges between different schools of thought.
The second issue of the International Journal of Kierkegaard Research includes eleven original pieces: five peer-reviewed articles, each treating central Kierkegaardian themes and questions from a variety of disciplines and philosophical traditions; a high quality work by a student contributor; a special talk from the 2024 Søren Kierkegaard Society banquet at the AAR; and four reviews of recent books in Kierkegaard studies.
We welcome you to read and share the 2025 issue, which can be found online and in downloadable PDF format (free for all) at the below link:
https://manifold.open.umn.edu/
We also welcome you to consider submitting your work for the journal’s 2026 issue: deadline May 1, 2026.
For more information, visit the IJKR page or contact: IJKR@stolaf.edu
We are delighted to share a new resource – “Kierkegaard in Copenhagen: A Walking Tour.”
This guide allows you to explore Kierkegaard’s Denmark from your home, or you can use it to lead an exploration throughout beautiful Copenhagen, as well as Northern Zealand.
K. Brian Söderquist solicited the help of St. Olaf student, Madeline Altman ’25, to develop an interactive map of Kierkegaard’s life. “Kierkegaard in Copenhagen” consists of 31 sites that contextualize the life and work of the Danish thinker. Each map location includes photos and background information, as well as quotes and references to Kierkegaard’s related work.
Explore this resource for yourself:
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/1a8a28d1d78b41dba284f29683e82d00