Monika Fagerholm awarded with the Selma Lagerlöf Prize

Monika Fagerholm has been bestowed with the 2020 Selma Lagerlöf Prize, a prestigious literary award instituted in 1984. The accolade is granted to authors who further the spirit of beloved author and first female Nobel Prize in Literature recipient, Selma Lagerlöf.

Fagerholm is awarded for “an authorship that with virtuosic voicing portrays individuals and groups that strive for meaning in an existence that does not allow for stability, a world wherein misfortune hangs in the air.” The award ceremony will be held in the town of Sunne in August.

Hjorth & Rosenfeldt No. 3 in Iceland

Hjorth & Rosenfeldt’s The Silent Girl is No. 3 on the official Icelandic bestseller list for the month of April. The Silent Girl is the fourth installment in the Sebastian Bergman series.

The weekly Swedish bestseller lists

Stina Jackson and Arne Dahl continue to both feature on the weekly Swedish bestseller lists. Jackson’s The Last Snow is No. 2 in hardcover and audio this week, and No. 3 in e-book. Her debut title, The Silver Road, also appears on the audio list, coming in at No. 4. Dahl’s Freedom follows close behind at No. 5, also claiming a spot on the e-book list at No. 6.

The weekly Norwegian bestseller lists

Week 19’s bestseller lists from Norway see Hedvig Montgomery once again climb in the non-fiction category. The Adolescent Years, the fifth installment in her Parental Magic series, lands the No. 3 spot. The paperback list’s No. 3 placement goes to Jørn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger’s Smoke Screen. Lastly, Katrine Engberg grabs two spots on the e-book list, coming in at No. 8 with Blood Moon, and No. 10 with The Tenant.

Niklas Natt och Dag bestowed with City of Stockholm’s Honorary Award

Niklas Natt och Dag has been granted with the prestigious City of Stockholm’s Honorary Award for 2020. The accolade is handed out to cultural practitioners within five fields that have been deemed of great influence to the cultural life of Stockholm. The award ceremony will take place in August in Stockholm City Hall.

The jury motivation was as follows: “Niklas Natt och Dag portrays Stockholm’s darker history. Much like a magician he conjures the reeking, violent destitution in the alleyways and backwoods we to this day inhabit. He has thus far published two installments in a trilogy, The Wolf and the Watchman and 1794, in a genre sometimes referred to as ‘Bellman Noir’. The language guides the reader back in time, without obstructing the experience of a breathlessly thrilling tale. The books have been lauded as crime novels, but are also stories about immorality and evil – and about those seeking compassion and justice, in spite of it all.”

Jørn Lier Horst No. 1 in Slovakia

Jørn Lier Horst’s The Inner Darkness is No. 1 on the biggest online bookstore and second biggest physical retailer in Slovakia, Martinus’, e-book list. The Inner Darkness also comes in at No. 4 on Martinus’ Top 100 list for printed titles, across all genres.

Sara Johnsen and Pål Sletaune awarded with the Fritt Ord Tribute

Sara Johnsen and Pål Sletaune have been announced as the recipients of the Fritt Ord Tribute for their TV series 22 July. The Fritt Ord Tribute acknowledges remarkable efforts to promote free speech, often in connection with current affairs.

22 July has received great praise in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and earlier this year Johnsen was awarded the Nordic TV Drama Screenplay Award for her outstanding writing on the series.

Erik Axl Sund No. 10 in Germany

Erik Axl Sund’s Porcelain Dolls, the second installment in the Melancholia series, is No. 10 on this week’s Der Spiegel bestseller list for trade paperbacks in Germany.

‘City at the End: The Resistance’ published in Norway

In City at the End: The Resistance we return to Enger’s thought-provoking and acclaimed dystopian universe.

Stella Staerk has made her fateful choice: she’ll stay with the Women’s Battalion, a clandestine resistance movement based out of an abandoned powerplant just outside of Widowton. She is plagued by the terrible realization that her long lost brother Sirius has all along been a central figure within the Janus group. In a world where everything is now running scarce, the Janus members have taken to culling the population by killing fertile young women – the future mothers of the next generation.

In City at the End: The Resistance, Stella becomes a key player in a guerrilla movement operating within Widowton, which ultimately forces her to confront the question of whether the end actually justifies the means. Meanwhile she struggles to adapt to the strict routines inside the Women’s Battalion and desperately longs for her family and friends.

City at the End: The Resistance is the much anticipated second installment in the YA-series about Stella Staerk and her struggle to survive in a Nordic war-ton, dystopian future where young women are being targeted.

Photo: Elise Risnes Eikevik

Rolf-Magne Golten Andersen joins Salomonsson Agency

Rolf-Magne Golten Andersen started his screenwriting career at NRK (The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation), where he also worked as radio producer and project leader. After ten years, Andersen decided to focus whole-heartedly on his screenwriting and relocated from Oslo to the small Norwegian village of Dale. He has since written among else the acclaimed and innovative TV series Magnus (2019) together with creator Vidar Magnussen. The successful comedy drama series was nominated for ‘Best Comedy’ at the Golden Screen Awards, and selected for the official competition at Cannes Series, where its nominations included ‘Best TV Series’ and ‘Best Script’.

Andersen’s other works include the comedy series Hytteliv (2017), Superkrim 2020, and Førstegangstjenesten, of which the latter two are scheduled to premiere this year.

Currently, Andersen is working on two projects for Yellow Bird.