"Hygge, Health, and Happiness": In-Person Badger Talk in Sauk City, WI

This is a free, in-person talk hosted on December 8, 2026 at 6:00 PM by George Culver Community Library in Sauk City, WI. No registration required. This talk will not be available virtually.
What is hygge? And how does it relate to happiness and health? In this talk, Professor Andersen will introduce the concept of hygge, explain how it relates to the Scandinavian way of life, and show what Americans can learn from it.
Dr. Claus Elholm Andersen is the Birgit Baldwin Chair and Paul and Renate Madsen Professor of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is also the Head of Nordic and Associate Chair of the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic. Recent publications include the monographs Knausgård and the Autofictional Novel and A Dissonans in This World. Readings in Hans Christian Andersen’s Early Fairytales. He has previously held positions at the University of Helsinki and the University of California, Los Angeles. He writes regularly for the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.