Happy Women in Translation Month 2021!
Women in Translation, or WIT, is a global collaborative project held every August, to help promote women writers from around the world who write in languages other than English. Here at NORLA we are pleased to share our own contribution to WITMonth with you.
On NORLA’s Flickr pages you can find the beautiful covers of Norwegian books – in all genres – published in translation with NORLA’s support since 2011.
To celebrate WITMonth we have gathered all the covers of female Norwegian authors translated into English here.
Out of the 349 books that are translated into English currently on our Flickr-page, 125 (almost 36 %) are written by a female author.
We encourage all lovers of literature out there to use WITMonth to explore some of these amazing books! Maybe you will find a new favourite?
About WITMonth
WITMonth was founded by Meytal Radzinski on her blog. It was inspired by a fellow book blogger and started in August 2014.
Lesss than 31% of new translations of literary fiction into English are of books by women writers*. Given how few books are translated into English to begin with, this means that women are a minority within a minority. The problem then filters down to how books by women writers in translation are reviewed/covered in the media, recognized by award committees, promoted in bookstores, sent out to reviews, and ultimately reach readers themselves.
While imperfect, WITMonth gives many publishers the chance to promote their existing titles written by women in translation, while also giving readers an organized means of finding the books that already exist. WITMonth ultimately serves to help readers find excellent books.
Read more about Women in Translation Month, and what you can do to contribute, at womenintranslation.org.
Our 2021 reading suggestions:
Helene Flood
The Therapist
(original title: Terapeuten)
Translated by Alison McCullough
Published by MacLehose Press
This critically acclaimed crime fiction debut was sold to 23 countries before publication in Norway!
“… a series of frightening ghostlike incidents in the therapist’s house and two clever twists near the end make this debut a striking addition to Norwegian noir.”
Andrew Rosenheim, The Spectator
Meet the author in great interview with Jackie Collins, aka. Dr Noir of Newcastle Noir (in English).
We also recommend listening to Helene Flood in the podcast Crime Fiction Addiction.
Read more about The Therapist here.
More about the author here. And a great interview here
Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold
The Child
(original title: Barnet)
Translated by Martin Aitken
Published by Granta
Sold to eleven languages.
Read more about The Child here
And more about the author here
Helga Flatland
One Last Time
(original title: Et liv forbi)
Translated by Rosie Hedger
Rosie was our Translator of the Month in June/July – read our interview here
Published by Orenda
This moving book is a perfect example of why Joanna Cannon has dubbed Helga the ‘Norwegian Anne Tyler’.
Read more about One Last Time here
And more about the author here
Marie Aubert
Grown Ups
(original title: Voksne mennesker)
Translated by Rosie Hedger
Rosie was our Translator of the Month in June/July – read our interview here
Published by Pushkin Press
Vogue called Aubert’s debut “drily funny and emotionally gripping” and chose it as one of its ‘Absolutely Best Summer Reads of 2021’.
Sold to 14 languages.
Read more about Grown Ups here
And more about the author here
Nazneen Khan-Østrem
London: Immigrant City
(original title: London – blant gangstere, rabbinere, oligarker, rebeller og andre ektefødte barn av det britiske imperiet)
Translated by Alison McCullough
Published by Robinson
“One of the best books on the many diverse migrations to London… It is difficult to put it down”.
Saskia Sassen, The Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University, New York City
Read more about London here
And more about the author here
Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson
Tapestries of Life: Uncovering the Lifesaving Secrets of the Natural World
(original title: På naturens skuldre. Hvordan ti millioner arter redder livet ditt)
Translated by Lucy Moffatt
Lucy won NORLA’s Translator’s Award for 2020 – read more here
Published by HarperCollins
Read more about Tapestries of Life here
More about the author here. And a great interview here
Ruth Lillegraven
Everything Is Mine
(original title: Alt er mitt)
Translated by Diane Oatley
Published by AmazonCrossing
This first book in a popular series with multiple international sales, including the sale of film rights.
Read more about Everything Is Mine here
And more about the author here
Eline Lund Fjæren
Fixed Ideas
(original title: Forbruk i september)
Translated by Duncan Lewis
Published by Nordisk Books
Read more about Fixed Ideas here
And more about the author here
*Translations into English
A report by Nielsen Book a few years back showed that translated literary fiction made up only 3.5 % of the literary fiction titles published in the UK, but accounted for 7 % of the volume of sales. Only a tiny fraction of fiction published in English is translated, and less than 31% of that translated fiction was originally written by women.
However, in 2019, The Guardian brought joyful news: According to Nielsen Book Research, “overall sales of translated fiction in the UK in 2018 were up by 5.5%, with more than 2.6m books sold – the highest level since Nielsen began to track sales in 2001. Over the last 18 years, sales of fiction in translation have risen “steadily”, with the performance of translated literary fiction in particular standing out for its “extreme growth”, up 20% in 2018 year-on-year.” British readers now “overwhelmingly” read translated fiction from Europe, with French literature accounting for 17% of volume sales, the biggest language represented, while Norwegian was in second place and Swedish third.
Read more
