May 24-May 27 2017
Georgia

Norwegian authors to attend book fair and translators seminar in Tbilisi

Norway is this year’s country in focus at the Tbilisi International Book Fair in Georgia!

A seminar for Georgian students of Norwegian as well as Georgian translators will be held Wednesday May 24. Organizing the seminar are TSUs Centre of Scandinavian studies and NORLA. Approximately 40 participants will take part, including four translators from Baku in Azerbaijan.
The main organizer of the seminar is translator Tamara Kvizhinadze, who is also NORLA’s Translator of the Month in May. If you happen to read Norwegian, you will enjoy our interview with her here.

All four authors in NORLA’s authors’ programme “New Voices” will speak at the seminar:
Roskva Koritzinsky: “The short story in Norwegian contemporary literature”
Nils Henrik Smith: “Dag Solstad and the Norwegian”
Sigbjørn Mostue: “Back to the roots – the revival of popular beliefs in Norwegian fantasy literature”.
Simen Ekern: “The battle for the soul of Europe: The growth and the future of right wing populism”.

The seminar participants will work in groups discussing the translation of the four authors’ texts.
After the seminar the participants are invited to a reception along with Georgian publishers and contacts, hosted by Norwegian embassies in Tbilisi and Baku.

Thursday May 25 sees the opening of the Tbilisi International Book Fair where Norway is focus country.​​
The four Norwegian authors will take part in several events. Simen Ekern will meet Lasha Bugadze to discuss politics and literature: «​Are the politicians afraid of writers?​»​​. Nils Henrik Smith will meet Dato Turashvili to talk about football: «​Literary goals​»​​. Roskva Koritzinsky will meet Salome Benidze to talk about identity and language: «​The Road: Words and humans​»​​. Sigbj​ø​rn Mostue will meet Zaza Koshadze to talk about the choice of genres: «​Why fantasy?​»​​.​​

On Friday May 26, NORLA will take part in a debate about being Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Georgia is Guest of Honour in Frankfurt in 2018.​​
All Norwegian participants will be presenting short talks about their oevre and about Norwegian literature at a book fair event Friday night.​​

Read more about both the four ​“​New Voices​”​-authors here.​​

More about the international book fair in Tbilisi here.​​

Follow the Tbilisi book fair on Facebook.​​

Read more about the TSUs Centre of Scandinavian studies here.​​

Are you curious to see which Norwegian books have recently been published in Georgia?​​
Here you may enjoy the covers of books published in Georgian through NORLA​’​s translation subsidy (as of 2011) .​​

Upcoming activities

November 14-November 16
Shanghai, China

Norwegian Participation at the Shanghai Children’s Book Fair

NORLA is taking part in the Shanghai Children’s Book Fair with a stand designed for meetings and professional networking. The two illustrators/authors Øyvind Torseter and Marianne Gretteberg Engedal (Skinkeape) will participate in the fair’s professional program and panel discussions. Both also serve on the jury for the Norwegian illustration exhibition at Bologna 2026.
In addition, several Norwegian publishers/agents will take part.

The initiative is carried out in collaboration with the Royal Norwegian Consulate in Shanghai.

December 3-December 5
Rome, Italy

Networking Event and Launch of the Guest of Honour Program during the Rome Book Fair Più libri più liberi

The book fair Più libri più liberii is dedicated to small and medium-sized publishers, and NORLA is looking forward to participating for the second time – focusing on Norway’s Guest of Honour initiative at Bologna 2026 and on Norwegian children’s literature in general. And just like last year, we are hosting a networking event and gearing up for Bologna 2026 by launching the Guest of Honour concept and program. Also, Norwegian agents will take part in the fair’s fellowship and/or be present in the rights centre. The program is organized in collaboration with the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Rome.

In the lead-up to the book fair, we are organizing a full-day seminar for Italian translators and Norwegian language students from universities in Italy. The seminar will take place at Casa delle Traduzioni, and participants will have the opportunity to meet author and illustrator Malin Falch. The sessions will be led by established Italian translators of Norwegian literature.