In 2021, NORLA received grant applications for the translation of Norwegian literature into an incredible 50 different languages, and it’s very exciting that three of these are languages we’ve never worked with before. For the first time, NORLA has awarded grants for the translation of Norwegian books into Hausa, Kazakh, and Northern Sámi.

This week, we have finally been able to warmly welcome translators to Oslo for a two-week stay at Hotell Bondeheimen. This is something we have really missed during the pandemic!
With this, the translator hotel’s twelfth season is opened, and the five translators who are in place in Oslo are:

Ursel Allenstein (Germany)
Sylvia Kall (Germany)
Angélique de Kroon (The Netherlands)
Ana Flecha Marco (Spain)
Fuyumi Nakamura (Japan)

We are thrilled to have them here, and look forward to two pleasant and hopefully productive weeks in their company!

Our translator of the month for May is Natalia Ilishchuk, who translates into Ukrainian. With a master’s degree in international relations, Natalia has many interests and does a number of things such as being a member of the Ukrainian-Scandinavian Center – but her greatest passion has always been for literature. Natalia became interested in Norway, Norwegian literature and language during her early years at the university and has participated in several Norwegian study programs in Norwegian language and culture.
Natalia is originally from Lviv, but for the last few years has lived in Kyiv. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February she had to move from Kyiv but decided to remain in her home country. She has spoken to us via social media about life during the war.

Norway is the Guest of Honour at the Book Fair in Warsaw 26 – 29 May 2022. The book fair is an exciting opportunity to present a wide range of Norwegian literature in the Polish market. Several Norwegian authors will engage with their Polish audience and strengthen the connection between our two countries. “The Dream We Carry” is our slogan and we proudly present our program:

Norway is Guest of Honour at the 2022 Warsaw Book Fair. Here readers are eager to not only attend author’s presentations, but also to buy books. And at the Norwegian tent, it is busy days for the booksellers of Moda na Czytanie, who offer Norwegian books in Polish translation. Here there are also long queues of readers waiting to have the authors sign their books.
We have met the three booksellers: Piotr Bagiński, Jacek Kochanowski and Violetta Wiśniewska, for an interview.

Would you like to work with literature and be part of Norway’s upcoming Guest of Honour project at the Warsaw Book Fair, May 26-29?
Are you well organized and fond of writing?

In Norway we have that very strange custom of “Påskekrim”, i.e. reading/watching crime fiction stories at Easter. Learn more about the tradition here and here.

At NORLA, we recommend three of our Spring Selected Titles for thrilling reads.

Enjoy your Påskekrim!

The translator of the month for April is Ioana-Andreea Mureșan from Romania. She has recently been appointed assistant professor at the Department of Scandinavian Languages and Literature at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, after having collaborated with the department and teaching Norwegian for more than ten years. She has translated two volumes of Karl Ove Knausgård’s My Struggle series, Book 1 and 5. Ioana has also translated Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, which was staged at the Radu Stanca National Theatre in Sibiu, Romania in 2018.

We at NORLA are proud and delighted to present our selected titles of the spring:
24 wonderful books which are divided into fiction and non-fiction, for both adults, children and young adults.
See all the selected titles here

You can also watch the authors and illustrators present their books in short-film form.
The films are available here, on our YouTube channel

We celebrate the International Women’s Day by recommending three Norwegian books; a critically acclaimed and award-nominated novel, a new release and a handbook for the younger female readers.

Our translator of the month for March is Guy Puzey from Scotland. Guy works in Scandinavian Studies at the University of Edinburgh, where he is also currently Head of the Department of European Languages and Cultures. He has translated work by a wide range of authors, especially from Nynorsk, the lesser-used of the two official written standards of Norwegian. He was shortlisted for the 2015 Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation for Waffle Hearts (published in North America as Adventures with Waffles), his translation of Maria Parr’s Vaffelhjarte.

NORLA is proud to announce that Kjersti Anfinnsen and her novel Moments for Eternity (original title: Øyeblikk for evigheten, 2021, published by Kolon forlag, foreign rights by Gyldendal Agency) is the Norwegian nominee for the European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL) 2022.
The winner will be announced in April during the Paris Book Fair.

Read more about the prize and see the complete shortlist here