This spring we are happy to have five of NORLA’s selected titles, across five different genres.

Fiddle Fever by Elin Hansson - Young Adult

Torleif plays the harding fiddle, goes to high school and lives at a boarding school. He's not been to his home village since his mother died two years ago. Then his grandfather suffers a stroke, and Torleif has to go home for autumn break to help him.

His father and brother are quiet men who are mainly interested in hunting. Torleif has never told them that he is gay. He's not told anyone else in the village either, and he particularly doesn't want the old gang of friends, led by Stig-Rune, to know. But then Torleif meets fellow harding fiddle player Horimyo, and all the unsaid things begin to bubble up to the surface.

Fiddle Fever is a story of music and love. About family, and daring to be oneself.

How To Talk About Death by Anna Fiske - Illustrated Non-Fiction

Death is next up in Anna Fiske’s How-series. This is a topic that children are curious about, and which adults may find difficult to discuss. What actually happens with the body when you die? What’s a funeral? And why do we even have to die?

Anna Fiske has an incredibly unique form of communicating, and in How to Talk About Death she speaks to the children at their level and takes them seriously, while also managing to write a heart-warming, inclusive and at times even funny book about death. A perfect conversation starter for anyone who has questions about death, or who knows someone who’s passed away.

Rights sold to: Denmark (Gyldendal)

Herman - Tales from an undiagnosed childhood by Herman Flesvig, Erlend Loe & Bård Sletvold Torkilsen (ill.)

“Inside my head you will find the largest city in the world, traffic is humming day and night, the streets have no names and I play one hundred instruments at the same time.” Welcome inside the head of Herman. This is a head not quite like all others. As a child Herman is a little bit different. A little too much. Someone who cannot pay attention, learn quickly enough, do what he’s supposed to. But inside Herman's head, things are moving so much faster than for other people. He is Mr. Miyagi, he has a whole world inside his t-shirt, he has a triangle on his weenie, he fights with a samurai sword in the forest. The thing is, though, that no one else knows this. They are busy with listening to what the teacher is saying.

Herman is a book for children – and those who once were children. This is a story for anyone who has ever felt a bit different and alone. And for all others, too.

White, Norwegian Man by Brynjulf Jung Tjønn - Poetry

White, Norwegian Man is a touching and important book about a subject many experience every day – namely racism. In this poetry collection the author Brynjulf Jung Tjønn depicts his own experiences of racism. Brynjulf Jung Tjønn was adopted from South Korea to Norway as a child and has always noticed that he looks different, as he puts it himself. With the pandemic – and the awareness around racism and Asian hate – he got new and painful perspectives about his own background and upbringing. White, Norwegian Man is about Norway and the racism many ignore, both the hidden type and the visible one. And not to mention the lonely human who hopes for understanding and finding somewhere to feel at home.

It was the bestselling poetry collection of 2022 in Norway, and it is nominated to The Critic's Award and The Youth Critic's Award.

Rights sold to: Denmark (Straarup & co.) by pre-empt.

40 Weeks, A Human Pregnancy and 81 Other Ways to Reproduce by Anna Blix - Non-fiction

It takes 40 weeks to grow a human baby, and along the way the relationship between the foetus and the pregnant woman bears resemblance to that of a parasite and its host. One takes and takes, while the other one almost dies in the process. The spotted hyena gives birth after only 16 weeks, but she has to give birth through a penis-shaped clitoris, which cracks open during labour. Do they have it easier?Are there any signs that it’s actually quite clever how the human body handles reproduction?

This book gives evolutionary comfort throughout the troubles of pregnancy and an explanation as to how we ended up here, as the smartest species with the most tiresome, but nonetheless not such a stupid way to reproduce.