Søk etter “children's”

The translators are the most important stakeholders we have for bringing Norwegian literature to the world. Their work is of vital importance and to showcase this work in January 2015 we started the interview series «​Translator of the Month​»​​. Here we become better acquainted with translators from the Norwegian language and their challenging work, which introduces Norwegian literature to all the different languages of the world.​​

The translator of the month for June and July is Maike D​ö​rries, who translates into German. In June she took part in NORLA​’​s seminar for translators of literature for children and young people in Lillehammer, and is an extremely experienced translator, with more than 200 titles from Swedish, Danish and Norwegian to her name. In the interview she also mentions that she played a role in the creation of Endre Lund Eriksen​’​s popular novel for young people Den sommeren pappa ble homo (​“​That Summer my Dad was Gay​”​).​​

NORLA set up its New Voices programme to help new Norwegian authors reach the international market. The first round is now complete and the first group consisted of Simen Ekern, Roskva Koritzinsky, Nils Henrik Smith and Sigbjørn Mostue.

This past spring has been perhaps the most labour-intensive in NORLA’s history. A great deal has happened – particularly when it comes to Norway’s role as guest of honour at Frankfurt 2019:

The Frankfurt team was set up on 1 March, with a project manager, a coordinator for the literary programme and a coordinator for the cultural programme. And the first thing they focused on was presenting a broad range of Norwegian literature for translation to relevant publishers, and setting in motion potential collaborative projects for the cultural programme.

We are very much looking forward to a packed Autumn, the highlight being Frankfurter Buchmesse. From then on we will officially be Guest of Honour! We are also looking forward to visits in Norway from German booksellers; putting the final touches to our literature and cultural programs; and travelling far and wide to promote Norwegian literature and art as part of the Frankfurt project.

As of 30 June 2017, NORLA has received 248 Norwegian books that have been published in a total of 41 languages through NORLA’s (and in the Nordic region: The Nordic Council of Ministers’) translation subsidies.

There are 192 fiction publications and 56 non-fiction publications.
And a total of 63 are titles for children and young people.

See the list of the books below.

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.

The Chinese are crazy about Norwegian books. That is the impression we were left with after having visited the book fair in Beijing. Ever since 2010 NORLA has travelled to the book fair in Beijing, Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF), which takes place every year in the end of August. This year we were accompanied by four Norwegians: Even Råkil from Oslo Literary Agency, Hans Petter Bakketeig from Stilton Agency, Gina Winje from Winje Agency and Svein Størksen, Magikon Forlag. At the fair energetic work was carried out to present Norwegian books and meet with Chinese publishers to promote the translation of more Norwegian titles into Chinese.

In conjunction with the celebration of the Feast of St. Jerome on 28 September in Oslo, NORLA’s Translator’s Award was conferred for the twelfth time.

The award is given annually to a translator of Norwegian literature and was established to spotlight the contribution made by foreign translators to Norwegian literature. The award shall go to a translation talent and is intended as measure to encourage the ongoing investment in Norwegian literature.

Week 37 was the week for Norwegian literary events in New York. On Thursday 14 October, Norwegian authors were introduced to American publishers in the residence of the Norwegian consulate general. There was standing room only when, one by one, Cecilie Enger, Nina Lykke and Vigdis Hjorth took the floor in front of a fantastic view of Manhattan and the East River.

January’s translator of the month is Norwegian-Arabic Sherin Abdel Wahab, who has recently translated Jon Fosse’s novel Morning and Evening, in collaboration with Amal Al Sadaany.

One important aim when Norway is guest country at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2019 will be the promotion and highlighting of Norwegian children’s and YA literature – which is among the best we have to offer!
NORLA has set up a brainstorming group to help us come up with great ideas about what we can and should do to make as much as possible out of the whole event; it will be holding its inaugural meeting today!

The participants are:
Kristin Jobraaten (Ena publishing), Taran L. Bjørnstad (NBU, Norwegian Writers For Children), Birgitte Eek (NBI, The Norwegian Institute for Children’s Books), Harald Rosenløw Eeg, Bjørn F. Rørvik and Stian Hole. Heading the group is NORLA’s Andrine Pollen, Coordinator Literary Programme Frankfurt 2019.

We are looking forward to cooperating with this great group and establishing wonderful ideas for the guest of honour program for children and young adults.

When you visit Frankfurt Book Fair for the first time, it’s handy to go along with colleagues who’ve already been there before. And it’s particularly handy to be there with colleagues who are very tall or who dash around in colourful, polka-dotted coats that make them easy to spot in a crowd. Because the site of the fair is just as enormous as everybody told you, it’s full to the brim with publishing people from all over the world – and the tempo is higher than you could ever have imagined.

The winners are:

NORLA offers its warmest congratulations to the eight Norwegian candidates for the 2015 Astrid Lindgren Memorial award, the world’s largest international children’s and young adult literature award.
The candidates were announced during the Frankfurt Book Fair. 197 candidates from 16 countries were nominated. Among these are eight Norwegian authors/illustrators:

Author Tor Åge Bringsværd
Author Gro Dahle and illustrator Svein Nyhus
Author Harald Rosenløw Eeg
Author Marit Kaldhol
Illustrator Gry Moursund
Author and illustrator Lisa Aisato N’jie Solberg
Illustrator Øyvind Torseter

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

On September 27th, during the celebration of the Patron Saint of Translators, St. Jerome, NORLA announced the recipient of its Translator’s Award 2012.

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.

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).

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’s pilot schemed for production subsidies for Norwegian picture books and illustrated non-fiction has been extended to the end of 2015.