September is World Kid Lit Month, an initiative focusing on disseminating literature for young readers written in languages other than English, and books that are available in English translation.

In Norway, we are very proud of our brave literature for children and young adults, and many titles are available in English translation. And we are of course happy to present a small selection.

September’s Translator of the Month is Anja Majnaric. She translates fiction from Norwegian and English to Croatian. Anja has translated many of Karl Ove Knausgård’s books (My Struggle 1-6, Spring and Summer), Jens Bjørneboe’s History of Bestiality Trilogy and The Sharks, and many other authors such as Maja Lunde, Vigdis Hjorth, Geir Gulliksen and currently Johan Harstad, plus also some crime fiction. She has recently set up a publishing house, together with two friends: Woodencloak Books. Anja lives in Zagreb with two cats and she is a night owl.

Do you work with creating, developing, disseminating, or selling Norwegian art and cultural products internationally? Now you can apply to participate in a new cross-cultural competence program under the direction of Norwegian Arts Abroad.

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.

Women in Translation, or WIT, is a global collaborative project held every August, to help promote women writers from around the world who write in languages other than English. Here at NORLA we are pleased to share our own contribution to WITMonth with you.

August’s Translator of the Month is Karolina Drozdowska from Poland. She works mainly with fiction and her translation of Nina Lykke’s novel Natural Causes (original title “Full spredning”) has just been published in Poland by the publisher Pauza. In addition to being a translator, Karolina is an assistant professor at the Institute of Scandinavian and Finnish Studies at the University of Gdansk and she is also secretary of the board at the Polish Literary Translators’ Association (Stowarzyszenie Tłumaczy Literatury).
In 2013, Karolina won NORLA’s causerie (kåseri) competition with her text about series of commercial fiction, Jens Bjørneboe and leading a double life. She has translated more than 90 books.

Summer is approaching and there is optimism in the air. We are all motivated by the prospect of brighter times and a more predictable autumn ahead.

Throughout the pandemic, NORLA has maintained a high level of digital travelling. This spring we built on the experience gained from the numerous webinars we held for industry contacts last year. These webinars allow foreign publishers and editors to meet Norwegian agents. They are also shown NORLA’s films presenting this spring’s selected titles in which the authors themselves talk about their books. Most of the webinars are arranged in close collaboration with Norwegian embassies and consulates, and some are also in collaboration with key translators. This fruitful collaboration is something we are very grateful for.

June and July’s translator of the month is Rosie Hedger, who translates from Norwegian into English. Rosie Hedger was born in Scotland and completed her MA (Hons) in Scandinavian Studies at the University of Edinburgh, as part of which she spent a year at the University of Oslo taking courses in Norwegian literature and researching for her dissertation on contemporary Norwegian fiction. Since completing her studies, Rosie has lived in Sweden and Denmark, and she is now based in the north of England. Her translation of Gine Cornelia Pedersen’s Zero was shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize in 2019, and her translation of Agnes Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal won an English PEN Translates Award in 2016. Her translations of Marie Aubert’s Grown Ups and Helga Flatland’s One Last Time are both due out this summer.

The translator’s pastry shop will open on Wednesday 23 June, at 15 (Norwegian time) to translators from Norwegian. It will be an informal, hour-long meeting, held once a month on Zoom, where we will eat something nice together that each participant has baked for themselves.

June sees the celebration of Pride Month worldwide and today is the first day of Oslo Pride, which will take place both in the city and online. On Saturday June 26 there will be a digital parade as well as a boat parade on the Oslo fjord.
At NORLA, we are happy to join in the celebration by sharing a selection of LGBT+ themed books available for children and young adults. Below we have included titles updated from last year’s list made by IBBY Norway (International Board on Books for Young People).
HAPPY PRIDE!

This week The Norwegian Festival of Literature takes place in Lillehammer. And from May 25th to the 28th, NORLA arranged a number of webinars for our international contacts. We are proud to be the Norwegian Festival of Literature’s partner for this year’s innovation Lillehammer Rights.

This week, the Norwegian Literature Festival kicks off in Lillehammer and true to tradition, the festival is also the perfect backdrop for the awarding of literary prizes: The Dobloug Prize, The Booksellers Association’s awards and scholarships, The Norwegian Youth Literature Award (“Uprisen”), and also The Norwegian Fiction Translator Fund Award.

At NORLA, we offer our warmest congratulations to all the winners!