February’s Translators of the Month are Lucy Pijttersen and Kim Snoeijing from The Netherlands.
After leaving school, Kim worked at a law firm for several years before going on to study Norwegian language and literature in Groningen at the age of 27. While at university, she also worked at the Netherlands-based ‘Arctic Centre’ for three years which, back in the ‘80s, focused heavily on Svalbard and the country’s whaling history. It would be another 10 years before she started translating full-time. She primarily translates from Norwegian, but she has translated a number of Danish and Swedish books too. She also works as a proof-reader, which she will continue doing now that she no longer works in translation: she has just retired and is looking forward to enjoying a bit more time off!
Lucy began studying Norwegian language and literature in Groningen after leaving school – mainly out of pure curiosity and a bit coaxing by Amy van Marken, legendary professor of Scandinavian languages and literature at the University of Groningen.

Every day on Instagram – and recently also on Facebook – we in NORLA share great translations of Norwegian books, as stories.
We are happy to show these books – our Cover of the Day – to our followers. And we are pleased that they reach a wide audience: During 2021, our Cover of the Day-stories had more than 81 000 views, that is an average of 240 per book!

Did you know that since 2004, NORLA has contributed to the translation of more than 7,000 Norwegian books into no less than 70 languages?

January’s Translator of the Month is Deniz Canefe Sahin, who translates both fiction and non-fiction from Norwegian and English to Turkish. She has studied at Hacettepe Universitesi in Ankara and at the University of Oslo. And Deniz has translated more than 40 Norwegian titles by authors like Jon Fosse, Dag Solstad, Tarjei Vesaas, Ola Bauer, Per Petterson, Ingvar Ambjørnsen (the Pelle and Proffen series for young adults and the Samson & Roberto series for children), Eugene Schoulgin, Thorvald Steen and Roy Jacobsen. This year, she will translate Armand V by Dag Solstad and The Eyes of Rigel by Roy Jacobsen. She will also translate Henrik Ibsen’s collected works in cooperation with Haydar Sahin.
Deniz enjoys working with books that are written with a sense of humour and that illuminate the world from different perspectives. She lives in Oslo.

Like last year the book industry’s activities in 2021 were affected by a limited number of physical meeting places for book fairs and festivals. So the physical activities that did take place – such as our participation at the Frankfurter Buchmesse, the event in Brno celebrating 100 Norwegian books published in Czech, the translators’ meeting in London, the Non/Fiction book fair in Moscow and two literature events in New York – became all the more important. At the same time, there has been a good response to the digital services we offer, such as our webinars for agents, editors and translators, which are arranged in close collaboration with the Norwegian embassies and consulates.

In connection with H.R.H. Crown Prince Haakon Magnus’ official visit to the USA from 5.-8. December, NORLA, along with Norway’s Consulate General in New York and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organised two literary events in New York. The delegation consisted of three authors and eight literary agents, whose presence, along with NORLA, breathed life into our important American trade relationships.

Dilek Basak Carelius is a translator of both non-fiction and fiction from Norwegian to Turkish. She has translated books by Erlend Loe, Vigdis Hjorth and Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, among others. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in English language and literature from Bosphorous University and a Master’s degree in theatre studies from the University of Oslo. Dilek lives in Oslo and her translation of Linn Ullmann’s Unquiet is just about to be published.

Instead of buying something, we encourage everyone to find a black book at home and enjoy it!
Here, our skilled intern Ieva has here collected books that have been translated from Norwegian to Baltic languages through grants from NORLA.
You can see several other black books, which have been translated into lots of different languages, on our Flickr profile.

Take a closer look at some great black books here

Norwegian Arts Abroad (NAA) are helping to promote the Norwegian arts internationally with a new interdisciplinary competence program. On Thursday evening, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anniken Huitfeldt, launched the program and its seven teams of participants at a reception in the State Representation House.

Are you a publisher, editor, sub-agent or scout who is interested in publishing and working with Norwegian literature?
Then you should set the dates May 31 – June 2, 2022!

NORLA’s subsidy scheme for export and market initiatives will boost demand, exports, and market development for Norwegian books and authors abroad, The scheme supports the development of good marketing ideas and initiatives for titles which have a strong potential, which contribute to new initiatives or put wind in the sails of ongoing projects with international partners. There are many initiatives being planned.