Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there has been a great demand in Norway for Ukrainian language skills as well as knowledge about the country itself. One way of gaining insight into Ukraine’s history, culture and mentality is through fiction. Many Norwegian publishers want to publish fiction by Ukrainian authors, however there is currently a lack of qualified translators of Ukrainian to Norwegian.
NORLA and the Norwegian Association of Literary Translators will meet this demand by facilitating a collaboration between translators whose native languages are Norwegian and Ukrainian, i.e., between the Association of Literary Translators’ members and NORLA’s network of translators.
1. An open half-day seminar about Ukrainian language and literature, and co-translation. April 13, 2023, 9-13, at Litteraturhuset in Oslo.
The seminar will be live streamed here
More details available here (in Norwegian)
2. A Ukrainian-Norwegian translator’s workshop, June 24, 2023
3. A Ukraine issue of the periodical Mellom, which is devoted to the art of translation, containing the Ukrainian texts translated within the framework of the project, published in October 2023.
The first part of the project will therefore be the half-day seminar on April 13. There will be speakers from Norway and Ukraine. Some of the participants will take part via video link from Ukraine.
The project is initiated by the Norwegian Association of Literary Translators and NORLA, and is being carried out in close collaboration with Mellom and the Ukrainian Association in Norway.
NORLA will be at The Nordic Common Stand at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair. You’ll find us in Hall 3.1, stand B70.
The stand will also feature a new catalogue presenting a selection of new books from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Faroe Islands and Iceland available in German translation.
Nordic Reception: Thursday, 8 October, 17:00–18:30 at The Nordic Stand.
In collaboration with the Royal Norwegian Embassy in London, NORLA is hosting a special industry event highlighting contemporary Norwegian children’s and young adult literature on November 5.
The event will take place at the Norwegian Ambassador’s Residence.
Norway is Guest of Honour at this year’s Les Boréales festival in Normandy, taking place from 12–22 November.
A strong line-up of Norwegian authors will take part in the festival: Ingeborg Arvola, Martin Baldysz, Brit Bildøen, Thomas Enger, Jørn Lier Horst, Oliver Lovrenski, Aslak Nore, Lars Ramslie and Maria Navarro Skaranger.
During the festival, NORLA will also organise a translation seminar for students at the University of Caen on 17 November. The seminar will have a special focus on Brit Bildøen’s Gult farevarsel (Yellow Warning, Vigilance orange). Bildøen and her French translator Marina Heide will take part in the seminar, which is organized in close cooperation with the University.
The Norwegian Embassy in Paris is a partner in Norway’s Guest of Honour programme.