A great start for the Guest of Honour Year, at the Leipzig Book Fair 2019

From 21st-24th of March, 18 Norwegian authors and illustrators will be participating in the Leipzig Book Fair. You will be able to meet authors, illustrators and NORLA at the Nordic countries stand in hall 4 (stand C400).
Read more and see the complete program on our Frankfurt 2019-website.

A complete program is also available as PDF here

During this year’s book fair, the German audience will be presented with a number of Norwegian authors who currently have books published in German. And in addition, to a comprehensive program at the Nordic countries stand, there will be readings throughout the city during “Leipzig liest,” the reading festival. Anne B. Ragde and Pål Moddi Knutsen will be taking part in this year’s Nordic reading night at Werk 2, and NORLA is hosting two evening events – a Norwegian evening on the theme of freedom of expression at UT Connewitz with Marta Breen, Nancy Herz, Pil Cappelen Smith and Pål Moddi Knutsen; and an evening at Litteraturhaus with Geir Gulliksen, Johan Harstad, Anne B. Ragde, Mona Høvring and Lars Mytting.

On Thursday March 21st, there will be a theme night concerning Norway and the Holocaust, at Grieg Begnungsstätte, with the authors Bjarte Bruland and Sigurd Sørlie.

Also on Thursday, FILI (Finnish Literature Exchange) and NORLA (Norwegian Literature Abroad) will host a joint panel discussion at the Nordic collective stand, Halle 4, C 400,at 11:30-12.30: Children and reading — Challenges and success stories.
FILI will be represented by Director Tiia Strandén and NORLA by Director Margit Walsø.
Contributors to the panel are:
Publisher Carsten Wilms from Kullerkupp Kinderbuch Verlag,
Director Ilmi Villacis, from the Finnish reading centre,
Publisher Saara Tiuraniemi from Tammi Publishers in Finland,
and Norwegian author Linde Hagerup.
Moderator: Director Tiia Strandén from Finnish Literature Exchange.
The panel will be held in English.

Åse Birkenheier will present her translation of Asbjørnsen and Moes’ Folktales 1 & 2 on Saturday March 23rd, at Grieg Begegnungsstätte, while Siri Pettersen will be taking up the black sofa.

Visit the Leipzig Book Fair’s website.

Upcoming activities

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 translation workshop during the seminar will be led by the established Italian translators of Norwegian literature, Giovanna Paterniti and Eva Valvo.