Søk etter “china + norla”

We are happy to present our selected title author Brynjulf Jung Tjønn. He has written White, Norwegian Man (original title: Kvit, norsk mann). The book is one of NORLA’s Selected Titles of the spring 2023.

Read our interview with Brynjulf here.

Tarjei Vesaas (1897-1970) was one of the greatest Norwegian authors of the 20th century, and many believe it was a huge oversight that he didn’t receive the Nobel Prize in literature. His novels The Birds (1957) and The Ice Palace (1963) are considered two of his most important works. Fifty years after his death he is still relevant, and being translated and read more than ever.

Norwegian books travel far and wide and at NORLA, we are always pleased when the books, their authors, illustrators and translators receive well-deserved literary distinctions from abroad.
Here you will find information on literary prizes, awards and nominations that we have noted so far in 2021.

Translators are the most important emissaries we have for bringing Norwegian literature out into the world. Their work is of decisive significance and to spotlight this work, we started the interview series entitled “Translator of the month”. Here we will get to know some of those who translate from Norwegian and learn about their challenging work of transmitting Norwegian literature into all the different languages of the world.

Read more about Ben here.

Those of you who understand Norwegian can read the interview here.

Wednesday, August 14th was a big day for Norwegian literature: ten Norwegian books were released during Shanghai International Literature Week. The books are being published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House.

“Over the past five years, Norwegian literature has experienced a huge increase in popularity in China. It’s mainly been literature for children and young adults – illustrated books in particular – and non-fiction for adults. It’s therefore especially gratifying that Shanghai Translation Publishing House’s efforts are now giving Chinese readers access to a wide selection of Norwegian novels in addition to an important non-fiction book,” says Margit Walsø, director of NORLA.

We have begun the exciting autumn book fair season and the first fair on the list was the Beijing International Book Fair which took place in the end of August. This is the seventh time in a row NORLA has been to Beijing and we can hereby confirm that Norwegian literature is becoming increasingly popular in China.
If you happen to read Norwegian, you may read the report on the atmosphere of the fair by NORLA’s bookworm emissary here.

See our selected titles from the book fair in Beijing with presentations in both Chinese and English here.

You may also see the covers of Norwegian books recently published in Chinese through NORLA’s translation subsidies here.

NORLA travels around the world to promote Norwegian literature
Please have look at some of our other travelogues here.

A Norwegian sports and cultural delegation led by Norway’s Minister of Culture, Linda Hofstad Helleland, visited China from 25 to 27 May. The delegation also included the author Jostein Gaarder and NORLA’s director, Margit Walsø.
Jostein Gaarder’s books are very well known to Chinese readers as a total of 16 have already been published in Chinese!
A central part of the delegation’s cultural programme was to renew and strengthen cultural collaboration with China.

On 25 May, ZHANG Fusheng, previously editor of Nordic literature at the People’s Literature Publishing House, was awarded the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit by the Minister of Culture, Linda Hofstad Helleland.

This past spring has been perhaps the most labour-intensive in NORLA’s history. A great deal has happened – particularly when it comes to Norway’s role as guest of honour at Frankfurt 2019:

The Frankfurt team was set up on 1 March, with a project manager, a coordinator for the literary programme and a coordinator for the cultural programme. And the first thing they focused on was presenting a broad range of Norwegian literature for translation to relevant publishers, and setting in motion potential collaborative projects for the cultural programme.

At NORLA we are pleased about the positive reception for our new offer for non-fiction publishers from abroad, specifically, the opportunity to apply for a stay of five days in Oslo at the Hotel Bondeheimen, which is also NORLA’s translators hotel.

The Chinese book market’s interest in Norwegian books is growing steadily, and this month NORLA participaties at the Beijing International Book Fair for the ninth consecutive year.

Our August translator of the month is Shen Chang, from China. She has recently translated Einar Steen-Nøkleberg’s book Onstage With Grieg, and earlier this summer both she and the author participated in a highly successful promotional trip to Beijing and the music institute Art Service Center for Scholars (ARTS).

One of NORLA’s main objectives is to help Norwegian books and writers get the best possible attention abroad and thereby increase rights sales. NORLA’s agreement with the rights portal IPR License, intensifies these efforts.

The Chinese are crazy about Norwegian books. That is the impression we were left with after having visited the book fair in Beijing. Ever since 2010 NORLA has travelled to the book fair in Beijing, Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF), which takes place every year in the end of August. This year we were accompanied by four Norwegians: Even Råkil from Oslo Literary Agency, Hans Petter Bakketeig from Stilton Agency, Gina Winje from Winje Agency and Svein Størksen, Magikon Forlag. At the fair energetic work was carried out to present Norwegian books and meet with Chinese publishers to promote the translation of more Norwegian titles into Chinese.

During the Beijing International Book Fair the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Beijing announced the winners of their translation competition (launched in May):

2nd Prize Winner: Mr. Shao Zhibing
3rd Prize Winners: Mr. Kim Jarle Wroldsen and Ms. Zhou Yuan
4th Prize Winner: Mr. Liu Lingxuan.
(No 1st Prize Winner were chosen).

NORLA offers its warmest congratulations to the four winners!

NORLA took part along with the NordLit network from the Nordic countries in this year’s Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair in China, 13-15 November 2015, for the very first time. The book fair proved very successful as the interest for Norwegian books was massive – with a wonderful buzz around the launch of Håkon Øvreås and Øyvind Torseter’s award-winning book “Brune”.

2015 will be an historical year for the dissemination of Norwegian literature in China and Taiwan. All of 18 Norwegian books will be published in Chinese this year. And 11 of these are books for children/young people.

“Increasingly more Norwegian titles are being published in China and Taiwan and this is an exciting development. We have great ambitions for increased export,” says NORLA’s Director Margit Walsø.

2015 has been a fantastic year for Norwegian literature abroad and an exciting year for NORLA. We have worked intensively to lay the foundation to enable Norway to apply for Guest of Honour status at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2019. We are pleased that this initiative has met with overwhelming support from the Storting. When the broad engagement on the part of the book industry now receives the whole-hearted support of the Government and the Storting, we have a fantastic starting point for a Norwegian application for Guest of Honour status. The Storting’s decision to back the application with NOK 30 million creates an exceptional opportunity to make a large investment in the export of Norwegian literature and culture, and we thank everyone who has contributed to our having come this far in the application process.