Few Norwegians know much about Malta, except that it usually attracts zero points in the Eurovision Song Contest and that its history is connected to the Knights but that is set to change thanks to a concerted drive to export Maltese literature to this Nordic country.

Translator Kristina Quintano was the driving force behind a cultural exchange that last week saw author Trevor Zahra attend a number of events at the annual literature festival Translated Days.

Malta’s participation was made possible thanks to the support of the National Book Council Malta, which was also present for talks with Norwegian publishers about the publication of more Maltese authors in the Nordic country.

“We are giving high priority to the export of Maltese literature and there is a significant investment being made in this regard by the National Book Council,” chairman Mark Camilleri said, adding he hoped to build upon this initiative in the near future.

“As a council, we believe it is vital for Malta’s authors to be present in foreign markets. We have met with a lot of foreign publishers. Some meetings yield positive results and others less so due to the highly-competitive nature of the industry,” he said.

Mr Camilleri added that Maltese authors were being very well-received in smaller markets, such as Italy, but that the bigger markets, like the UK, France and Germany remained challenging due to the sheer number of writers.

“We are making inroads, al-though it is a gradual process. The initiative would not be possible at all without public funding but we intend to continue giving it priority,” he said.

“It is worth noting that the council continues to support the author even after a deal is struck with a foreign publisher, aiding with the actual marketing, which is just as vital to the whole process.”

The Norwegian market is one that is turning out to be “immensely receptive” to Maltese literature, with Mr Camilleri pointing out that a number of meetings he attended during last week’s festival had already translated into publishing deals for some Maltese writers in the near future.

His words are echoed by Ms Quintano, who is based in Norway and specialises in the translation of Maltese books into Norwegian.

Vital for Malta’s authors to be in foreign markets

“It has always been a source of sadness to me that Norwegians are largely unfamiliar with anything connected to Maltese culture, apart from the recent topical political issues. I viewed this festival as a chance to rectify this, in part,” she remarked.

Ms Quintano has already translated works by Mr Zahra, Pierre Mejlak, Walid Nabhan, Clare Azzopardi, Immanuel Mifsud and Lou Drofenik into Norwegian.

Kristina Quintano, Trevor Zahra and Mark Camilleri in front of The House of Literature in Oslo.

“Mr Zahra’s Il-Ħajja Sigrieta tan-Nanna Ġenoveffa, in particular, has been very well received here. Together with Mr Nabhan’s and Mr Mejlak’s works, it has been the recipient of a grant that sees 600 copies of the book distributed across all libraries in Norway,” she added.

Il-Ħajja Sigrieta tan-Nanna Ġenoveffa was first published in Norway in 2017 by one of the country’s leading publishing houses for translated literature.

The same house published Norwegian translations of works by Aleksijevitsj, Poe, Doyle and Dostojevskij. During his visit to Norway, Mr Zahra had the opportunity to meet up with his Norwegian publisher for the first time, an experience he described as “highly satisfactory and promising”.

“We discussed future publications and I am highly encouraged with the results yielded from this meeting. It is very gratifying to see books like Nanna Ġenoveffa striking a chord with Norwegian readers because the book – apart from the humour of its narrative – actually offers insight into Maltese history and our cultural identity,” he said, adding that besides being present in all public libraries in Norway a further 1,000 copies had also already been sold to book stores across the country.

Europe is undergoing a revival in popularity with respect to literature originating from countries that are not the UK, with a renewed interest in smaller cultural identities such as those depicted in books like Nanna Ġenoveffa.

Translated Days, which takes place every three years at the House of Literature, in Oslo, is one of Norway’s biggest literature festivals, bringing together translators, authors, editors and publishers from across the world to discuss facets of the translation industry.

The festival offered an opportunity to Mr Zahra not only to carry out book-signings and networking but also a number of readings from Nanna Ġenoveffa itself, both during the official events and at other social evenings organised around the festival.

“I read some excerpts in Maltese myself because I wanted to give the audience an idea of what our language sounds like,” he said.

“I was also very flattered to have one of Norway’s most famous actors and audio-book readers, Ola B. Johannessen, present to carry out readings in Norwegian. His voice is immediately recognised across Norway, so this gave an added dimension to the readings.”

Mr Johannessen also carried out a reading of the Norwegian translation of Il-Mejda tal-Mogħdija, a short story by Mr Mejlak, during a literary salon organised by Ms Quintano.

The event was attended by publishers, writers and also by the Norwegian consul to Malta, Petter Larsen, and a number of Maltese expats.