Suggest a "Staff Pick" for archive.org

Post by **mightyfelix** » June 6th, 2020, 12:56 am

Told you it wasn't my strong point!

Piotrek81 · Post by **Piotrek81** » June 6th, 2020, 1:39 am

How about several Scandinavian countries in one collection? https://librivox.org/skandinaviska-aeventyr-skandinaviske-eventyr-by-various/

EDIT: Also, our only completed solo in Norwegian https://librivox.org/den-siste-viking-by-johan-bojer/

For Swedish works, take a look at Lars Rolander's output.

kathrinee · Post by **kathrinee** » June 6th, 2020, 12:56 pm

Thank you for recommending my projects (blush). I'm working on the English translation of the Bojer novel, but it'll be a while... How about Kalevala, a Finnish epic? https://librivox.org/search?q=kalevala&search_form=advanced We have two different English translations.

I'd like to highlight The Wonderful Adventures of Nils by Selma Lagerlof -- I listened to Lars Rolander's recording a few years ago and loved it https://librivox.org/the-wonderful-adventures-of-nils-by-selma-lagerloef/ It is a longish novel about a boy, Nils, who misbehaves in chapter 1 and is shrunk to the size of a mouse, maybe, and then he travels with the wild geese all through Sweden. Lagerlof is one of Sweden's winners of the Nobel Prize of Literature. We also have versions in german https://librivox.org/niels-holgersens-wunderbare-reise-mit-den-wildgaensen-erster-teil-by-selma-lagerloef/, Dutch https://librivox.org/niels-holgerssons-wonderbare-reis-by-selma-lagerlof/, and Victor (phlieasfogg) is working on a Spanish version

We have an English translation of the Danish novel Pelle the conquerero (part 1) https://librivox.org/pelle-the-conqueror-volume-1-by-martin-andersen-nexo/. I haven't read it or listened to it, but I understand it is has been a really popular novel.

Scandinavia has had some really influential Modernist writers -- August Strindberg comes to mind. We have several of his plays in the catalog, for instance the ghost sonata https://librivox.org/the-ghost-sonata-by-august-strindberg/. The Norwegian Knut Hamsun also was shockingly modern in his debut Hunger https://librivox.org/hunger-by-knut-hamsun/

Piotrek81 · Post by **Piotrek81** » June 7th, 2020, 4:56 am

Here's the only completed solo in Latvian that we have https://librivox.org/lacplesis-by-andrejs-pumpurs/ read by Kikisaulite

As for Lithuania, we don't have anything full-length in Lithuanian, but Adam Mickiewicz (Adomas Mickievicius) was born in what was then considered "Lithuania" (today part of Belarus) and while he wrote in Polish, he would often invoke his land and is considered a "national poet" of not only Poland, but also Lithuania and Belarus. https://librivox.org/ballady-i-romanse-by-adam-mickiewicz/

Post by **Availle** » June 7th, 2020, 4:59 am

Thank you all!

I'm pretty sure Lacplesis was already chosen, and the Kalevala too.

Nice hint to the national poet of three countries Piotr...

Post by **annise** » June 7th, 2020, 5:11 am

The most well known Danish writer with translations in all languages in Hans Christian Andersen, And there's an English version of a Norwegian novel here https://librivox.org/lisbeth-longfrock-or-sidsel-sidsaerkin-by-hans-aanrud/ - it was interesting in spite of the reader

Anne

Piotrek81 · Post by **Piotrek81** » June 7th, 2020, 5:25 am

Well, if Kalevala is out of the question, let's take some novels in Finnish:
https://librivox.org/laulu-tulipunaisesta-kukasta-by-johannes-linnankoski/
https://librivox.org/helsinkiin-by-juhani-aho/
(I picked those two, because they each have a project description in English).

Post by **Kazbek** » June 7th, 2020, 11:47 am

Sadly we don't have anything in Icelandic (although one of our US-based readers once made a valiant sortie into Old Norse), and I'm pained to see that we don't even have Estonian on our list of languages.

However, we do have a number of Icelandic/Old Norse sagas in English translation:

https://librivox.org/volsungasaga-by-magnusson-and-morris/
https://librivox.org/saga--greenlanders-reeves/
https://librivox.org/the-saga-of-gunnlaug-the-worm-tongue-and-raven-the-skald-by-anonymous/
https://librivox.org/saga-of-erik-the-red/
https://librivox.org/the-frithiof-saga-by-ferdinand-schmidt/ (this one lists Schmidt as author, but it's a translation of his translation of a medieval saga)

I'm not familiar with these readings, but we surely must have at least one Icelandic saga in there!

Michael

Post by **Availle** » June 13th, 2020, 3:42 pm

Interesting, thank you!

Basquetteur · Post by **Basquetteur** » June 15th, 2020, 10:15 am

just to make may be a exotic proposal: The Eddas in Spanish.

https://librivox.org/los-eddas-by-snorri-sturleson

There are the Eddas in English also.

But not in other languages, I think.

Cheers,

Basquetteur

Post by **Availle** » June 15th, 2020, 4:11 pm

The things we have in our catalog...

I think somebody read something like that in German, but it may not be called "Edda" in the catalog.

Also, now that I think of it: Would Richard Wagner's Ring be part of Nordic myths? Probably...

Post by **Availle** » July 1st, 2020, 8:41 pm

The staff has picked for July, thanks for your suggestions! Please have a look at this page for the current list. You can also check out our wiki page for a plain vanilla list that contains all the staff picks for this year plus the readers!

There was relatively little to choose from about these countries, in particular for non-fiction. I hope this will change for the next word tour!

As for the next month's staff picks:

It's LibriVox's 15th Anniversary! My, have we grown!

That means, I'll prepare a little birthday surprise for August.
Stay tuned!

Post by **Availle** » August 2nd, 2020, 3:45 am

Happy 15th Anniversary!

Our 15th Anniversary Special was just posted, I hope you like it!
https://librivox.org/2020/08/01/happy-15th-anniversary/

And maybe you'll find some inspiration for a very ambitious project of your own (you can also help out with other people's though.

)

As for next month, we'll move further into

Eastern Europe

That means I'd like to have suggestions about the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine. (Did I miss any?)

This year, let's go on another world tour, which means, I'm looking for books written by authors of the respective continents/countries or books and stories set there. All languages welcome!

Especially welcome are suggestions of plays and poetry.

All languages welcome!

Post by **ToddHW** » August 2nd, 2020, 4:34 am

Your note for our 15th is wonderful. Thank you.

Todd

Piotrek81 · Post by **Piotrek81** » August 2nd, 2020, 4:38 am

July saw the first completed solo in Czech https://librivox.org/krysar-by-viktor-dyk/
And here's a Polish play read as a solo: https://librivox.org/moralnosc-pani-dulskiej-by-gabriela-zapolska/