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This year’s figures from NORLA are clear – 2017 was another record year for Norwegian literature abroad. Never before has NORLA provided support for so many translations of Norwegian authors.

In 2017, NORLA granted support for the translation of 538 books by Norwegian authors, into 44 languages. That makes 2017 the best year ever for Norwegian literature in translation.
– 2017 remains a record year for Norwegian literature abroad. Never before have so many titles been granted translation support from NORLA, says Margit Walsø, NORLA’s director.

In 2019 Norway will be Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The project involves hundreds of literary and cultural programs in Germany throughout 2019 and culminates at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2019. NORLA and the Frankfurt team, together with a number of partners, will be using 2018 to ensure that Norway makes the most of our Guest of Honour year!

The website Books from Norway provides foreign publishers and journalists information, in English, about Norwegian literature as well as an overview of Norwegian translators. NORLA and our partners recently celebrated that the website, at the end of 2017, consisted of over 1000 titles and 150 translator profiles.

Last week, the international book industry was gathered in Leipzig – and the Norwegian presence was the largest ever! 13 Norwegian authors met their readers at dozens of events, NORLA hosted a translation seminar, and the starting gun was fired for our German bookstore strategy in the build up to Norway as Guest Of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2019.

Below is a selection of photos from some of the many highlights at this year’s book fair in Leipzig. We look forward to more!

Read more (in German) in Börsenblatt.

Innovation Norway is launching a new export program in cooperation with NORLA, which will assist literary agents in selling more Norwegian literature abroad.

As part of the government’s commitment to the cultural and creative industries, Innovation Norway has been commissioned to implement an export program for Norwegian literary agents in cooperation with NORLA. Literature Go Global (Litteratur ut i verden) will contribute to strengthening Norwegian literature’s competitiveness in international markets; building solid agencies that can represent Norwegian authors internationally; and make use of the 2019 Frankfurt Book Fair, as a strategic arena for selling Norwegian literature.

April has been an eventful month. Some of the highlights were the visit from the Frankfurt Book Fair, the press conference where the project’s new partners were presented and the jury meetings for evaluating the incoming design proposals for the Guest of Honour Pavilion. May will include visits from publishers and a press trip in connection with the Norwegian Festival of Literature in Lillehammer and further development of the literary program.

The last six months have been filled with activities in connection with the Frankfurt project and NORLA’s core efforts. Publisher and translator seminars, expert visits from curators, and press tours are just some of the things that have taken place over the last few months. We’re looking forward to the autumn! The highlight will be when Norway receives the Guest Scroll from Georgia during the book fair in Frankfurt in October. This will mark the official start of our year as Guest of Honour!

The Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2019 presented its extensive cultural programme, the concept for the Guest of Honour Pavilion and the list of authors who will attend the fair. Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess Mette-Marit will travel across Germany on a literary train tour in collaboration with Deutsche Bahn AG. Erika Fatland and Karl Ove Knausgård will speak at the fair’s opening ceremony.

Norway is Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2019. Bringing forth new literary voices internationally is an important goal of the initiative. NORLA has entered into the development program, New Voices, in collaboration with Talent Norway and the Norwegian Publishers’ Association. The program will create a space for highlighting areas of the rich literary underground.

In our announcement text to Norwegian publishing editors you will find all the details about the New Voices program.

Group 4 of New Voices consists of the following authors:

From May 28th – June 3rd, the Nordic region’s largest literary festival took place in Lillehammer. During the festival, NORLA arranged a seminar for translators who work with translating fiction from Norwegian into English, French, Dutch and Polish. NORLA also invited several international publishers and scouts to Oslo and Lillehammer (in cooperation with the Publishers’ Association and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Participants came from Great Britain, the United States, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
A group of German journalists and influencers also visited Norway in connection with the festival.

In 2019, Norway will be the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair. As Guest of Honour, Norway will have a 2300 m2 indoor pavilion. In January, NORLA, in collaboration with The Norwegian Centre for Design and Architecture (DOGA) and The Norwegian Architectural Association (NAL), announced an open plan and design contest for the design of the pavilion. 66 applications were approved for further judgment. The results of the competition have now been released.

We look forward to the many activities coming up this autumn!
First, the book fair in Beijing was held last week, where NORLA participated for the ninth consecutive year.
We also attended the Haugesund Film Festival, where we participated in the seminar Books from Haugesund for the second year in a row.
This week the fourth batch of writers began our author program New Voices. The five participants will attend events all around Europe throughout autumn – some will also visit Japan.

Would you like to work with literature and be part of Norway’s largest cultural export project ever? Are you well organized and fond of writing?

As an intern at NORLA you will get a foot in the door in the Norwegian literary sphere and useful experience in project management as well as communication and PR. The position is suitable for a student or graduate who is fluent in German and English and is looking to obtain experience.
Working hours are flexible within 3 days a week for a limited period of time during autumn 2018. The place of work is Oslo.

What a wonderful week!

We are looking back on days filled with exciting meetings and events at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2018. After Sunday’s Handover Ceremony, Norway officially is Guest of Honour.
See pictures below for highlights of our week and interesting people we met.

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.

See our pictures that prove it here!

Here you will find details on a l l of our upcoming events.

Our translator of the month for October is Frank Zuber from Germany, who is a highly engaged ambassador for Norwegian literature in Germany, in several genres.

During the Frankfurt Book Fair, Frank was awarded NORLA’s Translator ’s Award for 2018 by Norway’s Culture Minister, Trine Skei Grande. He has received the award for his efforts in translating Norwegian non-fiction.
(More about the award here).

Read more about Frank here.

December’s translator of the month is Martin Aitken, from England. His very first literary translation from the Norwegian was “My Struggle” by Karl Ove Knausgård, together with Don Bartlett!
Martin was recently shortlisted for the coveted National Book Awards in the US for his translation of Hanne Ørstavik’s novel Love. And now they are long-listed in the PEN America Literary Awards 2019 for best translation!
His most recent translation is the children’s book Estragon’s Stories. The Rat Catcher of Sorø, written by Gaute Heivoll and illustrated by John Kenn Mortensen, which he has translated into Danish(!). Martin has also translated an impressive number of Danish novelists.

The most important year for Norwegian literature abroad is approaching fast. We look back upon a year of preparations, new friends and experiences. 2018 has been a fantastic prelude to 2019!