Tomas Espedal and Maria Parr are awarded The Norwegian Critics' Prize 2009. Espedal for his novel Agains art, which is so far sold to four countries, and Parr for her children's book Tonje Glimmerdal, which is sold to six countries. More on Espedal's book here, and Parr's book here.

The American-Scandinavian Foundation has awarded the 30th annual ASF Translation Prize to Tara F. Chace from Seattle for her translation of a collection of short stories by Norwegian author Nicolai Houm, All Children are Made of Fire (Alle barn er laget av ild). More about the prize here.

The International Ibsen Scholarships were initiated by the Norwegian government and will be handed out for the third time in 2010. Scholarship funds amount to NOK 1.000.000,- (approx. Euro 125.000,-/US Dollars 150.000,-) will be awarded to Ibsen-related projects world wide. The application deadline is April 15th 2010, see more info and application form here

The first three volumes of Karl Ove Knausgård's six-novel project My Struggle have been chosen as Book of the Year by the readers of the renowned Norwegian magazine Morgenbladet. This is the second prize for this ambitious project.

Anne B. Ragde’s acclaimed novel Berlin Poplars was published in France last autumn and has received excellent reviews by French critics.

Translation is all around us; it’s something we just don’t usually think about. For three whole days focus will be placed firmly on translation in all its forms. Norway’s House of Literature will be filled from cellar to garret with translation, translators and translations.

Jan Kjærstad's novel "The Discoverer" is shortlisted for Three Percent's Best Translated Book Award 2010 for Fiction. The book is translated by Barbara J. Haveland. See the ten titles on the fiction shortlist here and more on Kjærstad's novel here.

Gunnar Staalesen's fourth crime novel has recently been published in the UK, and British critics and readers like what they find in The Consorts of Death.

Karl Ove Knausgård’s novel ”My Struggle. First Book” and Tomas Espedal's novel "Against Art" are the two Norwegian nominees to the prestigious Nordic Council’s Prize for Literature, for 2010. Both authors have previously been nominated to this award.
See the full list of nominees here
Read about the award here

Per Petterson's critically acclaimed and prize winning novel Out Stealing Horses is ranked as no. 68 of the 100 best books the last decade by the prestigous British newspaper The Times, and is called "a superb Scandinavian noir". The book is so far sold to 45 languages.

Petterson receives the prize for the novel I Curse the River of Time.

Stian Hole picture book Garmann's Street is awarded the 2009 childrens' literature prize by the Nordic Association of School Librarians. The book is so far sold to six countries.

Maria Parr's début novel, Waffle Hearts (Vaffelhjarte, 2005) is nominated for the French Prix Tam Tam. The book is sold to six countries so far and the French translation is by Jean Baptiste Coursaud.

The prize is given to young talented European writers and aims to “put the spotlight on the creativity and diverse wealth of Europe’s contemporary literature, to promote more circulation of literature within Europe and encourage greater interest in non-national literary works”. Tiller is one of 12 prize winners.

The Independent's reviewer praises the author's
"superb knack of bringing characters to life with a few broad strokes, the prose flows deceptively easily, with a true master's witty choice of words." Read the review in full here.

Kjartan Fløgstad’s novel Grand Manila was recently published in France and the reviews were wonderful and enthusiastic. French critics are beside themselves with joy over Fløgstad’s smooth transitions between the local and the global, the individual and the international.

says The Independent's Boyd Tonkin on Norwegian literature in Britain, and NORLA. Read more

Kjell Askildsen is awarded the Swedish Academy's Nordic Prize 2009.

Gabriele Haefs and Jean-Baptiste Coursaud received The NBU (Norwegian Writers for Children) prize on October 25. They have both been working persistently promoting Norwegian children's literature in Germany and France respectively.

NORLA will be attending the book fairs in Paris, Bologna and London, as well as arranging seminars and participating in other events. You will find an overview of all NORLA’s planned spring activities here.

NORLA activities Spring 2010 134.00 kB

More information is to be found under 'Application Procedure' in the left-hand margin, or by clicking here.
We look forward to receiving your application.

For non-fiction, the next application deadline is June 1st.

During the festival Translated Days at the House of Literature in Oslo (March 11 - 13) NORLA is arranging a meeting (held in Norwegian) between the author Johan Harstad and four of his translators.

Mirjam Kristensen, Roy Jacobsen and Sverre Henmo will be visiting Germany in the period of March 18-21 to launch German editions of their books.
They will visit the Book Fair in Leipzig and read from their books at the fair, at differents schools and around town. Read more about the fair and see the programme here.

NORLA will participate at the Bologna Children's Book Fair from Tuesday 23rd to Friday 26th March, at the Collective Nordic Stand, hall 30 c 18. To make an appointment, please contact Dina Roll-Hansen: +47 907 59 094. For more information about the fair, click here.

The Norwegian Embassy in Paris and NORLA are arranging a translator’s seminar for invited translators and students in Paris April 10 – 11. The seminar is held in collaboration with Université de Paris IV Sorbonne, and will take place at the Musée des Arts et Métiers.
The authors Helene Uri and Vidar Sundstøl both have novels that are in the process of being translated into French. They meet their translators to talk about the on-going process, and literary critic Marta Norheim will convey tendencies in Norwegian literature 2000 - 2010.

During the Russian Week at the House of Literature in Oslo (April 19 – 24) NORLA is arranging a Norwegian-Russian translator’s discussion (held in Norwegian) headed "Do we need Russian literature translated into Norwegian when a lot of Norwegian Literature is already translated into Russian?"

NORLA's English brochure on Norwegian literature for children and young adults is available on our site web, please click here. You may also download a brochure containing two articles about Norwegian fiction and non-fiction from our site. Choose between a Spanish, Russian, French and English version here.

Gina Winje and Oliver Møystad from NORLA visited Egypt and the Cairo International Bookfair January 28-31. They met with publishers and took part in the launch of the Arabic translation of Knut Hamsun's novel Hunger, marking the 150th anniversary of Hamsun's birth.

2009 resulted in several all time high's for NORLA; Never before have we received - and granted - as many applications for translation subsidy as we did last year.

NORLA's 2009 grants of translation subsidies 68.00 kB

2009 also saw the publication of no less than 235 Norwegian books translated into 45 different languages with translation subsidy from NORLA. See the complete list of (original) titles here

Translations published in 2009 with grants from NORLA 67.50 kB

NORLA was present at The 11. International Book Fair for High Quality Fiction and Non-Fiction in Moscow, December 2nd - 6th.
Four Norweigan authors, Ingar Sletten Kolloen, Sigrun Slapgard, Jon Ewo and Knut Faldbakken, were also participating to launch brand new translations of their books.

Read more about the book fair here.

NORLA participated at the this year's Frankfurt Book Fair, October 14th-18th, with Gina Winje, Dina Roll-Hansen, Per Øystein Roland and Oliver Møystad present. The Fair's website it to be found here.

Per Øystein Roland and Oliver Møystad from NORLA attended The Book and Library Fair in Gothenburg, Sweden, September 24th - 27th.

This year the fair celebrated it's 25th anniversary, and offered a focus on Norwegian books with many Norwegian authors participating. And, for the first time, the Norwegian Publishers' Association and the Norwegian Embassy presented and promoted, from a joint table, Norwegian authors and publishers alike.

Read more here.

Germany is still the most important market for Norwegian literature. 6-7 June NORLA and Nordkolleg Rendsburg arranged their annual translation seminar. The subject of this years' seminar was Neo-Norwegian children's literature, and we invited authors Ragnfrid Trohaug and Rune Belsvik to join us. Should you be interested in participating in future seminars, please contact Nordkolleg by their home page www.nordkolleg.de.

24-26 May NORLA arranged a translation seminar for 125 invited translators from all over the world. The seminar was financially supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is concerned with the promotion of Norwegian literature abroad in general, as well as the translators' work in particular. Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre attended the seminar opening.

NORLA will participate at the London Book Fair 20-22 April. Gina Winje, Per Øystein Roland and Oliver Møystad will be available at the Norwegian Publishers' Association stand, number W 407. Please contact NORLA to make an appointment. For more information about the fair, click here:

NORLA was represented by Gina Winje at Jerusalem International Book Fair and the author Thorvald Steen participated in the program at the fair. NORLA and Steen visited Palestinian publishers and authors in Ramallah and had a meeting with the Hebrew writer's association.

We are still situated in the National Library, and we have kept our former web and e-mail addresses. Our postal address, telephone and fax numbers are changed, though. We look forward to welcoming you to our new premises! Here is our new contact information:

Jostein Gaarder visited the Havana International Book Fair in February in order to launch the cuban edition of "The Solitaire Mystery". During the fair the Cuban publisher Editorial Oriente also launched an anthology of short stories written by Norwegian contemporary authors, such as Beate Grimsrud, Gro Dahle, Hanne Ørstavik, Merete Lindstrøm and Björg Vik.

NORLA is expanding its activities to developing countries, using project funds from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.