Norway

The covers of the ten books featured in the list

Your 2024 International Women’s Day Reading List

In honor of International Women’s Day 2024, WWB recommends 10 forthcoming books written and translated by women, plus an honorable mention.

February-2024-Mother-Language-Day-List-Feature (1)

Clockwise from top left: Bikash Dihingia, Risten Sokki, Imran Sada'i, Boubacar Boris Diop, Gawani Gaongen, Jean D'Amerique, Adriana Paredes Pinda, Emiliana Bernard-Stephenson

International Mother Language Day: 8 Writers to Read Now

By Words Without Borders

In celebration of International Mother Language Day, we’re spotlighting 8 writers working in their heritage languages, from Wolof and Kankanaey to Uyghur and Mapudungun.

The covers of the six titles featured in the Watchlist: Beijing Sprawl, Happy Stories, Mostly,...

The Watchlist: June 2023

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends new and forthcoming books in translation from Bolivia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Norway, and Poalnd.

Two log cabins, one with a grass roof, in a field next to the water

I, Argus fin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sharing Stories: A Brief Introduction to Sámi Literary History

By Mathilde Magga

For Sámi literature to continue playing its essential role in our culture and to expand its benefits, we need more writers, readers, and translators, which is impossible without support—both financially and through the education system.

Christian Pietzsch, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Wolfskin

By Risten Sokki

“When the forested valleys in Russia start filling up with snow, the wolf begins its journey from the south toward the plains in the north.”

Translated from North Sámi by Olivia Lasky

The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist

The Watchlist: October 2022

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends noteworthy new books in translation from Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Colombia, South Korea, and Norway.

Portraits of Jon Fosse and Damion Searls

Left: Jon Fosse, photo by Tom Kolstad Samlaget; Right: Damion Searls, photo by Beowulf Sheehan

The National Book Award Interviews: Jon Fosse & Damion Searls

By Words Without Borders

“To me writing is an act of listening. And if I am writing well then what I write will necessarily be new to me as well. Writing is a journey into the unknown.”

The Watchlist: January 2022

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends exciting new books in translation from Mexico, Norway, Haiti, Argentina, and Japan.

A boy wearing a headlamp lies on his stomach on a bunk bed and reads a comic book in the dark

Photo by Hans Isaacson on Unsplash

Multimedia

Suburbia

By Linn Strømsborg

I always measured distances in songs. I measured everything in songs.

Translated from Norwegian by Olivia Lasky

I Condemn My Pathetic Heart and Soul

By Mona Høvring

For weeks she had behaved as though she were the only person to have ever had a nervous breakdown.

Translated from Norwegian by Rachel Rankin

Beyond Queer: The Queer Issue

By Susan Harris

The contributors to our Queer issues produce narratives that elude facile compartmentalization.

The Light Never Reaches Here

By Tina Åmodt

In the wilderness, you live in a simple house, you wake to your beloved’s face, you almost exclusively hear her voice.

Translated from Norwegian by Kerri Pierce

Under

By Merethe Lindstrøm

He was just a face, a hand, and the knife.

Translated from Norwegian by Kerri Pierce

Photo by Batu Özmen on Unsplash

Light

By Gunnhild Øyehaug

Boundaries between the possible and the impossible in everyday life dissolve in this short story by Gunnhild Øyehaug.

Translated from Norwegian by Kerri Pierce

Two reindeer on a rocky ledge with a body of water behind them

Photo by Jørgen Håland on Unsplash

Journey toward the Island

By Laila Stien

Norway’s Laila Stien tracks a group of Sámi herders guiding their reindeer on the seasonal migration to the north, fighting obstacles both natural and man-made.

Translated from Norwegian by Kerri Pierce

An Expansion, a Journey, a Knife

By Kerri Pierce

Each of the stories chosen for this feature presents us with characters in the midst of what are to them life-altering situations.

The Art of Falling

By Inga Sætre

How can anyone predict the future if it's not already mapped out?

Translated by Rosie Louise Hedger

A Telephone Conversation

By Rune Christiansen

You were unique, like / we all are unique.

Translated from Norwegian by Agnes Scott Langeland

Multilingual

Impromptu

By Rune Christiansen

When the snow covers your grave you have forgotten the snow.

Translated from Norwegian by Agnes Scott Langeland

Multilingual

The Dogs in Thessaloniki

By Kjell Askildsen

Do you remember the dogs in Thessaloniki which were stuck together after they had mated, she said.

Translated from Norwegian by Agnes Scott Langeland

Gob

By Lars Saabye Christensen

I saw her again today. She came out from the liquor store in Majorstua, the bottles pushed down into a worn brown bag

Translated from Norwegian by Kenneth Steven

Martin Hansen’s Outing

By Kjell Askildsen

I carried on walking, roaming the streets; it was just half past nine, and I had no desire to go home.

Translated from Norwegian by Agnes Scott Langeland

From “Black Sky, Black Sea”

By Izzet Celasin

Here and in many other places, İstanbul was preparing for the May Day rallies.

Translated from Norwegian by Kari Dickson

Multilingual

MS Hitra

By Jo Nesbø

Captain Jonasen followed the dotted line in the atlas with his finger.

Translated from Norwegian by Don Bartlett

Multilingual

The Pig

By Lars Saabye Christensen

Asbjørn Hall didn't argue....He'd never argued.

Translated from Norwegian by Kenneth Steven

Dr. Gordeau

By Gaute Heivoll

When the plane has almost come to rest, he sees an angel.

Translated from Norwegian by Don Bartlett

How Is One to Hang Up?

By Cathrine Grøndahl

It should be well known that / the voices can be piercing,

Translated from Norwegian by Roger Greenwald

Let the Small Words Come to Me

By Cathrine Grøndahl

Let the small words come to me / Don't let the demanding ones stop them

Translated from Norwegian by Roger Greenwald

From “Out Stealing Horses”

By Per Petterson

We were going out stealing horses.

Translated from Norwegian by Anne Born

Ambulance

By Johan Harstad

I'm lying on my back in the ambulance, firmly strapped to the stretcher and we're driving very fast through town...

Translated from Norwegian by Deborah Dawkin & Erik Skuggevik

The Bergkvist Sisters

By Levi Henriksen

I’ve had a lot of time lately, and I’ve been thinking about the King and Queen.

Translated from Norwegian by Deborah Dawkin & Erik Skuggevik

Today You Must Pray to God

By Per Petterson

Today you must pray to God, for today a nuclear war will probably break out.

Translated from Norwegian by Anne Born

A person lies on a pink couch in a dim theater

Photo Credit: Jim Baldassare, photo of Louis Cancelmi in the US Premiere production of Night Sings Its Songs by Jon Fosse, directed by Sarah Cameron Sunde, set by Lauren Helpern, lighting by Roma Flowers.