Anne Holt’s Twelve Untamed Horses, the twelfth installment in the Hanne Wilhelmsen series, is shortlisted for the prestigious 2024 Swedish Academy of Crime Writers’ Award for ‘Best Translated Crime Novel’. Twelve Untamed Horses is translated by Barbro Lagergren.

The winner will be announced on December 1st.

Old friends reunite for a crayfish party in the remote outer archipelago of Stockholm. The last time they were together was years ago, when the reality show they worked on ended in tragedy.

As the schnapps flow and tensions rise, a violent storm sweeps in. Strange signs suggest they are not alone on the island, and when one of them is found murdered, the festive gathering spirals into a desperate fight for survival. Has the past finally caught up with them? And is the killer someone among them?

The Crayfish Party is a cinematic thriller about secrets, guilt, and revenge. With a focus on complex relationships and page-turning tension, Martin Österdahl has created a claustrophobic chamber play in five acts.

Norwegian director and writer Iram Haq (b. 1976) is one of Scandinavia’s most intriguing and prominent filmmakers.

Haq has a successful career as an actor, both on stage and in feature and TV films. In 2004 she took the leap from actor to filmmaker when she wrote and starred in the short film Old Faithful which was selected for the Short Film Competition at the 2004 Venice Film Festival. A few years later came her directorial debut with the awarded short Little Miss Eyeflap (2009) which saw its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and then went on to screen at numerous film festivals.

In 2013, Haq’s first feature film I am Yours premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival to great acclaim, and was later selected as Norway’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards. Her second feature What Will People Say (2017) also premiered in Toronto where it was highly praised, and reaped multiple prestigious titles, including Best Film, Best Direction and Best Screenplay at the Amanda Awards. Again, Haq’s feature was chosen as Norway’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.

Furthermore, Haq has also written several novels, including What Will People Say and Little Miss Eyeflap which both are based on her films of the same names, and Unloved which was published in 2021 to fantastic reviews.

Leo Asker has started to get the Department of Lost Souls in order, and a promotion is within reach. However, the vengeful Jonas Hellman cannot accept this and tempts Asker with a cold case he’s sure will break her.

It concerns a decade-old murder of a woman in an abandoned barn, where the method bears eerie similarities to a body buried in the same forest two thousand years earlier. The case resurfaces when a confused young woman surprises some urban explorers at the crime scene, holding the severed finger of the victim.

Once again, Asker turns to Martin Hill for help in solving the puzzle with the seemingly mythological ties back to the Iron Age. What secrets are hidden in the Rust Forest?

The Rust Forest is the third installment in the bestselling Leo Asker Series.

“The first time I left my body, my mom’s friend was lying on top of me. I awoke to a sliver of light streaming in through a crack in the door, and I saw a shadow move across the room, settling over me. The darkness felt heavy, as if it were swallowing me whole, erasing me from existence, but of course, I had no words for it then.”

A young woman dies repeatedly and travels in time, tasked with saving the world’s richest people from accidents or attacks, thus prolonging their lives. After being raised in foster homes, she was sent to a school run by a powerful company, where she was prepared for this brutal life’s work. But one day, the company’s very existence is threatened, bringing unpredictable consequences for her and the people she loves.

Golem is a gripping story set in a dark and ruthless future where dissent is stifled before it begins.

Charlie holds her dream job at an antiquities auction firm, has an apartment and family that she adores and have always gone the extra mile to be a good citizen. When she crosses paths with the charming Philip, he sweeps her off her feet. Life is almost too good to be true, but at the luxurious birthday party he throws her, the police suddenly show up. In a state of utter disbelief, Charlie is accused of serious crimes and convicted to several years in prison.

Once she is finally released, her entire life is in tatters. Slowly she tries to puzzle the clues together. Charlie becomes determined to take revenge on those who have decimated her life and is willing to do whatever it takes to take them down.

Charlie’s Revenge is the first installment in a brand new series by No.1 bestselling author Simona Ahrnstedt and is a gripping novel about impossible love, elusive enemies and the worst betrayals of them all.

Multitalented Swedish actor Johanna Hedberg trained at the Performing Arts School in Gothenburg and has a background as a singer and dancer.

She completed vocational training in dance, singing, and theater at the Performing Arts School from 2009 to 2012, after her attendance at Wendelsberg Theater School from 2008 to 2009. She is part of the creative brand TanjaVera Production for which she writes, directs, and acts. She is noted for her Grow Up and Himlen är full av hundar, and with a passion for exploring complex themes through a cinematic lens, Hedberg continuously make significant contributions to the world of film and TV.

November 2024 will see the global release of the highly anticipated The Helicopter Heist on Netflix in which Hedberg has one of the major roles, and in which a vast international audience finally will be introduced to Hedberg’s talent.

Her recent works includes the TV show Drottningarna, where she portrays the queen Karin Månsdotter, and the feature film Bullets (2023), among else.

Kristina Ohlsson has been honored with this year’s Kristianstadsbladet Culture and Entertainment Award. The prize was established in 2006 and is awarded annually to a cultural personality, cultural initiative, or production related to the newspaper’s distribution area in and around Kristianstad in northeastern Skåne.

The jury’s motivation reads as follows:

“With desire, curiosity and skill, she captures young and old alike, with stories that are like fairy tales filled with all sides of life: people and ghosts, light and dark, suspense and riddles.”