news corrects: In an earlier version of this case, news wrote that “The Norwegian Authors’ Association loses the exclusive right to award state grants”. The correct thing is that they may lose this exclusive right as a new proposal opens the door for others than the Norwegian Authors’ Association to be allowed to award state grants. There is a broad majority in favor of this proposal. Who will receive money from the state to write books, and how will they be selected? The latter is the question that Norwegian writers are now arguing about. The Storting has announced changes to the committees that award the Government’s artist grants. Today, the Literary Council is responsible for distributing this to Norwegian authors. The committee is appointed by the Norwegian Association of Authors (DnF), which was established in 1893. In the new proposal to the government, it is opened up for other organizations representing artists and writers to have the right and opportunity to appoint members to the various committees that share out state grants. This means that the Authors’ Association, established in 2018 and associated with LO, will also have a piece in the game about who will receive a writer’s grant at the state’s expense. – The proposal is under consideration, but we are in full swing. There is a broad majority who will stand behind the proposal, Storting representative Torstein Tvedt Solberg confirms to news. Solberg says that the arrangement, where DnF has the exclusive right, has expired. Photo: Vidar Ruud / NPK – It does not mean that the system has worked poorly. The democratic process with colleagues and quality requirements has worked very well. But it is a 30-year-old system, says Solberg. – The landscape has changed, and other organizations have come into being. A majority in the Storting will support that everyone should be able to take part in this. Heated debate after call The Norwegian Writers’ Association has strict requirements for membership. You must have published at least two books, and an admissions committee must assess that at least one of these has literary value. The Authors’ Association, on the other hand, welcomes anyone who has published a work of fiction. A fifth of the members are also budding writers without published works. DnF fears that those like the Authors’ Association will not place as much importance on the quality of an authorship as they do themselves. At the end of January, 72 members signed a petition in VG – among them Jon Fosse, Karl Ove Knausgård and Vigdis Hjorth. The appeal caused reactions from the Authors’ Association, which responded with a separate post. Crime writer Anne Holt, who is a member of the Writers’ Association, wrote at the same time on social media that the appeal was “gross”, “stupid” and “downright embarrassing”. There is also a heated Anne Holt who takes part in Tuesday’s “Debate”. Here, incoming DnF leader Bjørn Vatne says that they are unsure of what quality criteria the Authors’ Association will set for the people they want to appoint to a scholarship committee. – The call has been attempted to be ridiculed as a ploy by an elite that wants to cling to its own privileges, but it can also be seen as an expression of uneasiness from a professional occupational group that sees its framework conditions being threatened by change, he says. Politician Torstein Tvedt Solberg and writer Bjørn Vatne pictured before the debate. Photo: Ksenia Novikova / news Vatne’s statement makes Holt shake his head. – There is one word for it, and that is snobbery. That an old organization should dispute the rights to distribute money that belongs to everyone sounds completely archaic. Leader of the Authors’ Association, Eystein Hansen, believes the unrest from DnF is contrived. – We have no plans for anything other than appointing professionally qualified people to hand out these scholarships, and that they must work equally conscientiously. Hansen says that when two organizations are given equal rights, they must also have equal rights to appoint members to the committee. He also refers to it as an “organisational short-circuit” that one should ensure the quality of writers who want to organise. Leader of the Authors’ Association, Eystein Hansen and author Toril Brekke before the Debate on Tuesday. Previously, Brekke was a member of DnF. Now she has changed sides. Photo: Ksenia Novikova / news Brynjulf Jung Tjønn, outgoing leader of DnF, says from Bergen that it is a shame that the dispute has become a debate about power and elitism. – As there are so few artist grants, there must be a committee that reads all the books that have been published, that discusses the literature and finds the authors and prioritizes those who qualify the most. Non-fiction is excluded But the debate also has a third side: The support schemes do not apply to those who write non-fiction. – I am working on my fifth book, and it is only now that I have received support, says Stine Schultz Heireng to news. She receives it from the Norwegian Nonfiction Writers’ and Translators’ Association (NFFO). Heireng is a trained accountant and general secretary of the Norwegian Scout Association. The books about outdoor life, which she published together with her sister, were written in the evenings, at weekends and during holidays. In the past, Heireng has also applied for unpaid leave. She believes that non-fiction is also an important part of Norwegian literature which should also be included in the purchasing scheme to a greater extent. – Writing non-fiction requires a lot of work. I understand that it is important for the Authors’ Association that there should be quality in what is written, and that it is important to take care of the literary and artistic aspects. But if support is only given at one end, you do not facilitate diversity, she says. Our most acclaimed authors are fighting over who should get government support.
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The Norwegian Writers’ Association may lose the exclusive right to award state grants – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
