Søk etter “2019”

June and July’s translator of the month is Rosie Hedger, who translates from Norwegian into English. Rosie Hedger was born in Scotland and completed her MA (Hons) in Scandinavian Studies at the University of Edinburgh, as part of which she spent a year at the University of Oslo taking courses in Norwegian literature and researching for her dissertation on contemporary Norwegian fiction. Since completing her studies, Rosie has lived in Sweden and Denmark, and she is now based in the north of England. Her translation of Gine Cornelia Pedersen’s Zero was shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize in 2019, and her translation of Agnes Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal won an English PEN Translates Award in 2016. Her translations of Marie Aubert’s Grown Ups and Helga Flatland’s One Last Time are both due out this summer.

Today, the Norwegian Minister of Culture, Abid Raja, awarded the prestigious Ministry of Culture’s literary prizes for children and young adult literature published in 2019.
A total of NOK 360,000 were awarded in seven 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 and The Translation Award.

Our translator of the month is Nobuyoshi Mori, who translates into Japanese. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Russian from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and later a master’s degree in German at the same university. In the period 1983-85 he studied Norwegian at the University of Oslo and since returning to Japan he has worked as a language teacher – and since 2006 as a professor. He has also taught German and Scandinavian languages (mainly Norwegian and Icelandic) at various universities and language schools. In March 2019 he retired, but still teaches Scandinavian languages part-time. He is now responsible for teaching Norwegian at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to future diplomats who are to be stationed in Norway. He is a language teacher first and foremost, he says, but translates from Scandinavian languages when the opportunity presents itself.

It is uplifting to be able to confirm that interest in Norwegian literature abroad has continued to be remarkably high during a year when so much has changed as a result of a pandemic. When physical meetings and travel are not possible, literature can still provide knowledge and experience. In 2020, NORLA received a record number of applications for translation support – as many as 660 applications – surpassing the number of applications in 2018, which amounted to 651.

We are extremely happy and proud to learn that Norway’s Guest of Honour Pavilion at the 2019 Frankfurter Buchmesse is nominated for the 2022 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award.

A big congratulations to the architects LCLA office and Manthey Kula!

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: