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On 15 April, NORLA introduced a new, temporary guarantee scheme for translation support. There was a need to support writers, translators, publishers and literary agents during an uncertain phase of the corona pandemic.

September’s translator of the month is Jonas Rasmussen (b. 1975) from Sweden. Rasmussen – in addition to being a translator, primarily from Danish but also from Norwegian – is also an author himself. From Danish he has translated about twenty works in various genres with his main emphasis being poetry collections. But he has also translated novels, books for children and young adults and a biography. From Norwegian he has so far translated two books; Steffen Kverneland’s Munch (Placebo Press, 2015) and Mona Høvrings Because Venus Crossed an Alp Violet on the Day I Was Born (Lil´lit Förlag, 2020). Rasmussen has studied at Lund University’s Writers’ School and has a master’s degree in literary studies, as well as a master’s degree in library and information science. He lives in Lund and made his debut as a translator in 2007 and as a writer in 2008.

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.

The winners are:

Fiction
Rune Christiansen:
The Loneliness in Lydia Erneman’s Life
(Ensomheten i Lydia Ernemans liv, Oktober)

Non-fiction
Marte Michelet: The Ulitmate Crime
(Den største forbrytelsen, Gyldendal)

Open class: short stories and essays
Ingvild H. Rishøi: Winter Stories
(Vinternoveller, Gyldendal)

Books for children and young adults
Annette Münch: Badboy: Steroid
(Cappelen Damm)

Honorary award
Author Vigdis Hjort

Read more about the Brage Prize, and see previous winners, here.

This time of year we normally set off for Lillehammer to take part in the enjoyable spring adventure which is called the Norwegian festival of Literature. This year, however, the festival goes digital (May 29 – 31) and the events will therefore be available for everyone to enjoy, all around the world!

The corona pandemic has seriously affected the international book industry. Therefore, it is extra gratifying to see that the there is still a strong interest in Norwegian books and also sales of foreign rights. NORLA has obtained an overview of foreign rights to the Norwegian books sold by agents and publishers in Norway during April and May. There are 150 rights sold or renewed!

NORLA started in 2014 a pilot scheme for a translators hotel for translators of Norwegian literature. It was an unconditional success and therefore renewed also in 2015, with both a Spring and an Autumn season.

May’s Translator of the Month is Justė Nepaitė from Lithuania. She mainly translates fiction but also other genres, and her translation of Karl Ove Knausgård’s My Struggle 3 was released in January. Later this year, Jon Fosse’s Scenes from a Childhood / Morning and Evening will be available in her translation. Justė has also translated a number of Norwegian picture books for children, for use among Lithuanian children attending kindergartens in Norway.
In addition to being a translator, Juste has also been a tutor of Norwegian language and culture for a number of years.

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.