Norway at the Leipzig Book Fair: a Media Success
According to initial evaluations, Norway’s role as Guest of Honour at the Leipzig Book Fair was a major success, especially in terms of media visibility.
During the fair, more than 4,000 print articles were published, with a total advertising value equivalent of 659,290 €. The campaign achieved broad reach, not only featuring well-known authors like Karl Ove Knausgård, Maja Lunde or Vigdis Hjorth but also highlighting voices like Kjersti Anfinnsen, Wencke Mühleisen and Oliver Lovrenski, showcasing the diversity of Norwegian literature.
Extensive coverage in leading German media
Norwegian literature received extensive coverage in leading German media – from TV and radio to online platforms, magazines, and blogs. Several magazines dedicated 10 to 20 pages to Norway in their special editions, and national newspapers such as Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Welt am Sonntag published full-page spreads on Norwegian literature. All major cultural TV programmes reported from the fair with a clear focus on Norway.
A successful combination of various initiatives
This strong media presence was the result of good cooperation between NORLA and the Berlin-based PR agency Literaturtest and a successful combination of various initiatives such as press conferences, digital events, presence on social media and press trips – all contributing to a lasting impact on the visibility of Norwegian literature in Germany.
Espen Børdahl, Lecturer in Norwegian at the Department of Scandinavian Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt, writes in his summary of Norway’s Guest of Honour appearance at the Leipzig Book Fair on the Blog of the scientific Nordeuropaforum:
Behind the diversity of Norwegian literature as it was presented at the Leipzig Book Fair – and behind its international success – stands a consistent cultural policy that has been pursued in Norway since the 1960s. (…)
A milestone in this context is also the founding of the agency NORLA (Norwegian Literature Abroad) in 1978, which has since successfully coordinated and promoted the international dissemination of Norwegian literature. (…)
Norway’s appearance at the Leipzig Book Fair impressively demonstrated how vibrant and, at the same time, nuanced the current literary landscape in Norway is. Between avant-garde, youth culture, minority literature, and classics, new literary worlds are opening up – also for the German-speaking audience.
Read the whole article (in German) here
A comprehensive final report on Norway’s Guest of Honour appearance at the Leipzig Book Fair will be published this autumn.
