The new drama series Smärtpunkten has now revealed its star-studded cast.

This crime serie takes us back to Sweden twenty-five years ago, to when world-renowned playwright and novelist Lars Norén decides to put up a play in a prison together with high-risk inmates. This triggers a chain of events with fatal outcome.

Martin Nick Alexandersson will star as the inmate Tony Olsson. The cast also includes David Dencik, Maria Sid, Einar-Hugo Strömberg and Linus Gustafsson.

Smärtpunkten will premier on SVT Play April 19^th.

Today, Netflix unveiled that they are teaming up with Jo Nesbø for the adaptation of his Harry Hole series. The adaptation is penned by Nesbø, who is the showrunner of the series, and will be directed by Øystein Karlsen (Exit, So Long, Marianne).

Based on Nesbø’s novel The Devil’s Star, the series is produced by Universal Working Title and is slated to premier in 2026. Filming will commence in Oslo before the summer.

A heat wave hits a holiday-quiet Oslo. In an apartment by the cemetery, small black lumps begin to drip through the floor. At the same time, police detective Harry Hole is lying on the floor in his small apartment, drunk, dismissed and abandoned by his girlfriend. In the hunt for his corrupt colleague Tom Waaler, Harry has lost his closest colleague and only he knows that Tom Waaler is behind the murder. At the same time, another woman is found murdered with an index finger cut off. Harry Hole gets his last mission. Along with the only other first officer not on vacation: Tom Waaler.

The announcement of Harry Hole was one of the highlights of Netflix’s Next on Nordic’s line-up, presented at Grand Hotel in Stockholm earlier today.

Netflix announced six new Nordic feature film productions at its Next on Netflix showcase in Stockholm today, including the adaptation of Alex Ahndoril’s bestselling The Key Series, the crime whodunnit novels featuring Private detective Julia Stark.
Working titled The Key Series, the debut feature-length instalment will see Julia Stark hired by a wealthy family to solve a murder been committed at their estate in the northwest of Sweden. Banijay company Filmlance is lead producing. Casting and the delivery date has yet to be confirmed.

Netflix also announced Little Siberia, based on Antti Tuomainen’s celebrated novel with the same name, from Finnish director Dome Karukoski, whose feature credits include Tom Of Finland. The drama revolves around a remote village which is changed forever when a meteorite falls through the roof of a car one night. Karukoski takes co-writing credits with Minna Panjanen on the film.
Ina Sohlberg is producing with Mark Lwoff, Misha Jaari at Bufo. Cast members are Eero Ritala, Malla Malmivaara, Tommi Korpela, Martti Suosalo. Delivery is for 2025.

The Norwegian Storytel Awards have now announced their winners, and Thomas Seltzer came out on top in the category Narrated by Author.

The jury’s motivation reads as follows:

“There’s not much to criticize here. American Karmageddon is an entertaining, funny, and surprising book. It’s both a biography, a travelogue, an encyclopedia, and a history book – which author Thomas Seltzer reads exceptionally well with a great and genuine enthusiasm that keeps the interest up throughout the sixteen hours the audiobook spans. Seltzer’s self-deprecating way of poking fun at his own style couldn’t have been used by an external narrator. This approach adds even more humor to the book than it has initially. The book is extremely packed with information and facts, and Seltzer is good at emphasizing what’s important and needs to be highlighted. He also has a nice and pleasant voice, masters the language well, and avoids repetitions. Seltzer knows his audience and loves footnotes and side remarks. And as one of the jury members said, ‘He is the king, and always rows back to the starting point… to the mother of side remarks.'”

Anne Holt’s best-selling crime novel 1222, the eighth installment in the Hanne Wilhelmsen series, is being adapted for the screen by Amazon Studios, with filming currently taking place in Stockholm. The four-part mystery drama titled Blind Spot is set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video in early 2025.

The lead role of Hanne Wilhelmsen will be played by Ida Engvoll (Love and Anarchy). The ensemble cast includes Pål Sverre Hagen (Exit, Kon-Tiki), Kjell Bergqvist (Bäckström, 30 Degrees in February) and Sissela Kyle (Fröken Frimans krig).

The script is written by celebrated screenwriter Sara Heldt (Sandhamn Murders, The Death of a Pilgrim) together with the acclaimed writer/director Erik Skjoldberg (Occupied, Narvik). Skjoldberg is also directing all four episodes of the series.

During a heavy snowstorm, a train travelling from Stockholm to Narvik collides with an avalanche. All passengers must take shelter in an old, isolated hotel in the mountains nearby. Among them is the sharp and dark-minded police officer, Hanne Wilhelmsen (Ida Engvoll) and when mysterious murders start taking place at the hotel – despite being temporarily suspended from the police – Hanne begins to investigate.

Blind Spot is produced by Nordic Drama Queens in co-production with Amazon MGM Studios, and in association with FIFTH SEASON. Producer is Nordic Drama Queens’ Sandra Harms, and Executive Producers are Anne Holt, Niclas Salomonsson, Line Winther Skyum Funch and Josefine Tengblad.

Anne Holt has been awarded the Riverton Prize for her twelfth installment in the Hanne Wilhelmsen series, Twelve Untamed Horses.

The prestigious crime writing award is annually given to the best Norwegian crime story. Anne Holt has been the recipient of this award previously, in 1994, for the second novel in the Hanne Wilhelmsen series, Blessed are Those who Thirst.

“The Riverton Prize – The Golden Revolver – 2023 goes to a crime novel that oozes linguistic and creative excess. The novel has an original plot, a vivid gallery of characters, socially relevant themes, and surprises and twists that can take your breath away,” the jury says.

Martin Widmark and Helena Willis’ The JerryMaya Detective Agency series has just reached a whopping 10 million copies sold in Sweden alone. Last year, the series was the third most sold in Sweden among all genres and age groups.

For over 20 years, the books about Jerry, Maya, and the other inhabitants of the town of Valleby have been immensely popular among Swedish children, as well as abroad. Each new installment goes straight to the top of the bestseller list, and with over 50 books in the universe, Valleby is a place for children to revisit again and again.

The longlist for the 2024 International Booker Prize has just been announced, and Ia Genberg’s award winning and internationally praised novel The Details has been nominated among 12 other works of translated fiction. 

The jury praises it in the following way: “Ia Genberg writes with a remarkably sharp eye about a series of messy relationships between friends, family and lovers. Using, as she says, “details, rather than information”, she gives us not simply the “residue of life presented in a combination of letters” but an evocation of contemporary Stockholm and a moving portrait of her narrator. She has at times a melancholic eye, but her wit and liveliness constantly break through.”

The prestigious prize is awarded annually for the finest single work of fiction from around the world which has been translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland. The shortlist of six books will be announced on April 9.