Lillehammer goes digital
Due to the corona virus pandemic, the Norwegian Festival of Literature in Lillehammer has made substantial changes to it’s original plans and programming.

Due to the corona virus pandemic, the Norwegian Festival of Literature in Lillehammer has made substantial changes to it’s original plans and programming.

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

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 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

As of 31 August 2015, NORLA has received 251 Norwegian books that have been published in a total of 45 languages through NORLA’s (and in the Nordic region: The Nordic Council of Ministers’) translation subsidies.

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.

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.

Norwegian literature abroad is growing. In 2018, NORLA granted support for the translation of 639 books by Norwegian authors, into 45 languages. Making 2018 the best year there has ever been for Norwegian literature in translation.
– Never, in NORLA’s 40-year history, have so many titles been granted translation support, says Margit Walsø, NORLA’s director.

Today, the Norwegian Minister of Culture, Trine Skei Grande, awarded the prestigious 2018 Ministry of Culture’s literary prizes for children and young adult literature published in 2018.
A total of NOK 415,000 were awarded in eight different categories for children’s and YA literature; Best Fiction Book, Best Picture Book, Best Non-fiction Book, First Book Award, Best graphic novel/Cartoon, The Illustration Award, The Translation Award and The Special Award.
Earlier this week German translator Hinrich Scmidt-Henkel was awarded the Eugen Helmlé Award in Sulzbach in Saarland and NORLA congratulates him warmly!

Author and illustrator Kristin Roskifte took part in the children’s literature festival Bookaroo, in New Delhi, December 1st and 2nd, 2018.
We have been fortunate enough to get a postcard from her. Read it here:

2019 is Norway’s year as Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse, and the first event in this Guest of Honour year will be the touring exhibition "Georg Grosz meets Mulysses on Slush Mountain. Modern illustration from Norway.” The exhibition will open at Felleshuset, at the Norwegian Embassy in Berlin, on January 23rd.

The winners are: