Nordic countries Guest of Honour at Book World Prague

Among Czechs there has long been a high level of interest in Nordic literature. Our grandparents were eager to get their hands on the books of Knut Hamsun, Sigrid Undset and Selma Lagerlöf; they also went to the theatre to see the plays of Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg. The huge popularity of contemporary Nordic literature is due in no small part to the region’s celebrated crime fiction – Stieg Larsson, Jo Nesbø and Jussi Adler-Olsen are names known by a great many Czechs today.
The Book World Guest of Honour are in 2016 in frame of the campaign #ReadNordic the Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The aim of the guest of honour is to present current literary in Nordic literature and introduce us books written by authors coming to the fair.

The wide-ranging programme of discussions will be complemented with book signings, presentations, competitions, exhibitions, and events for children and gastronomes. Many events will be organized directly at the unique Nordic stand (S201) in the middle of the Central hall designed by students from Czech Technical University Markéta Rádková and Monika Fišerová.

Participating Nordic authors and experts are:
Norway: Jostein Gaarder, Jørn Lier Horst, Siri Pettersen, Nils Magne Knutsen.
Denmark: Kaspar Colling Nielsen, Kim Leine, Dorthe Nors, Kirsten Thisted.
Finland: Elina Hirvonen, Katja Kettu, Johanna Sinisalo, Antti Tuomainen.
Iceland: Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Sjón.
Sweden: Majgull Axelsson, Lotta Lundberg, Bengt Pohjanen, Ulf Stark.

Discussions with writers will be held usually in Nordic languages and interpreted into Czech, in case of discussions with more than two Nordic writers, the common language will be English. Events without participation of Nordic guests will be held in Czech.

See the complete programme of the Guest of Honour here.

Read more about the campaign #Read Nordic.

Upcoming activities

December 20-January 5 2025

Holiday hours at NORLA

At NORLA we will close for the Christmas holiday Thursday afternoon, December 19.
The office will reopen on Monday, January 6.

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

January 15 2025

Application deadline: Author and lecturer visits to institutions of higher learning abroad

NORLA administrates the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ scheme for travel grants for authors and lecturers who will visit institutions of higher learning abroad where instruction is given in the Norwegian language.

February 1 2025

Application deadline: Translation subsidy and Production subsidy

Please note that there are new application deadlines in 2025, with three deadlines in total, for Norwegian books in all genres:
1 February, 1 June and 1 October.