Matias Faldbakken has been shortlisted for the 2023 Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature, with his most recent novel Poor Thing. This prestigious literature prize has been awarded to a Norwegian author annually since 1950. The four nominees of each year are selected by the Norwegian Critics’ Association.

The jury’s motivation is as follows: ‘In Poor Thing, the language has a substance rarely observed elsewhere; it is sculpted with great inventiveness and curiosity. A tell-tale sign of good craftsmanship is that form and content work together, just like it does here, because this novel thematizes formation and learning to perfection. It illustrates how categories of loneliness and togetherness, culture and nature, break down in processes where we both reject and embrace different sides of ourselves and others. Both brutality and mercy are unpredictable forces in Poor Thing. Faldbakken explores how such forces continually affect the ways in which we operate, both as simple humans and as a collective.’

The winners will be announced March 2^nd.

Matias Faldbakken’s Poor Thing and Anders de la Motte’s The Mountain King are two of the titles featured on Norweigan newspaper Verdens Gang’s “Best books of the year 2022” list for literature & fiction. The annual list is one put together by renowned critics by picking out their own personal favorite reads of the past year.

Matias Faldbakken’s Poor Thing has been shortlisted for the esteemed Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize 2022 (Bokhandlerprisen) for “Book of the Year”.

The motivation is as follows: “You know it’s going to be good. Really good. /…/ We’re talking about a primitive and almost inarticulate word flow, almost an archaic, exhorting poem. It pushes this text to the very limits of what can be explained, and it as the same time one of the strongest pieces of writing one can encounter in contemporary Norwegian literature. If you are ready for this autumn’s most thrilling and distinctive reading experiences, all you have to do is throw yourself over Poor Thing.”

The Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize is awarded following a vote amongst all those who work in bookstores in Norway. Eligible books are those considered to be one of the “Books of the Year” written by a Norwegian author. The prize was awarded for the first time in 1948, and this year’s winner will be announced November 22^nd.

Poor Thing by Matias Faldbakken has been shortlisted for the much-distinguished and prestigious Brage Prize 2022 (Brageprisen) for best Norwegian Fiction.

The jury’s motivation emphasizes Faldbakken’s importance for Norwegian literature, writing that Poor Thing “… pushes language to its absolute limit as the narrative follows its own unconventional logic with great devotion, and is, at times, rather fragile and tender.”

The Brage Prize, awarded for the first time in 1992, recognizes and honors recently published Norwegian literature. This year’s winner will be announced the 24^th of November.

Matias Faldbakken’s highly praised novel The Hills is shortlisted for The Library Literature Prize in Norway. Behind the recently instituted award stand 200 public libraries in Norway, aiming to promote the best literature written or translated into Norwegian.

The winner is to be announced November 30th.

The bestseller lists for week 39 in Norway are in, and Jørn Lier Horst’s just published The Traitor goes straight to the top, claiming the No. 1 spot in the fiction category. Jo Nesbø comes in at No. 2 on the same list with Killing Moon, and Matias Faldbakken climbs to No. 3 with Poor Thing. On the paperback list, Liza Marklund’s The Polar Circle jumps to No. 2.

The official weekly bestseller lists in Norway see Jo Nesbø once more landing the No. 1 spot on the fiction list with Killing Moon, while Matias Faldbakken’s just published Poor Thing debuts at No. 4. Liza Marklund’s The Polar Circle meanwhile comes in at No. 5 in the paperback category.

Once upon a time, not that long ago, a child came crawling out of the woods, poor thing. Climbing out from the ditch, it began to wander the graveled road. It was a sad sight to behold.

The child was scruffy and ugly. Its hair was tangled. The forehead contorted. A frightened look could be seen on its face, eyes darting above crusty nostrils. The lips were stiff and blue and the neck far too thin. A long cloth or tattered vest wrapped around its torso, and under it two skinny legs protruded, knees wider than both calves and thighs. The child wore no shoes. Its oversized feet resembled wet wool socks. From time to time, the knuckles of one hand would scrape the ground. And close to its ribs, the thin, hunched figure clutched a tattered folder, or perhaps an envelope, like an animal come out of the forest bearing a message.

The lonely foster boy Oskar works at Aud and Olav Blum’s mill for board and lodging. One day he discovers a child in the forest, an untamed cub, whom he captures and takes home. The child suffers from stunted growth and is almost completely mute, but under Oskar’s care, it begins to grow at breakneck speed.

Matias Faldbakken’s sixth novel, Poor Thing, is both a love fable and a coming-of-age story. It is written with great imagination, linguistic excess, and a distinctive mixture of passion and irony. The narrative alternates freely between realistic novel traditions, satire, romance, and folk tales, and several historical eras are in flux at the same time.

Poor Thing is an original, entertaining, and captivating novel about exclusion, loneliness, desire, and care. And all the while, the story poses the question: What is a trauma?

Matias Faldbakken has been awarded the 2022 Oktober Prize. He was announced as the winner by Oktober’s publishing director, Inger Engelstad, who gave the following motivation: “Faldbakken is one of the most prominent writers of his generation, with a vast linguistic and stylistic register. He writes novels that are profoundly original, and that go their own way. There is a great authority coursing through everything he writes, along with a unique literary elation …”

The Oktober Prize was instituted with the purpose of strengthening and further developing significant, preferably younger, authorships that are particularly characterized by literary courage.

During today’s award ceremony at the House of Literature in Oslo, it was announced that Faldbakken’s We Are Five is the recipient of the 2019 Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature. The jury's motivation is as follows:

“This year’s winner has since his first publication continued to distinguish himself as a particularly uncompromising and unpredictable author, who in a unique way succeeds in mirroring our times. The exploration of how transcendence is closely linked to the power of creativity and identity is a frequently recurring theme in his authorship. In his latest novel, this is merged into in a story that captivates from the very first page, and continues to transform as the story progresses. /…/ In this year’s winning novel, We Are Five, the aggressive, extreme and arbitrary have been replaced with playfulness with a capital P. The novel is full of richness. The satire is still edgy, but the mocking gaze has been replaced with an honed humor. The characters have a warmth to them, and the narrative a great momentum. /…/ With his supreme sense of pop-cultural and historical literary references, Faldbakken has crafted a novel that constantly remolds itself: from kitchen sink realism and adventures, to Frankenstein’s, no sorry, Blystad’s monster.”

Monika Fagerholm’s Who Killed Bambi? and Matias Faldbakken’s We Are Five are shortlisted for the 2020 Nordic Council Literature Prize. Instituted in 1962, the Literature Prize has since been awarded annually to a work of fiction written in one of the Nordic languages that is of “high literary and artistic quality”.

Among previous winners are Sofi Oksanen, Per Petterson and Tomas Tranströmer, to mention a few.

To read the jury’s rationale, click the “Read more” below.

A jury consisting of both experts within the literary field and a few carefully selected members of the general public unanimously named Faldbakken's latest novel We Are Five the winner of the Norwegian Radio’s Literary Award during yesterday's live announcement. The public service station NRK broadcasted the jury interview on Norwegian radio and TV, and Abid Q. Raja, the Minister of Culture and Gender Equality, was present to hand out the award.