Oliver Lovrenski’s award-winning debut Back in the Day has been shortlisted for the Tarjei Vesaas’ debutant prize. The prize is awarded annually for the best first literary work in Norwegian and was instituted in 1964 by Tarjei Vesaas.

The jury, consisting of members from the Norwegian Authors’ Union write their motivation as follows:

“In a compellingly rhythmic and musical language, Oliver Lovrenski writes a coming-of-age depiction alongside the traditional Norwegian narrative. In Back in the Day, we meet Igor and his friends, a group of young boys from various parts of the world. In Lovrenski’s succinct prose, dreams are built up and torn down again. The boys find camaraderie in their outsider status. Yet, the longing for a lost sense of security seeps to the surface and strikes the reader with precision. With linguistic sensitivity and a generous dose of humor, the reader is propelled through Oslo’s underground at a high pace. It is an impressively well-composed work that has made a powerful impact on the Norwegian public.”

The winner will be announced on the 9th of March.

Tonight, Jo Nesbø was given the prestigious Pepe Carvalho Award at a ceremony held at Barcelona City Hall, in connection to the BCNegra Festival.

The Pepe Carvalho Award is a tribute to the memory of Spanish writer Manuel Vázquez Montalban and his famous detective Pepe Carvalho, who contributed to the revival of crime fiction in Europe in the 70s. The prize is given by the Barcelona City Council in recognition of prestigious national and international crime fiction writers.

The jury of the award considers that “since the beginning of his literary career, Nesbø has demonstrated a solvency, ambition and narrative generosity that has made his readers addicted to everything he publishes”.

“In a book by Nesbø we always have one, two, three lines of argument, an accurate documentation that reminds us more of a curious spirit than a functionary of writing, the necessary dose of intrigue, action and psychology of the characters, as well as a look at his society that does not skimp on criticism of the open wounds of a past that not everyone wants to accept”, the jury said.

Previous recipients of the award includes Maj Sjöwall, Joyce Carol Oates, James Ellroy, Dennis Lehane and Don Winslow, among else.

Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV festival and forum, has revealed its impressive 2024 main competition lineup, which includes Øystein Karlsen’s So Long, Marianne. The original series, created by Karlsen, stars Alex Wolff and Thea Sofie Loch Næss and tells the legendary love story of Canadian singer and poet Leonard Cohen, and his muse Marianne Ihlen.

So Long, Marianne will have its world premiere at the festival, which takes place in Lille, France, 15-22 March.

2024’s winner of the Finnish Whodunnit Society’s Honorary Award for foreign crime fiction is none other than Jørn Lier Horst. An annual honorary award, the winner is selected by the Board of the Whodunnit Society in consultation with the editor-in-chief of the magazine Ruumiin kulttuuri (Body Culture). More than twenty international authors – among them Colin Dexter, Patricia Highsmith, P. D. James, Håkan Nesser, Henning Mankell, Fred Vargas, Keigo Higashino, and Pierre Lemaitre – have received the award since 1993.

The jury motivates their choice thusly:

“Norwegian Jørn Lier Horst is known to crime and suspense fiction fans for his police novel series William Wisting. Because of his police background, the Wisting books have a realistic portrayal of police investigations. In the Wisting series, Horst successfully combines past and present. His style is clear and recognizable, with philosophical reflections on the nature of evil and a fast-paced plot that draws the reader in. The characters are easy to get attached to and to care about.

The Finnish Whodunnit Society would like to use this recognition to draw attention to Horst’s other side as a writer and to thank him for this as well. Horst has written dozens of children’s and young adult detective stories, which have also been translated into Finnish. The children’s detective series Detective Agency No. 2 /…/ and the youth detective series Clue are very popular, for example in the children’s sections of Finnish libraries.”

Established by Swedish magazine QX in 1999, the QX Awards are an annual event celebrating and awarding LGBT achievements. Jonas Gardell is the proud winner of the 2024 Novel of the Year award, which he receives for his latest title, Sissy.

The voting is now open for this year’s Norwegian Storytel Awards, which pay particular respect to the audio book narrators working on the nominated titles.

Among those whose works have been nominated in the category Crime & Suspense are Anders de la Motte with The Mountain King, Anders Roslund with Sweet Dreams, Jørn Lier Horst with The Traitor, Jo Nesbø with Killing Moon, and Lars Kepler with The Spider.

Thomas Seltzer’s American Karmageddon is nominated in the category Narrated by Author.

The twenty-sixth Detective Agency No. 2 title, Operation Eeny Meeny, has just been published in Norway. This time around Detective Agency No. 2 is up against their biggest task so far, with no less than seven suspects. The snow is melting in Riverton, and as it does a pile of mysterious things are uncovered beneath a drift: a balaclava, a pair of gloves, a few pieces of wood, and a crowbar. What has happened? Detective Agency No. 2 soon comes across traces of a crime with many suspects. Can they find out who is behind it all?