Norway was Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2019!

Karl ove knausgård and director of frankfurter buchmesse juergen boos on the main stage of the norwegian guest of honour pavilion photo sabine felber
Karl Ove Knausgård and Director of Frankfurter Buchmesse Juergen Boos on the main stage of the Norwegian Guest of Honour Pavilion. Photo: Sabine Felber.

Norway was Guest of Honour at the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2019.
The Guest of Honour project comprised hundreds of activities in the German speaking area throughout 2019, and culminated at the book fair in October 2019.

NORLA was in charge of the process and cooperated closely with authors, publishing houses, literary agents, art institutions, our network Norwegian Arts Abroad and other cultural entities. Together we presented a solid and attractive Guest of Honour program.

The Norwegian Guest of Honour Pavilion, designed by LCLA office and Manthey Kula, is nominated for the 2022 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award.

Frankfurter Buchmesse 2019 at a glance
Summary of Norway as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurter Buchmesse

Report and evaluation
In June 2020, NORLA presented its report on the Guest of Honour project.
Read more.
And in December 2020, an external evaluation of the Guest of Honour project concluded that the Guest of Honour project was successful. The evaluation was carried out by Economics Norway (Samfunnsøkonomisk analyse) on behalf of the Ministry of Culture.
Read more about the evaluation here (the report itself is available in Norwegian only).

Read more

See the program for the main stage of the Guest of Honour Pavilion here and read more about the cultural programme here.

Please visit our project website Norway2019.com for information about the project, calendar of events and news.

The Facebook page for the project was called Norwegen2019, you can visit the page here.

On Instagram we shared updates on our daily work. You may also get a feel from the very midst of the busy Fair by looking at our Insta-stories: Part 1 and Part 2.

Below you may download the Norwegian Bid book (“søknad”) Norway as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2019.

Frankfurt 2019

Norway’s 2019 Guest of Honour Pavilion nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award

2021-02-02
Guest of honour pavilion photo luis callejas, lcla

We are extremely happy and proud to learn that Norway’s Guest of Honour Pavilion at the 2019 Frankfurter Buchmesse is nominated for the 2022 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award.

A big congratulations to the architects LCLA office and Manthey Kula!

HRH Mette-Marit sends Christmas letter to German booksellers

2020-12-15
Kollasj brev og pankebuch

Crown Princess Mette-Marit is an ambassador for Norwegian literature abroad and participated in last year’s Frankfurter Buchmesse. Now the Crown Princess has written a Christmas letter to 2,540 booksellers in Germany.

Norway as Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2019 was a success

2020-12-08
Guest of honour pavilion photo luis callejas, lcla

On behalf of the Ministry of Culture, Economics Norway has carried out an external evaluation of the Guest of Honour project. The evaluation has been based primarily on whether the goals for the initiative Norway as Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2019 were achieved. The report is now ready and has concluded that the Guest of Honour project was successful.

Our collaboration with German bookstores continues

2020-10-07
Postkortkollasj

It is now a year since German bookstores, NORLA and the Norwegian Embassy in Berlin completed the final preparations for Norway as Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse. We have maintained the connections and friendships established over the last few years and continued the good cooperation we have with the German bookstores in 2020.

Author of the Day - every day in July

2020-06-25
Karl ove knausgård and director of frankfurter buchmesse juergen boos on the main stage of the norwegian guest of honour pavilion photo sabine felber

NORLA’s offices are closed for holidays in July. However, on our Facebook page we have the pleasure of introducing a new writer every day. We look forward to sharing highlights from last year’s packed Guest of Honour program at Frankfurter Buchmesse, as well as a presentations from other sources.
We recommend that you sit back to be entertained and also enlightened.

On Instagram we post Book cover of the day, displaying Norwegian books published abroad through translation subsidy from NORLA. See all covers here.

If you happen to read Norwegian, you might also enjoy our personal reading tips for the summer, here.

We wish everyone a great summer and happy reading!

NORLA presents its report on Norway as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2019

2020-06-15
Rapportomslag uten ramme

Norway as Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2019 is the country’s largest overall cultural initiative abroad. The main goals set for the initiative by NORLA were achieved. The goals were to renew the foothold of Norwegian literature in Germany, to create new international interest in Norwegian literature, to showcase Norway as a modern cultural nation and to revitalize the relationship between Norway and Germany through cooperation on literary and cultural projects.

The Frankfurter Buchmesse is beyond doubt the world’s most important book fair when it comes to the sale of foreign rights and international dissemination of literature in all genres. The Norwegian guest of honour status was used as an arena for the presentation of a myriad of voices from Norway, as well as sparking the joy of reading and, not least, it served as a platform for promoting freedom of speech.

2019 was a unique year for Norwegian literature abroad

2020-02-28
Dsc 3364 a

Internationally, literature from Norway is in an incredibly strong position. 2019 was the year that Norway featured as Guest of Honour at the world’s most important book fair – Frankfurter Buchmesse – with the motto The Dream We Carry. NORLA planned and implemented this initiative on behalf of the government and the book industry.

Thanks to the Guest of Honour initiative, the number of books that were published in German reached a record high in 2019: 510 titles from or about Norway. One hundred authors from Norway came to the 2019 Frankfurt Book Fair, with 100,000 people visiting the pavilion. Almost two hundred authors participated in a program in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland in 2019, and a total of 1120 literary or cultural events were held in German-speaking regions. Norway set a record for media attention as guest country, being mentioned 14,997 times throughout the autumn of 2019.

“Thanks to all the publications in German during its year as Guest of Honour, Norwegian literature has a bigger window on other languages too. With targeted efforts in the future towards other markets, we will be able to see the long-term ripple effects of the work behind the guest-country initiative,” says Margit Walsø, director of NORLA.

POSTPONED: Conference in Oslo marking the end of the Literature Go Global program

2020-02-10
2020 luv avslutn. konf frankfurt agentsenteret foto innovasjon norge

POSTPONED: Due to the latest developments concerning the coronavirus and new guidelines from the Institute of Public Health, the conference marking the end of the Literature Go Global program is postponed.
This is seen as a necessary measure to limit the risk of spreading the corona virus. At the same time we are doing our best to set an alternative date for the conference.

Norway on the 2019 bestseller lists in Germany

2020-02-09
Mitt innlegg

According to German sales figures six books from Norway made it to the bestseller lists for 2019, the year Norway was Guest of Honour at the world’s most important book fair; Frankfurter Buchmesse:

Happy Sami National Day!

2020-02-06
Dsc 2568 åpningen ella marja eira

Today is the Sami National Day, and everyone at NORLA offers our warmest congratulations to all our Sami friends and the Sami people: Læhkoeh biejjine – Vuorbbe biejvijn – Lihkku beivviin – Gratulerer med dagen!

See below for pictures from some of last year’s events at Frankfurter Buchmesse featuring Sami authors and literature.

We also recommend the Book Fair’s official Guest of Honour film from Norway’s pavilion, which includes Sami joik from 03:40 mins. and a soundtrack by Elle Márjá Eira – who also performed at the opening ceremony of the fair.
Watch the film here

Books from Norway provides you with English-language information about all genres of Norwegian literature. The information is provided by the rightsholders and NORLA.

booksfromnorway.com

Norway as Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse

Norway was Guest of Honour at the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2019. Please visit our website Norway2019.com for information about the project.

Frankfurt 2019