Jo Nesbø has been presented with the 2020 CoScan Nordic Person of the Year Award. CoScan (the Confederation of Scandinavian Societies) celebrates an achievement of outstanding merit by an individual, body or group related to one or more of the five Nordic countries. The award recognizes those who have added public lustre to any of the Nordic countries and who have caused the British and others outside the region to view those countries with even greater affection and respect. Previous recipients have included The Norwegian City of Lillehammer and the National Norwegian Opera and Ballet, among many others.

Monika Fagerholm has been bestowed with the 2020 Nordic Council Literature Prize for her novel Who Killed Bambi?  The prestigious accolade has been awarded since 1962 to a work of fiction written in one of the Nordic languages. The jury motivation was as follows:

“Monika Fagerholm’s Who Killed Bambi? is stylized morality written with a raging energy. A gang-rape is committed by affluent youths in the wealthy Villastaden just outside of Helsinki. Fagerholm’s focus lies not with the victim but the perpetrators and on what takes place before and after the rape. Particularly the parental generation’s strive to palliate afterwards gives her the opportunity to excel in impeccable social satire. The language heels forward, in turns gleaming with power or melancholically incantatory. In the novel’s tightly woven weave of dialogues, refrains and popular cultural references there’s a hard truth that affects the characters no matter how much they resist it. Gusten Grippe, the only perpetrator to acknowledge the guilt, becomes a counter force to the dark draw from the room where the assault took place. Against our superficial, status-craving times is pitched the longing for the unspoilt, a vital longing portrayed in the shape of recollections of love and friendship, moments one can return to and gather energy from.”

The winners of the prestigious Prix Europa have been announced, and 22 July, created by Sara Johnsen and Pål Sletaune, was awarded ‘Best European TV Fiction Series of the Year.’ Prix Europa is Europe’s largest festival for television, radio, and online media.

Sara Johnsen and Pål Sletaune has to date been awarded Seriekritikerprisen, the Fritt Ord Tribute, the Nordic TV Drama Screenplay Award and three Golden Screen Awards for their lauded drama series.

Annette Bjergfeldt is one of five authors shortlisted for the prestigious Danish Bogforum’s Debut Award 2020 for her epic family saga When Life Gives You Hippos. The coveted award has since 1993 been annually bestowed upon the best debut author in fiction in connection to the largest Danish bookfair, BogForum. This year’s fair is cancelled due to Covid, meaning that the jury-selected winner will instead be announced through Danish Radio 2 on the 8th of November.

Stina Jackson and Kristina Ohlsson have both been shortlisted for the prestigious 2020 Swedish Academy of Crime Writers’ Award for ‘Best Swedish Crime Novel’. Jackson is nominated for The Last Snow, while Ohlsson is shortlisted for her upcoming title Stormvakt, the first installment in a new series.

The winning author will be announced on November 22.