As Oprah Winfrey lists her picks for the 21 Best Translated Books of 2021, Sofi Oksanen’s Dog Park is featured on the list.
When the blues artist Nils loses his father, he’s unable to make it to the funeral. A few weeks later, Nils finally travels back to the small town, By, and the memories he left behind twenty-five years earlier. By is a magical place, with hop fields, mining pits and the eccentrics who live there.
It is also where Nils meets his aging mother again. Her and the butterflies she loves, butterflies which can camouflage themselves as dead leaves.
Tom Malmquist’s Dead Leaves is a warm and willful novel about finding your way home.
Jonas Gardell has been bestowed with Växjö Municipality’s Literature Prize in Pär Lagerkvist’s Memory 2021. The award was established in 2011 with the purpose of highlighting outstanding authorships in the spirit of Pär Lagerkvist and is handed out biannually. Gardell is praised with the following motivation: ”An authorship that with its strong anchoring in contemporary structures and historical roots alike, actualizes eternal fundamental moral issues and provides a voice to the vulnerable and those repeatedly rendered invisible.”
The award ceremony will take place on November 4th at the Växjö City Library.
Jo Nesbø’s recently published The Jealousy Man and Other Stories is No. 1 and Niklas Natt och Dag’s 1793 is No. 2 on the bestseller list for crime & thriller fiction in Russia.
Niklas Natt och Dag’s third and final part of the Bellman noir trilogy, 1795, stays put at No. 1 on the official Swedish bestseller list for the second consecutive week, claiming the top position in hardcover, audio and e-book this week.
Following its world premiere in the Midnight section of the Sundance Film Festival, Frida Kempff’s Knocking has opened in US cinemas to great acclaim. The movie will be released in Sweden on November 5.
Knocking, based on Johan Theorin’s short story Knocks, revolves around a woman who moves into a new apartment after a tragic accident and begins to hear a disturbing knocking, which sounds like a call for help or a message in Morse code. She confronts her neighbours as the knocking intensifies but it becomes clear that no one else can hear it.
“Gripping from first scene to last.”
– The Hollywood Reporter
“With Knocking, Kempff masterfully crafts the slow steady decline of a mind on edge. /…/ A real masterclass of building tension and character work. /…/ All will be kept on the edge of their seat.”
– The Hollywood News
“Knocking is a Aronofsky-like knockout.”
– Pajiba
“A stifling, claustrophobic nightmare. /…/ A smouldering slow-burn of a movie that will linger in your mind for some time.”
– Starburst Magazine
“A sharp debut. /…/ Strikingly atmospheric cinematography and an intense central performance.”
– Screen Daily
Niklas Natt och Dag’s just published 1795 tops the September bestseller list for hardcover fiction in Sweden, coming in at No. 1. Liza Marklund’s The Polar Circle meanwhile claims the No. 1 spot in both e-book and audio, and David Sundin’s The Book That Really Did Not Want To Be Read comes in at No. 3 on the children’s books list.
Katrine Engberg is the winner of the danish literature prize the Martha Award 2021. The Martha Award is the largest book retailer award in Denmark, voted by the public and handed out annually by Bog & Idé. Previous winners include Jussi Adler-Olsen, J.K. Rowling and Stephen King.
Kate Ekberg is a star. She has single-handedly created the immensely popular night club Kate’s, which is on everyone’s bucket list. She’s a glamorous, tough, and savvy business woman. But no one knows that she is also in the grip of a blackmailer.
Outwardly, Jacob Grim is an uptight bank manager complete with a stern look, double-buttoned suits and sober ties. Ever since a tragedy unfolded ten years back, he has forced himself to suppress all emotions. It’s been working fine, until he comes across a desperate Kate.
Something occurs in the meeting of these opposites: the charismatic nightclub icon and the closed-off bank man. They are thrown into a whirlwind passion that changes everything and suddenly there’s a promise of something more. If they dare to do the most difficult thing: be vulnerable.
The Queen of the Night is a feelgood love story about falling for your complete opposite against all odds and re-evaluating everything you thought you knew in the process. The book is the fourth installment in the stand-alone series Opposites Attract.
This is a small story about big questions: What is a family? What is a hockey team? What is a community? And what are we ready to sacrifice in order to protect them?
Two years have passed since the events that no-one wants to think about. Everyone has tried to move on, but there’s something about this part of the woods that never really lets you. We are a town with sorrow in our heart and violence in the air, we love fairytales with happy endings, but deep down we probably knew this never was one. It begins with a storm, this time, and ends in fire. Someone who’s been gone a long time is coming home. Someone is laid to rest. Someone falls in love, someone dreams of the NHL, and someone dreams of revenge. Someone sleeps back-to-back with their best friend, someone tries to fix their marriage, and someone tries to save their children. Someone hates, someone fights, someone grabs a gun and walks towards the ice rink. All that we fought for won’t make it, all those we love won’t grow old.
So what is a family? A hockey team? A community? They are the sums of our choices. What are we willing to sacrifice in order to protect them?
Everything. Just that.
This is the final installment in Fredrik Backman’s beloved trilogy about Beartown. The Winners is a powerful, violent, and deeply loving end to the story of the small hockey town and its people.
Ukraine, Vydavnytstvo
Closed by Emma Granberg
UK, Michael Joseph
Two-book deal closed by Julia Angelin
Finland, Otava
Three-book deal closed by Julia Angelin
Faroe Islands, BFL
Two-book deal closed by Ida Schabbauer
Serbia, Vulkan
Closed by Ida Schabbauer
Slovakia, Grada
Closed by Emma Granberg
Stålenhag’s books contain stories bolstered by hyper-realistic artwork; these are not traditional novels so much as mind-bending artistic experiences.
– Winter is Coming
Sunset at Zero Point is a sublime read: Stålenhag’s artwork and storytelling is at their best, with a focused, emotional, and thoughtful take on the human condition.
– Transfer Orbit
Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag adds another entry to his brilliant alternate-history oeuvre, this time telling a cohesive, cinematic story anchored by a compelling sci-fi hook and a render romance between longtime friends.
– The Speculative Shelf
Already dreading the end of Stranger Things? Simon Stålenhag’s upcoming sci-fi book should be picked up by Amazon Prime! /…/ Stålenhag’s writing and hyper-realistic art perfectly blend and create that otherworldly feeling, which parallels Stranger Things’ Upside Down.
– FandomWire
[The Seven Wonders] is suspense at the highest level, with a fast pace, unexpected twists, an intricate story, and language that beats most others in the genre. Additionally, it’s seasoned with a lot of humor. Simply a delight to read.
– Norrtelje tidning
Diamonds and Rust is a story about wounds that never heal, about envy, betrayal and revenge, and about a crime so well and thoroughly thought out that it may never be solved. Not unless Hanne Wilhelmsen gets a chance to try.