Søk etter “2019”

We thank NORLA’s chairman of the board Aslak Sira Myhre, director of the National Library, for his four years of effort. We are particularly grateful for the formidable contribution he made during NORLA’s planning, implementation and the follow-up work for Norway as Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2019.

At the same time, we welcome our new chairman of the board, Arne Vestbø, secretary general of the Norwegian Non-Fiction Writers and Translators Association, NFFO.

At NORLA we are happy to be starting the new year as a strengthened and pro-active organisation – and a new visual identity. NORLA and NODE have worked together to develop an identity that will make NORLA more visible.

“Art in numbers 2019” is an annual report about the income of Norway’s arts industry within literature, music, visual arts and performing arts. The report is prepared by Rambøll Management Consulting for Arts Council Norway.

The report for 2019 shows an increase in the sales of foreign rights to Norwegian books: real income from the sales of rights, co-production and royalties from abroad has increased by 11.2 percent annually since 2013. Norwegian agents and publishers reported 1,082 new contracts in 2019. From 2019, the income for Norwegian authors via foreign agencies is also included in the figures. The foreign agents reported 69 contracts with Norwegian authors in 2019.

On behalf of the Ministry of Culture, Economics Norway has carried out an external evaluation of the Guest of Honour project. The evaluation has been based primarily on whether the goals for the initiative Norway as Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2019 were achieved. The report is now ready and has concluded that the Guest of Honour project was successful.

Naturally, this year’s autumn book season will be an exceptional one, with almost no authors making physical trips abroad. Nevertheless, many of them will be attending festivals and events around the world, digitally. And that means that more people will be able to see them!

The winners are:

November’s translator of the month is Siân Mackie, who translates into English. She was born in Scotland and now lives on the south coast of England. She has an MA in Scandinavian Studies and an MSc in Literary Translation as a Creative Practice from the University of Edinburgh. Siân has translated a wide range of titles from all three Scandinavian languages; from young adult and children’s literature to thrillers and non-fiction.
Siân was selected for the National Centre for Writing Emerging Translator Mentorship in 2014, through which she was mentored by Don Bartlett. She also has experience of translating theatre, having participated in theatre company Foreign Affairs’ mentoring programme for translators and the Royal Court International Residency for Emerging Playwrights.
In 2019, her translation from Danish of Bjarne Reuter’s Elise and the Second-hand Dog was nominated for the prestigious CILIP Carnegie Medal, which is awarded by children’s librarians. More recently, her translation of A Postcard to Ollis, written by Ingunn Thon and illustrated by Nora Brech, was the only book in translation to be nominated for the same prize for 2021. Congratulations from all of us at NORLA! (Read more).

NORLA has formed an agreement with Talent Norway (Talent Norge) on a recruitment programme for Norwegian authors. The programme will be a part of Norway’s investment in Guest of Honour status at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2019 and the agreement is effective under the condition that Norway is named Guest of Honour.

Upon the signing of the agreement between NORLA and Frankfurter Buchmesse for Norway as Guest of Honour at the Book Fair in 2019, the talent programme for young authors in Norway was confirmed. The development programme for new author talents will be organized through a collaborative agreement with Talent Norway (Talent Norge). The Norwegian Publishers Association will also contribute generously to the programme.

Recruitment is an important aspect of the work of Norway as Guest of Honour and Margit Walsø, NORLA’s director, emphasizes that cultivating new literary voices internationally is an important goal of the Frankfurt initiative. The long-term timeframe leading up to 2019 and the collaboration with Talent Norge will provide the opportunity to flush out unknown talents from Norway’s abundant literary underbrush.

In the years leading up to 2019, 20-30 authors will receive an offer of participation in a development programme focusing on the international aspects of the author profession. The programme will facilitate development through the exchange of experiences, travel, lectures, activities and network building.

March’s Translator of the Month is the Norwegian-Scot Kari Dickson. She has been put forward by – and has received a question from – her translator colleague Anne Bruce. Kari translates fiction, crime, children and youth literature, drama and non-fiction. And her translations receive international attention:
The children’s book Brown (original title: Brune), by Håkon Øvreås and Øyvind Torseter, recently won the American Library Association’s Mildred L. Batchelder Award 2020. And in addition, her translation of the picture book Vanishing Colours is listed on USBBY’s list of Oustanding International Books 2020. The book is written by Constance Ørbeck-Nilssen and illustrated by Akin Duzakin.
Congratulations from us!

In addition to translating, Kari has extensive experience as a lecturer in Norwegian language, literature and translation at the University of Edinburgh. She has also led workshops in translation from Norwegian on many occasions, including at the Summer School of British Center for Literary Translation (BCLT), University of East Anglia in Norwich. We at NORLA are particularly grateful for Kari’s invaluable contribution to both the recruitment and the training of new, skilled translators through her work as a mentor.

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.

When the summer holidays approach it is always exciting to summarise the activities we at NORLA have carried out in our effort to open doors to Norwegian literature around the world. But this spring was turned upside-down due to the COVID-19 situation, and this meant that many of the meetings we had been looking forward to were cancelled. There were no physical book fairs in Leipzig, London or Bologna, and no international guests in Lillehammer for the Norwegian Festival of Literature.

Luckily, however, we have been able to meet digitally. Many organisers have turned things round by grasping the opportunities available within modern technology. The Norwegian Festival of Literature reinvented itself and, in collaboration with NRK, Norway’s public broadcaster, became the biggest digital festival in the Nordic region. By doing this they reached hundreds of thousands of people who would have been otherwise unable to participate. For the first time, NORLA arranged webinars for international publishers and translators who should have been our guests at this year’s festival in Lillehammer.

In 2019, Norway will be the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The project is Norway’s largest commitment to cultural-export, ever. As part of the Guest of Honour project, NORLA, in cooperation with The Norwegian Centre for Design and Architecture (DOGA), will launch an open architecture competition for the design of an indoor pavilion, which will be 2300 sqm. The competition was announced January 12 2018.

For more than one year NORLA has been working towards enabling Norway to apply for Guest of Honour status at the Frankfurt book fair in 2019. Last week the happy news arrived that the Norwegian government views this endeavour as a measure towards increasing the export of Norwegian culture and will ask the Norwegian Parliament to pledge NOK 25 million.
Margit Walsø, Director of NORLA, states: "With this pledge a significant portion of the funding can be in place, but we are not there yet.