With in-person rights meetings on hold during the pandemic, FILI and other Nordic literary organizations guarantee 50-percent translation funding for approved grant applications.
Industry Notes: Storytel Buys Finland’s Gummerus; McEwan Wins Iceland’s New Prize
Finland’s third largest publisher has been acquired by Sweden’s Storytel. In Iceland this week, the UK’s Ian McEwan is the first recipient of a new award.
Icelandic Books to Film: Joni Sighvatsson in Hollywood Buys Bragadottir’s ‘Blood Ties’
A bestseller in Iceland, the nonfiction family saga ‘Blood Ties’ by Ásdís Halla Bragadóttir has been acquired for television by Sigurjon Sighvatsson in Los Angeles.
Strangers in a Small Land: A Writers’ Collective in Iceland
From The Reykjavik Grapevine: A collective of international writers in Iceland challenge concepts and constraints on Icelandic literature and publishing.
‘Touchstone Texts’: On Translating a Nordic Prize-Winner from Iceland
From Conversational Reading: ‘To be nationally international’ is a lesson, says Lytton Smith, of translating ‘Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller.’
All That’s Nordic Isn’t Noir, in Scandinavian Rights Action
Brisk springtime rights trading is reported from Scandinavia, with nonfiction hits as well as fiction highlighted in Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and Norway.
A Few Words With Digital Book World’s International Fellows
From Greece, Norway, Iceland, and the UK, the DBW 2017 Fellows speak about their successes, their challenges, and why they’re traveling to the conference.
Holiday Retail: Iceland’s Jolabokaflod, or Christmas Book Flood
The Icelandic publishing industry has a somewhat extreme emphasis on the holiday sales push, with Jólabókaflóð this year carrying more than 840 titles.
Suspense at Frankfurt: Can Iceland’s ‘Blood Drop’ Winner Go the Distance?
Oskar Guðmundsson’s ‘Hilma’—with its strong female characterization and mind-of-the-murderer insights—took Iceland by storm, ‘in spite of very scarce advertising.’
Malta’s Moxie: A Few Words With Mark Camilleri at the Abu Dhabi Book Fair
‘The increasing globalization of information has made people aware that they have their own indigenous culture and literature,’ says Mark Camilleri of Malta’s National Book Council.