We look forward to all the meetings and experiences ahead!
There are many highlights ahead, both in Norway and abroad, in our Guest of Honour year at the Frankfurter Buchmesse.
Below we have listed some of the activites that will take place in the months to come.
Translator of the Month for March is Reiko Hidani who translates into Japanese. She’s in the news because her translation of Steffen Kverneland’s Munch has been nominated for Japan’s The Best Translation Award. She has also translated the recently published book What is Economy?, aimed at children and young people and written by Gunhild J. Ecklund.
Maria Parr’s children’s novel Adventures with Waffles (original title: Vaffelhjarte) was recently published in the USA, and is now receiving great reviews. The prestigious literary magazine Kirkus says that the novel is “Filled with both rollicking escapades and poignant moments” and that “Parr’s notable tale portrays a young boy’s heartfelt appreciation of family and friends”. Publishers Weekly states that it is a “heartfelt and humorous debut novel”. Adventures with Waffles was recently sold to Latvia, which is the 26th country to publish the book.
April’s translator of the month is Kateřina Krištůfková from the Czech Republic. She is the elected leader of the newly established association for translators of Nordic literature in the Czech Republic: Překladatelé Severu (Czech Translators of the North).
With more than 70 program posts we hope to engage and entertain the German and international audience at the main stage in Norway’s Guest of Honour Pavilion from 16 to 20 October 2019.
Maria Parr’s popular first novel Waffle Hearts is shortlisted for the 2015 Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation and NORLA offers its warmest congratulations to the book’s translator Guy Puzey and to Maria Parr!
The Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation seeks to address a situation in the UK in which less than 3% of work published for children and young people has been from the non-English speaking world.
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.
“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.
Translator of the Month for August is German translator Karoline Hippe, who works from Norwegian, Danish and English. Four of her translations from Norwegian are being published this year: children’s book NERD by Mina Lystad, non-fiction book Unongs by Pål Moddi Knutsen, Cappelens Forslag’s Conversation Lexicon (edited by Pil Cappelen Smith), and Lotta Elstad’s novel I Refuse to Think.
In addition to translating, Karoline has taught German as a foreign language and also has experience as a moderator.
NORLA is pleased to announce that 2011 saw a substantial increase in the number of applications for translation subsidies. We received a total of 398 applications, out of which 383 were granted support for the translation of Norwegian books into 42 different languages.
On 14–15 October Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess Mette-Marit will travel on the literary train from Berlin via Cologne to Frankfurter Buchmesse, accompanied by 19 authors. The literary train in Germany is a collaboration between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NORLA and Deutsche Bahn.
“The literary train in Germany is a unique opportunity to present literature from Norway to a large German-speaking audience. We are really looking forward to having 19 wonderful authors travel with the Crown Princess to Frankfurter Buchmesse,” says Margit Walsø, director of NORLA.
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 invite foreign publishers/editors, sub-agents and scouts to apply for participation in our seminar at the Norwegian Festival of Literature in Lillehammer, May 2020. This year, the focus will be on literature for children and young adults.
The fellowship program is organised by NORLA in collaboration with the Norwegian Publishers’ Association, and supported financially by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The fellowship program runs from 26 to 29 May 2020.
The application deadline is 31 January 2020.
Read more
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.
We at NORLA are proud and happy to present our selected titles for spring: 31 wonderful fiction and non-fiction books for both adults and children/young adults.
Find your favourites here
NORLA’s pilot schemed for production subsidies for Norwegian picture books and illustrated non-fiction has been extended to the end of 2015.
It is our pleasure to be able to share an interview with the children’s book author and illustrator Kari Stai, who recently visited India to attend the children’s book festival Bookaroo in New Delhi and present her books about Jakob and Neikob. The trip received funding from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ developing nations programme Land i Sør.
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.
On September 27th, during the celebration of the Patron Saint of Translators, St. Jerome, NORLA announced the recipient of its Translator’s Award 2012.
On the 25th of September, as part of the celebrations in Oslo marking the feast day of St Jerome, the patron saint of translators, NORLA announced the ninth winner of its Translator’s Award. This award was established in 2007 to draw attention to the efforts of translators in disseminating Norwegian literature abroad. The prize is awarded to an emerging talent in translation and is intended to act as an incentive for further contributions to the promotion of Norwegian literature.
The annual prize is awarded alternately to translators of non-fiction literature and translators of fiction. This year’s prize is awarded for non-fiction.
The winner of the 2014 NORLA Translator’s Award is Diane Oatley, who translates into English. Oatley was born and raised in the USA but has been resident in Norway since 1982