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Sofie Maertens is a Belgian translator of approximately thirty Norwegian books spanning a range of genres into her native Dutch. She lives in Ename, a village in the Flemish Ardennes. Upon completion of her degree in translation studies in Ghent in 2003, where she specialised in German and Spanish, she and her partner and fellow student, Michiel Vanhee, moved to Germany. She enrolled at the University of Greifswald and began her studies in Norwegian and Polish Philology.

Sofie fell in love with Norway and the Norwegian language and culture following a summer spent working in Geiranger as a multilingual tour guide, and a few years later, she and her partner Michiel both moved to Lofoten in Northern Norway to work as tour guides. Following their time in Lofoten, they returned to Belgium and started a family, but the nostalgia they felt for Norway prompted them to choose Norwegian names for their children (Sindre and Lasse) and they started translating Norwegian novels into Dutch. Her partner Michiel became her husband Michiel, and eventually her partner in translation, too!

Norway is the guest country at the world’s largest children’s and young adult book fair

Norway was Guest of Honour at the Book Fair in Warsaw on 26 – 29 May 2022. The book fair took place at the Palace of Culture and is the most important book fair in Poland. According to estimates, the Fair was visited by approximately 90,000 people, a new record.

2024 was another successful and eventful year for Norwegian literature abroad. The German translator Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel was named the first recipient of the new Fosse Prize. At the book fair in Cairo, Norway, as Guest of Honour, was able to build a literary bridge to the Arab world. Preparations for the upcoming Guest of Honour appearances at the book fairs in Leipzig 2025 and Bologna 2026 also moved into detailed planning.

Each year, NORLA awards grants to support the translation of a wide range of Norwegian books into other languages. In 2024, a total of 529 grants were awarded for translations into 47 languages. NORLA received 546 applications in total, covering 445 works of fiction and 101 nonfiction titles. Of the 529 grants awarded, nearly a third were books for children and young adults ​— in total 147 publications.​​

NORLA launched its largest international initiative outside of Europe when Norway was the Guest of Honour at the Cairo International Book Fair in 2024, one of the world’s largest public book fairs, attracting nearly 5 million visitors.

From March 27 to 30, 2025, Norway was the Guest of Honour at Leipziger Buchmesse, the largest public book fair in Germany.
During the fair, around 50 Norwegian authors took the stage at Leipziger Messe and throughout the city of Leipzig, offering a diverse program with over 80 events. The program included literature for both adults and children, spanning all genres.

This week, the Norwegian Literature Festival kicks off in Lillehammer and true to tradition, the festival is also the perfect backdrop for the awarding of literary prizes: The Dobloug Prize, The Booksellers Association’s awards and scholarships, The Norwegian Youth Literature Award (“Uprisen”), and also The Norwegian Fiction Translator Fund Award.

At NORLA, we offer our warmest congratulations to all the winners!

We are happy to offer readable insightful interviews with the authors and illustrators of our 25 Selected Titles of the spring.
We invite you to get better aquainted with the books and the people who wrote and illustrated them!

Our translator of the month for April is Yu-jin Lee, who translates into Korean from Norwegian, Danish and Swedish. The Nordic fairy tales he read as a child have shaped who he is today. He studied Nordic languages at a university in Seoul, South Korea, then completed a master’s degree in literature at Stockholm University in Sweden. In 2025, he earned a PhD in Comparative Literature at Yonsei University in Seoul. Since 2007, he has translated approximately 80 books into Korean, by Nordic authors such as Hege Siri, Karl Ove Knausgård, Stian Hole, Astrid Lindgren, Tove Jansson, Stig Dagerman and Leif G. W. Persson. The inspiration for his work comes from his beloved cat, Blåhval (Blue Whale).

We at NORLA are proud and delighted to present our selected titles for the spring:

25 wonderful books which are divided into fiction and non-fiction, for both adults, children and young adults.
See all the Selected Titles here

From March 27 to 30, 2025, Norway will be the Guest of Honour at Leipziger Buchmesse, the largest public book fair in Germany.

Next year, Norway will be Guest of Honour at the Bologna Children´s Book Fair. NORLA has invited foreign publishers and editors of children and YA literature to apply for our fellowship program, which this year will take place in Oslo from June 10 -13, 2025.