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Wednesday, August 14th was a big day for Norwegian literature: ten Norwegian books were released during Shanghai International Literature Week. The books are being published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House.

“Over the past five years, Norwegian literature has experienced a huge increase in popularity in China. It’s mainly been literature for children and young adults – illustrated books in particular – and non-fiction for adults. It’s therefore especially gratifying that Shanghai Translation Publishing House’s efforts are now giving Chinese readers access to a wide selection of Norwegian novels in addition to an important non-fiction book,” says Margit Walsø, director of NORLA.

When the summer holidays approach it is always exciting to summarise the activities we at NORLA have carried out in our effort to open doors to Norwegian literature around the world. But this spring was turned upside-down due to the COVID-19 situation, and this meant that many of the meetings we had been looking forward to were cancelled. There were no physical book fairs in Leipzig, London or Bologna, and no international guests in Lillehammer for the Norwegian Festival of Literature.

Luckily, however, we have been able to meet digitally. Many organisers have turned things round by grasping the opportunities available within modern technology. The Norwegian Festival of Literature reinvented itself and, in collaboration with NRK, Norway’s public broadcaster, became the biggest digital festival in the Nordic region. By doing this they reached hundreds of thousands of people who would have been otherwise unable to participate. For the first time, NORLA arranged webinars for international publishers and translators who should have been our guests at this year’s festival in Lillehammer.

In September we have had visits from 20 German booksellers here in Oslo. During the visits representatives met with authors, illustrators and Norwegian bookstores, and were given an introduction to the Norwegian literary system, among other things. The program has shown the breadth of Norwegian literature and there was a great deal of engagement from the bookselleres during the visits. This is an important part of our strategic cooperation, which may be crucial for getting Norwegian books under Christmas trees in 2019.

Norway as Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2019 is the country’s largest overall cultural initiative abroad. The main goals set for the initiative by NORLA were achieved. The goals were to renew the foothold of Norwegian literature in Germany, to create new international interest in Norwegian literature, to showcase Norway as a modern cultural nation and to revitalize the relationship between Norway and Germany through cooperation on literary and cultural projects.

The Frankfurter Buchmesse is beyond doubt the world’s most important book fair when it comes to the sale of foreign rights and international dissemination of literature in all genres. The Norwegian guest of honour status was used as an arena for the presentation of a myriad of voices from Norway, as well as sparking the joy of reading and, not least, it served as a platform for promoting freedom of speech.

For everybody working at NORLA, sparking the joy of reading is a true privilege. And today we are happy to celebrate World Book Day by recommending books from our selected spring titles.

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:

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.

February 1 is the application deadline for translators of Norwegian literature regarding stays at NORLA’s Translators hotel spring 2019 (weeks 19-20, i.e. as of Monday May 6th through Sunday May 19th).
Please note that the offer is only available for translators who translate directly from Norwegian.

The application deadline is 1 March.
Read more here (in Norwegian only).

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.

In connection with Norway being Guest of Honour at the Frankfurter Buchmesse in 2019, NORLA and Grafill collaborated on a touring exhibition with Norwegian book illustrations. As a finale, the exhibition is now coming to Norway, and Grafill’s premises in Oslo and will be on display January 9 – February 2.
The exhibition "Georg Grosz meets Mulysses on Slush Mountain. Modern illustration from Norway” includes work by eleven Norwegian illustrators, selected from a variety of new Norwegian picture books for both children and adults, all of which can be found in books that are translated and available in German.

During 2019, the exhibition has been shown in a number of cities in Germany and Switzerland: Berlin (2 times), Bremen, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Zofingen and Wohlen.

We are happy to share some key figures from Norway as a Guest of Honour at this year’s Frankfurter Buchmesse. NORLA’s Guest of Honour project report will be presented in the first quarter of 2020:

A great year for Norwegian literature exports is now behind us. Norway has been the Guest of Honour at the world’s most important book fair and this huge endeavour, which NORLA has worked on for more than six years, has been a success; never has a Guest of Honour drawn so much media attention in the German-speaking countries and sales figures are record high. The literary program at the book fair engaged the public and the cultural program attracted attention all over Germany.
You can find out more about these figures here.

At the Frankfurt Book Fair, NORLA’s translator award was today awarded for the 14th time. And it was handed out by the Norwegian Minister of Culture, Trine Skei Grande.
Read the minister’s speech:

The government’s proposed 2020 budget mentions NORLA and the Norwegian Guest of Honour project at Frankfurter Buchmesse: “The project has led to record-high demand for Norwegian literature abroad. Based on this, and as part of the government’s focus on profiling and exporting Norwegian art and culture abroad, an increase of four million kroner to NORLA’s regular subsidy is proposed.”

400 publications from and about Norway in German in 2018/2019!

Norway’s status as Guest of Honor country at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year has led to a record interest in literature from and about Norway in German-speaking countries. From September 2018 to December 2019, German-language publishers will have released 400 titles from and about Norway. The translators are making a formidable effort.

Norway is Guest of Honour at the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2019. We look immensely forward to let participants from all over the world experience the best of literature and culture from Norway! The Norwegian Guest of Honour project is Norway’s largest cultural export project ever.
The Guest of Honour project comprises hundreds of activities in the German speaking area throughout 2019, and culminates at the book fair in October 2019.

See the complete programme day by day here

*Download the program taking place in the Guest of Honour Pavilion at Frankfurter Buchmesse, both for the Main stage and Stage 2, as PDF here

*Search in the Frankfurter Buchmesse event calendar eller søk i Bokmessens arrangementkalender her

*Receive our daily book fair news by registering at Norway2019.com
(far right at the very bottom of the page)

At our website Norway2019.com you will find more information about the project, events and news.

In addition to being Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse, Norway was also the focus country at the European Film Market (EFM) at the Berlinalen in February; and in April Norway was the partner-country at the world’s largest jazz trade-fair jazzahead! in Bremen.