Søk etter “2019”

There was joy and enthusiasm all around in the National Theatre in Oslo on 12 May 2016, as the agreement between the Frankfurter Buchmesse and NORLA, Norwegian Literature Abroad, was signed and officially confirming Norway as Guest of Honour at the book fair in 2019.
NORLA’s director Margit Walsø welcomed an enthusiastic audience and revealed that NORLA has been working towards the realization of the Guest of Honour project for about three years.
The Norwegian Minister of Culture, Linda Hofstad Helleland, held an enthusiastic speech welcoming this unique opportunity for Norwegian literature and culture to make an even bigger impression abroad. She also encouraged more privat sponsors to seize the opportunity to come aboard, to make the most of the project’s fantastic possibilities of Norwegian branding abroad.

The most important news item of the spring for Norwegian cultural life was that Norway was named Guest of Honour for the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2019. In the speech given by the Minister of Culture in conjunction with the signing of the agreement, she emphasized that Norway has hereby acquired a unique position for the internationalization of Norwegian literature and culture through the book fair’s strong position in the important German market and worldwide. The Guest of Honour project provides great opportunities for Norwegian authors and for increasing the export of literature in the coming years. The book trade’s combined investment will be crucial and Norwegian Book Day in June clearly demonstrated that the industry is prepared to make the most of this opportunity. Activities commence now. NORLA’s talent development programme for new literary voices within all genres will start up in the autumn, in collaboration with Talent Norway and the Norwegian Publishers Association.

Read more about Norway as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2019 here.

The planning of Norway Guest of Honour Frankfurt 2019 is well under way.

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the world’s largest book fair and this year all the Norwegian participants were gathered at a large joint stand, in a reinforced collaboration between the Norwegian Publishers Association, Norwegian agents, NORLA and Norwegian publishers. The stand was a hub of extensive activity and vibrant energy, and it was of course also decorated with many good, beautiful books in all genres.
All seven of NORLA’s staff members took part in the book fair this year for the very first time! This was also NORLA’s 25th anniversary in Frankfurt, an event that was commemorated by a friendly gesture of appreciation from the book fair in the form of a delicious cake delivered to the stand.

During the presentation of the culture report “The Power of Culture,” Trine Skei Grande asserted that cultural policy is freedom of expression’s policy. We at NORLA could not agree more.

The first group of participants chosen for NORLA’s development programme for new literary talents – “New Voices” – has been decided. The four names are:
Simen Ekern, Sigbjørn Mostue, Roskva Koritzinsky and Nils Henrik Smith.

NORLA, Norwegian Literature Abroad, is starting to implement the project team for the Norwegian Guest of Honour-presentation in 2019.

2016 has been a very good year for Norwegian literature abroad.

NORLA, Norwegian literature abroad, provides funding for the translation of Norwegian titles to be published abroad. The total amount of translation subsidies awarded in 2016 has once again beaten all previous records and among other developments, we can see a clear expansion within the English language market.
NORLA received last year all of 518 applications for translation subsidies, the largest number of applications in our history. Out of these applications, NORLA​’​s committees of experts awarded subsidies for 499 publications of Norwegian books in translation into 46 different languages.​​

NORLA​’​s Director Margit Wals​ø comments on the figures as follows:
«​Norwegian authors are more attractive in the world market than ever before and are reaching readers in every part of the world. We now have a unique opportunity to capitalize on the Frankfurt Book Fair​’​s global scope of impact, in that Norway has been named Guest of Honour for 2019. NORLA is looking forward to the collaboration with translators, the culture sector and the book trade at home and abroad.​»​​

The increasing salience of Norwegian literature internationally of recent years continues and the focus on Norway at the Book Fair in Frankfurt 2019 provides the opportunity to further this success. NORLA will carry out this huge undertaking for Norway and collaborate with authors, publishers, agents, translators and culture institutions in Germany and Norway on the creation of an attractive and innovative culture programme that will involve all art disciplines and present an abundance of contemporary literature in all genres.

Halldór Gudmundsson assumed the position of project manager for the Norwegian Guest of Honour project on 01 March. Senior Advisor at NORLA, Andrine Pollen, will join the project team as literature coordinator. Joining them is Marit Ingvill Sande, who will function as coordinator for the culture programme in the coming year. The Norwegian project team will be supplemented by a PR executive and a coordinator who will succeed Marit Ingvill Sande starting in 2018. These positions will be announced at a later date. The project team for Frankfurt 2019 is a part of NORLA, and the project manager will report to NORLA’s director.

Their Majesties The King and Queen host the state visit from the President of Iceland, His Excellency Mr Guðni Th. Jóhannesson and Ms Eliza Reid, 21- 23 March. As part of the programme we had the honour of receiving them all, and Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mette-Marit, in our offices.

Norwegian and international publishers, agents, translators and authors gathered at the annual seminar in Lillehammer.

Between 30 May and 4 June, Norway’s biggest literature festival took place in Lillehammer. During the festival, NORLA arranged a seminar for German translators of children’s and YA literature. In collaboration with the Norwegian Publishers Association and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NORLA also invited 18 international children’s book publishers to Oslo and Lillehammer. This is the first time the annual publishers seminar has been entirely devoted to children’s and YA literature.

Germany, in other words! Leipziger Buchmesse takes place in an exhibition hall located 20 minutes from the city centre by S-Bahn but can nonetheless boast of attracting 285,000 visitors to a city with a mere 500,000 residents. How do they achieve this?

The Norwegian Guest of Honour project for the book fair in Frankfurt will, in addition to literature, include an extensive cultural framework programme, where the Guest of Honour nation will present a panorama of its life of arts and culture throughout the entire city of Frankfurt during the autumn when the book fair takes place.

Frankfurt has many good museums and culture institutions that can choose to take part in this, should they find that the Guest of Honour has exciting things to offer.

Such a culture programme must, in the same manner as the publication of a book, be prepared well in advance. And as a first step, Project Manager Halldór Guðmundsson and Culture Coordinator Marit Ingvill Sande visited Frankfurt in the end of March and were received with open arms and great interest.

In the end of April, NORLA invited stakeholders to take part in a planning and input conference for Norway as Guest of Honour nation in Frankfurt 2019. We are pleased that 250 participants from the literature trade and cultural life took part in sounding the starting shot for the project – which will be the largest ever Norwegian cultural initiative abroad.

Norway will be Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2019.

Programme for NORLA’s Planning and Input Conference, Wednesday 26 April 2017
Sentralen (Marmorsalen), Øvre Slottsgt. 3, Oslo

PROGRAMME

We currently have positions available on the project team for Norway as Guest of Honour country at the 2019 Frankfurt Book Fair. We are looking for a head of PR and a project assistant for this unique international cultural initiative.
Applications close on 1 June.

More information in Norwegian available here.

Read all about the Norwegian Guest of Honour-project here.

Twelve international publishers from Germany, the United Kingdom and USA visited Oslo May 2 ​– 5.
It was a true pleasure to welcome our guests to Norway, and to show them some of the best literary voices Norway has to offer!​​

All of four editors of Karl Ove Knausg​å​rd​’​s books were invited to attend the opening of the Munch exhibition «​Towards the Forest​» (​«​Mot skogen​»​​) which is curated by Knausg​å​rd.
The guests also visited Norwegian publishing houses and literary institutions. In addition to meeting with Norwegian authors, they also met editors and literary agents for a full three days.​​

This past spring has been perhaps the most labour-intensive in NORLA’s history. A great deal has happened – particularly when it comes to Norway’s role as guest of honour at Frankfurt 2019:

The Frankfurt team was set up on 1 March, with a project manager, a coordinator for the literary programme and a coordinator for the cultural programme. And the first thing they focused on was presenting a broad range of Norwegian literature for translation to relevant publishers, and setting in motion potential collaborative projects for the cultural programme.