Reading Norway: Norwegian Summer Reading Recommendations

Norway’s Guest of Honour appearance at the Leipzig Book Fair 2025 was a great success. Around 50 Norwegian authors took part in nearly 80 events, attracting a total audience of around 20,000. NORLA’s final report on the initiative is now available.

Our Translator of the Month for August is London-born Lucy Moffatt, who has been translating professionally since the mid-1990s, first from Spanish, later from Norwegian. Since 2017, she’s translated nearly twenty Norwegian fiction and non-fiction titles for publishers in the UK and Canada. Authors she’s worked with include Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, Andreas Tjernshaugen, Are Kalvø, Bjørn Berge, Dag O. Hessen, Hilde Østby, Nina Brochmann and Ellen Støkken Dahl.

Following Jon Fosse​’​​s Nobel Prize in Literature in 2023, the Norwegian government established an annual initiative to honor the author​—​​​a yearly Fosse Lecture with accompanying events organized by the National Library, where a Fosse Prize for Translators, worth NOK 500,​​​000, is also awarded.​​

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has shared his book recommendations for the summer. We at NORLA were especially pleased to see that no fewer than five of the six Norwegian books on his list have previously been highlighted as NORLA Selected Titles.

After a whirlwind of abortive study and career choices (medicine, fashion, publishing), Nichola Smalley finally settled on literary translation in 2022. She has translated almost twenty fiction and non-fiction books for adults and a few children’s books from Norwegian and Swedish, and has been nominated for numerous awards. Her translation of Oliver Lovrenski’s Da vi var yngre / Back in the Day was shortlisted for the 2026 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize, a prize she won in 2021 with her translation from Swedish of Andrzej Tichý’s Eländet / Wretchedness. She has a PhD in the use of slang in Swedish and English literature and lives in London.

Mišo Grundler was recently awarded the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit in rank of Knight, class I, in recognition of his formidable efforts as a translator and disseminator of Norwegian literature in Croatia.
Grundler received the decoration by the Norwegian Ambassador, Mr. Arne Sannes Bjørnstad, during an event at the Ambassador’s residence in Zagreb, which was followed by a reception.

Everyone at NORLA offers Mišo Grundler our very warmest congratulations!

How can international interest in Norwegian non-fiction be strengthened? That was the starting point when NORLA invited eight publishers from eight countries to Oslo. A packed programme gave the participants the opportunity to discover new authors, build professional networks and establish connections across borders.

Norway’s Minister of Culture and Equality, Lubna Jaffery, visited China at the end of May. The delegation also included authors Kristin Roskifte and Simon Stranger, as well as NORLA’s Literary Coordinator, Andrine Pollen. An exhibition of illustrations from Norwegian children’s books was presented at the residence of the Norwegian Embassy in Beijing.

The Norwegian Festival of Literature / Sigrid Undset Days took place in Lillehammer from 1–7 June, bringing together authors, translators, publishers and literary enthusiasts from Norway and abroad.
In its 31st year, the festival has established itself as one of the most important literary meeting places in the Nordic region. This year’s programme focused on Europe as its central theme, with particular emphasis on European authors, literary perspectives and contemporary social issues.

When the Norwegian Parliament votes on the revised national budget on 19 June, the future of the Norgeskunnskap programme will also be decided. If the proposed cuts remain in place, funding for Norwegian lecturers at universities abroad will be phased out, with serious consequences for Norwegian language education internationally.

In an open letter, NORLA Director Margit Walsø and the authors Lars Saabye Christensen, Jon Fosse, Vigdis Hjorth, Maria Parr, Thorvald Steen and Herbjørg Wassmo urge Parliament to reverse the cuts and preserve the programme.
Read the full open letter here:

Clara Sondermann translates into German from Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. She has translated books by Jenny Hval, Eivind Hofstad Evjemo, Athena Farrokhzad, Olga Ravn and Ursula Andkjær Olsen. Clara studied Scandinavian languages and literature in Greifswald, Reykjavík and Berlin, and has worked as a publishing editor in Hamburg. For several years she was on the editorial board of the literary journal Edit in Leipzig. Besides being a translator and freelance editor, she works with children on literature and Creative Writing.

In 2028, it will be 200 years since Henrik Ibsen was born. As the world’s most performed playwright after William Shakespeare, the anniversary will be celebrated on a grand scale, both in Norway and internationally. As a prelude to the Ibsen 2028 anniversary, the Norwegian Embassy in Berlin invited guests last week to a day dedicated to Norwegian drama, held in the beautiful setting of the ambassador’s residence. The event is part of an ongoing collaborative project between PAHN (Performing Arts Hub Norway), Dramatikkens hus (The Norwegian Centre for New Playwriting – NCNP) and NORLA, which has resulted in a series of presentations of Norwegian drama around the world, including in New York, Leipzig, London and now Berlin. The aim of the project is to bring Norwegian voices out into the world by building on the legacy of Henrik Ibsen and Jon Fosse with a new generation of playwrights.