Previous activities

Norway is the focus country at the world’s largest jazz fair, jazzahead! in Bremen (April 25-28). Both before and during the fair itself, there will be a wealth of exciting musical and literary events on offer, with a total of 117 (!) musicians and several authors from Norway participating:

Tore Renberg, Gudrun Skretting, Ketil Bjørnstad and Lars Saabye Christensen are all invited to various reading events.
In addition to this, Jan Erik Vold, Eirik Raude, Ellen Bødtker and Trygve Seim will perform the concert “Summer out there” in Sendesaal on April 18th.
On April 24th, Ketil Bjørnstad, Anneli Drecker and Lars Saabye Christensen will perform the latter’s poem in "A Suite of Poems.”

The touring exhibition of Norwegian illustrations is on show, and also on offer is a theatre marathon with stagings of Karl Ove Knausgård’s novels My Struggle 4, 5 and 6.

Read more about the translation subsidy for Norwegian fiction here.

Foreign publishers may also apply for production subsidies for children’s and young adult’s picture books by Norwegian authors and illustrators.
Read more about the scheme here.

NORLA annually hands out an award to a translator of Norwegian literature. The award is given for translations directly from Norwegian.
In 2019, the award will be given to a talented young translator of fiction as an encouragement towards continued efforts.

We would very much like to hear from you about deserving candidates!

NORLA is also participating at this year’s children’s book fair in Bologna, Italy.
In addition, the Norwegian book industry will be gathered on a large, shared exhibition stand at the book fair. You will find us in Hall 30, stand E13!
Contact us if you would like to arrange a meeting.

March 29, NORLA will meet Czech publishers in Prague during Norwegian Literature Weeks and talk about NORLA, Norwegian literature and Frankfurt 2019.
The meeting takes place in collaboration with the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Prague.

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

Meeting of NORLA’s committee of experts for non-fiction (for the consideration of applications for translation subsidies with deadline 1 February).

Read more about the translation subsidy here.

NORLA will be attending the London Book Fair at Olympia 10th-12th. April and, as before, we can be found at the Norwegian stand: 6 F 70.
We look forward to meeting both established and new contacts. Please contact us to book meetings!

On the eve of the London International Book Fair, the five New Voices will be taking part in a publisher’s seminar, organised by NORLA in collaboration with the Norwegian Embassy in London.

Read more about the five authors comprising spring’s New Voices here.

And read more about the New Voices programme here.

This small, feminist information project “Gleden med skjeden” by Nina Brochmann and Ellen Støkken Dahl has now become an international phenomenon, and the translation rights have been sold for more than 30 languages.

It can be difficult enough to talk about women’s genitalia in Norwegian. How does anyone do it in Russian or Polish? Where does the boundary lie between translation and adaptation? How can a book like this be distributed in countries where women have a totally different position than in Norway? How far do you really have to travel before Scandinavian directness begins to create problems for translators? And how do you say “discomus” in English?

As part of the Translated Days festival, at Oslo’s Litteraturhuset (the House of Literature), NORLA has invited three of the book’s translators, and one of the authors, for a panel discussion on Saturday, March 2nd.
Time: 12.00-12.45.
Venue: Amalie Skram, the House of Literature.

Publishers, agents and translators abroad and in Norway can apply to NORLA for subsidies for sample translations.
Read more here.

NOTE that agents and publishers in Norway can also apply to NORLA, for support for extended sample translations; made possible by funds from the Ministry of Culture as a step towards making Norwegian literature exports an industry.

Translators of Norwegian literature may also apply to NORLA for subsidies for sample translations from books of interest. For translators, there are no application deadlines.
Read more (in Norwegian) here.

During the Translated Days festival (“Oversatte dager”), NORLA will be taking the opportunity to into invite Norwegian-translators for breakfast “at home” with us, in other words at our office in Observatoriegt. 1B, on Friday March 1st. Between 0930 and 1100.

There will be simple refreshments and pleasant mingling, with colleagues and those of us who work at NORLA.
We look forward to a great start to this great year for Norwegian literature where Norway is Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse, and also to Book Year 2019 which is being held all over Norway.

All translators of Norwegian literature are very much welcome, whether you live in Norway or abroad!

Read more on how to register here (in Norwegian)

The Frankfurt Book Fair’s New York office and Publishing Perspectives are, for the second time, organising a Rights Salon for Children’s Literature in New York. Hege Langrusten from NORLA will be taking part to help expand the contact network, particularly within children’s books.

Read more about the event here.

February 1 is the application deadline for translators of Norwegian literature regarding stays at NORLA’s Translators hotel spring 2019 (weeks 19-20, i.e. as of Monday May 6th through Sunday May 19th).
Please note that the offer is only available for translators who translate directly from Norwegian.

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs have contributed towards the scheme.

Read more (in Norwegian) here.

Norway is the focus country at this year’s Berlinale, and Nils Petter Moland’s film adaptation of Per Petterson’s novel Out Stealing Horses will be shown as part of the main program.
The Norwegian Film Institute has set up it’s own house “Norway House” where a range of activities will take place.

Nor is literature forgotten:
On Monday February 11th. at 15.00-17.30, the pitch seminar “Books at Berlinale” will be held at the House of Representatives, where Oslo Literary Agency will pitch Simon Stranger’s novel Keep Saying Their Names.
The same day, at 10.00-12.00, a separate pitch seminar will be held at Norway House, where Norwegian literature agents, and German agents and publishers, will meet German and Norwegian film producers to present selected titles.