Åsne Seierstad’s book on the terrorist attack in Norway on the 22nd of July 2011, One of Us (En av oss), gets rave reviews in the UK’s most prestigious papers.

“Un libro per l’ambiente” («A Book for the Environment) is awarded to a publication of high literary quality, with an environmental theme. The prize is established by the Italian Association for Nature, with the intention of enhancing reading among elementary school pupils.
Publishers, schools and libraries nominate candidates for the prize. 80 books were nominated, and a group of experts has now chosen Waffle Hearts as one of six finalists.

Jo Nesbø was recently chosen as the best foreign author in the 2014 "Reading St. Petersburg” competition, for his crime novel Police (original title: Politi), translated into Russian by Ekaterina Lavrinaitis. The winner was chosen by the readers themselves, who throughout the last year have voted for authors from 17 countries.

At NORLA we are pleased about the great interest also this year in our offer for translators who translate directly from Norwegian: the opportunity to apply for two-week stays in Oslo at Hotell Bondeheimen.

There were many good applications also in this round, and we have found ourselves obliged to give priority to applicants who are at work on translation projects this spring which entail a particular need on the part of the translator to be in Norway.

Six out of a total of 31 applicants have received an offer of a stay at the Bondeheimen starting 27 April – and the translators have also been offered work stations at NORLA’s office premises.

NORLA annually hands out an award to a translator of Norwegian literature. In 2015, the award will be given to a talented young translator of fiction as an encouragement towards continued efforts.

NORLA offers its warmest congratulations to translator Olga Drobot on her receiving the The Russian Translator’s Society prize for the best translation in 2014. The prize was awarded in December, and Olga Drobot was chosen as the winner in category for prose, for her translation of Rune Belsvik’s Dustefjerten. The book about Dustefjerten, who is named “Prostodursen” in Russian, is published by Samokat Publishing House, through translation subsidies from NORLA.

In January crime fiction specialist Nils Nordberg, author Trude Teige and Oliver Møystad from NORLA all visited India, first to attend the Crime Writers’ Festival in New Delhi, and subsequently the famous Jaipur Literary Festival.

It was the first time a crime fiction festival was arranged in India and it was an unmitigated success! A large and diverse public of active and eager participants attended the different sessions and it was of interest to note that people were particularly interested in how the crime fiction genre can be used to shed light on current social issues. Both Nils Nordberg’s introduction to Nordic crime and Trude Teige’s participation in a panel on sexualised violence were well-received.

NORLA’s pilot schemed for production subsidies for Norwegian picture books and illustrated non-fiction has been extended to the end of 2015.

A unique seminar called ViceVersa will take place in Berlin at the end of January, where a group of translators working from Norwegian to German will meet with a group working from German to Norwegian in a whole week of in-depth translation work!

The longlists for the Norwegian Book-bloggers’ prize 2015 were announced on the 12th of January. The shortlists, made up by three titles in each category, will be presented on the 26th of January. The winners will be announced during the yearly book-blogger’s meeting in September. The nominees and winners are chosen by Norwegian book-bloggers. The main purpose with the award is to shed light on Norwegian literature, and create more interest in Norwegian literature among the book-bloggers.