Daniela S. Zounková - Translator of the Month

An autumn in motion! People travel out into the world and return home, memories and family histories move between generations, and the world around us is constantly changing. There is a great deal of movement in NORLA’s 25 Selected Titles this autumn, across fiction, non-fiction, and literature for children and young adults.

Our translator of the month for October is Miluše Juříčková who translates fiction books and technical writing from Norwegian to Czech. She studied Norwegian, English and German at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic and has now lectured there for 36 years. Her main focus has been modern Norwegian and Scandinavian literature, translation studies and comparative literature. For more than 20 years she also worked as an accredited interpreter and translator, during which time she experienced many strange situations in courtrooms and prisons.
Miluše was awarded the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit. First as a Knight of 1st Class in 2003 and again in 2017 as a Commander, which gave her the opportunity to thank H.M. King Harald V. during a private audience at The Royal Palace. There were numerous topics of conversation and Miluše was truly proud to be able to talk about her students.

Alex Olvera is​… perpetually busy, obsessed with all things sheep (yes, the animal) and, hopefully, someone who is leaving the world slightly better than she found it.
She graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in a not-at-all-related-to-languages-or-translation field (wait​… perhaps it was, except she used to translate concepts into images, feelings into colors and shapes and cohesive visual messages) and has a shiny silver medal to prove it! Unfortunately, that was not enough to keep her rolling down the original lane so, after much flirting with translation​—​​and a great deal of studying which continues to this day; she has taken part of BCLT​’​s Summer School, ESLT and a number of standalone courses in Mexico and abroad​—​​she settled for this beautiful profession. She combines her work as AV and literary translator with her roles as expert translator aide for the Mexican Judiciary as well as chair of the Mexican Literary Translators Association, A. C. (Ametli).​​

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.​​

This summer, NORLA has invited readers on a literary journey through Norway. In our Reading Norway series, we have highlighted Norwegian books that take us to places, landscapes, and lived experiences that shape Norwegian literature in different ways and that have also found readers far beyond Norway’s borders.

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.

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.

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.