April’s Translator of the Month is Egle Isganaityte-Paulauskiene from Lithuania. She has translated a number of Norwegian books from different genres, mainly fiction including the authors Herbjørg Wassmo and Jostein Gaarder among others. Egle is a member of the Lithuanian Association of Translators of Fiction. In 2009, she received the Lithuanian P.E.N. and the Ministry of Culture award for best translation 2008 for Per Petterson’s Out Stealing Horses. In addition to translating, Egle works part-time lecturing Norwegian at the University of Vilnius. She has also been a contributor to the Norwegian-Lithuanian Dictionary project.

Today, the Norwegian Minister of Culture, Abid Raja, awarded the prestigious Ministry of Culture’s literary prizes for children and young adult literature published in 2019.
A total of NOK 360,000 were awarded in seven different categories for children’s and YA literature; Best Fiction Book, Best Picture Book, Best Non-fiction Book, First Book Award, Best graphic novel/Cartoon, The Illustration Award and The Translation Award.

These are strange times, and several of us are now living our lives mainly within our own four walls.
We at NORLA are happy to suggest some good reading material, this time with no less than 52 poems from Norway!

The “Poem of the Week” project was a popular part of Norway’s being Guest of Honour at last year’s Frankfurter Buchmesse.
We would like to once again send a big thank you to Tone Carlsen and Annette Vonberg, for the idea and the selection of poems.

Enjoy a poem or two, and please take care!

There are many cancelled book fairs, festivals and events, around the world, and more are expected.
NORLA has adjusted its payments practice as long as the situation requires it.
Therefore, travel support for authors and lecturers invited to events abroad which are cancelled as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, will not have to be repaid.

March’s Translator of the Month is the Norwegian-Scot Kari Dickson. She has been put forward by – and has received a question from – her translator colleague Anne Bruce. Kari translates fiction, crime, children and youth literature, drama and non-fiction. And her translations receive international attention:
The children’s book Brown (original title: Brune), by Håkon Øvreås and Øyvind Torseter, recently won the American Library Association’s Mildred L. Batchelder Award 2020. And in addition, her translation of the picture book Vanishing Colours is listed on USBBY’s list of Oustanding International Books 2020. The book is written by Constance Ørbeck-Nilssen and illustrated by Akin Duzakin.
Congratulations from us!

In addition to translating, Kari has extensive experience as a lecturer in Norwegian language, literature and translation at the University of Edinburgh. She has also led workshops in translation from Norwegian on many occasions, including at the Summer School of British Center for Literary Translation (BCLT), University of East Anglia in Norwich. We at NORLA are particularly grateful for Kari’s invaluable contribution to both the recruitment and the training of new, skilled translators through her work as a mentor.

We at NORLA are proud and happy to present our selected titles for spring: 31 wonderful fiction and non-fiction books for both adults and children/young adults.

Find your favourites here

Due to the corona virus pandemic, the Norwegian Festival of Literature in Lillehammer has made substantial changes to it’s original plans and programming.

One glimmer of light this spring is that with so many cancelled events organisers have had to think differently: There are of course many possibilities in this digital age!

Internationally, literature from Norway is in an incredibly strong position. 2019 was the year that Norway featured as Guest of Honour at the world’s most important book fair – Frankfurter Buchmesse – with the motto The Dream We Carry. NORLA planned and implemented this initiative on behalf of the government and the book industry.

Thanks to the Guest of Honour initiative, the number of books that were published in German reached a record high in 2019: 510 titles from or about Norway. One hundred authors from Norway came to the 2019 Frankfurt Book Fair, with 100,000 people visiting the pavilion. Almost two hundred authors participated in a program in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland in 2019, and a total of 1120 literary or cultural events were held in German-speaking regions. Norway set a record for media attention as guest country, being mentioned 14,997 times throughout the autumn of 2019.

“Thanks to all the publications in German during its year as Guest of Honour, Norwegian literature has a bigger window on other languages too. With targeted efforts in the future towards other markets, we will be able to see the long-term ripple effects of the work behind the guest-country initiative,” says Margit Walsø, director of NORLA.

POSTPONED: Due to the latest developments concerning the coronavirus and new guidelines from the Institute of Public Health, the conference marking the end of the Literature Go Global program is postponed.
This is seen as a necessary measure to limit the risk of spreading the corona virus. At the same time we are doing our best to set an alternative date for the conference.

According to German sales figures six books from Norway made it to the bestseller lists for 2019, the year Norway was Guest of Honour at the world’s most important book fair; Frankfurter Buchmesse:

February’s Translator of the Month is Anne Bruce from Scotland. She has been put forward by – and has received a question from – her Mexican translator colleague Juan Gutiérrez-Maupomé. Now the translators featured in NORLA’s series are passing the baton from one to the other.

Anne translates fiction and has admirable experience with crime novels. In 2019 her translation of Jørn Lier Horst’s The Katharine Code was awarded the coveted British prize The Petrona Award for best translated Scandinavian crime novel published in 2019.

Learn more about Anne and the books she has translated here.

Those of you who understand Norwegian can read her Translator of the Month interview here.