THE first Norwegian translation of the Bible has sold 80,000 copies so far and is set to set new records in book publishing in the country.
The translation has topped the country’s book charts almost every week between its publication in October and the end of the year, the Guardian reported.
Its launch in the autumn saw Harry Potter-style overnight queues, with bookshops selling out on the first day as Norwegians rushed to get their hands on the new edition, the Guardian news report said.
The report quoted Stine Smemo Strachan, who worked on the project for the Norwegian Bible Society, sa saying: “We only printed 25,000 to start with and thought it would last six to nine months, but it was launched mid-October and by the end of the year it had sold 79,000 copies – it’s just incredible.
“It has only been knocked off the number one spot once, by (literary author) Karl Ove Knausgård … There were people sleeping outside the day before the launch because it was embargoed – it’s a bit ironic seeing that the content has been available for quite some time now.”
As many as 30 people including consultant translators, priests and academics translated the Greek and Hebrew original into Norwegian for the new edition while a team of 12 literary authors including Knausgård and playwright Jon Fosse worked on editing the text.
“Obviously it was very important to get the right translation but they also wanted it to be readable, to make sure it was good literary language,” said Smemo Strachan. “None of these authors are religious – they are all just very good literary writers who thought it would be an interesting project to be involved in.”
Meanwhile, a literary version of the Bible which ‘reads like a novel’ and with no chapters or verses has also been brought out. That version is also reportedly brisk sales.
Eighty percent of Norway’s population of 4.9m belongs to the Church of Norway. However, the Guardian said not all the new edition’s purchasers are thought to be buying it for strictly religious religions.
