
‘Rat Island and Other Stories’ No. 1 in Hungary
Jo Nesbø’s story collection Rat Island and Other Stories has gone straight to No. 1 on the Hungarian bestseller list upon publication.
Jo Nesbø’s story collection Rat Island and Other Stories has gone straight to No. 1 on the Hungarian bestseller list upon publication.
Filmmaker Arvin Kananian grew up in Stockholm, Sweden and in Yokohama, Japan. In his late teenage years he moved to the UK to study law, but instead found his calling for acting and began studying Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg’s methods at acting schools in London and Stockholm. Kananian quickly made a name for himself in the Swedish film and TV business, becoming well known for his memorable performances in awarded and acclaimed feature films and TV shows such as Aniara (2018) and Caliphate (2020). His upcoming acting projects include Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness and Swedish Television’s Christmas Calendar.
Having worked in front of the camera for several years, Kananian felt increasingly drawn towards filmmaking. He started writing and directing and in 2017 he debuted with his first short film Affect. The following years saw the premieres of his short films Tomorrow the Birds will Sing (2018) and I, Julia (2020). The latter was among else selected for the prestigious Telluride Film Festival.
Currently, Kananian is working on a project with production company Nexiko.
Björn Natthiko Lindeblad’s I May Be Wrong enters the Sunday Times Bestseller List for hardcover nonfiction at No. 8 this week in the UK.
Kristina Ohlsson’s Icebreaker comes in at No. 5 in e-book and No. 7 in hardcover on this week’s official bestseller lists in Norway, meanwhile Storm Watch grabs the No. 3 spot on the paperback list.
Just published in Iceland, Heine Bakkeid’s third Thorkild Aske installment We Shall Not Awaken goes straight to No. 1 on the bestseller lists for all books and formats of leading book retailer Eymundsson.
Jørn Lier Horst’s A Will To Serve claims two spots on this week’s bestseller list for Saxo, Denmark’s biggest online book retailer. The book comes in as No. 1 on the list for e-books and No. 3 for audiobooks.
The second season of hit crime drama Bäckström premieres today, February 28, on C More and subsequently on TV 4 March 8.
Murder isn’t often good news. But Detective Sergeant Evert Bäckström (Kjell Bergqvist) can’t help but rejoice when he is told that Thomas Eriksson, a celebrity lawyer and his rival, has been killed. Bäckström’s good mood is however spoiled when he is assigned to the frustrating case and finds the list of people who wanted Eriksson dead to be endless.
Bäckström Season 2, directed by Andreas Öhman and Manuel Concha and written by Jonathan Sjöberg and Dennis Magnusson, is based on the novel The Sword Of Justice by acclaimed author Leif GW Persson.
Jørn Lier Horst’s The Katharina Code, just published in paperback in France, is No. 1 on the French bestseller list for crime fiction.
Ever since his arrest in Israel in 1979, the name Stig Bergling has been synonymous to espionage. He has been portrayed as a master spy and a true original. A lady’s man, married many times over but never to the love of his life. Time after time, he eluded Swedish justice, not least through the spectacular prison escape in October 1987.
But was Stig Bergling the spy all that successful? Who benefited from his escapades and who was sacrificed in order for him to gain his freedom? Jonas Bonnier’s skillfully constructed novel Fandango Calling challenges the myth surrounding Bergling and invites the reader to a breathtaking adventure in the bizarre world that agents live and work in.
Steinar Bragi’s The Disturbance is nominated for the 2022 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”.
The winner will be announced on November 1st in Helsinki, Finland.
The jury says about the The Disturbance:
“The questions that arise during the reading of this novel are the big questions on the ethics of science and the present day. Some of them are familiar: When will artificial intelligence become so powerful that it will be indistinguishable from human intelligence? If the imitation of human intelligence can be perfected, will it be more perfect than the intelligence that each of us has been given? In films and literature, conflicts are often portrayed between humans and supercomputers, cyborgs or aliens. Such clashes usually end with the human spirit winning a narrow victory, which relies on mankind’s ability to love and believe – but who says that this is not also something that can be learned?”
To read the full rationale, please click ‘Read More’ below.
Hungary, Animus
Three-book deal closed by Emma Granberg
Taiwan, Delight Culture
Closed by The Grayhawk Agency on behalf of Ida Schabbauer
Slovakia, Verbarium
Closed by Ida Schabbauer
Finland, Otava
Closed by Linda Andersson
Taiwan, Sun Color
Closed by Emma Granberg
North Macedonia, Bata Press
Two-book deal closed by Emma Granberg
This is a wonderful and at the same time painful and gripping read about how our self-perception and the way others see us can be completely at odds. It’s a brilliant novel.
– Akureyri.net
It’s a stunning debut by a young author, who in a spot-on way portrays the burdens of aging and the often-accompanying patronizing attitude from the surroundings.
– MAX Magazine
Paradis City has thrilling ambitions worthy of applause. Prime Video (…) may very well have a hit on their hands.
– Aftonbladet
The Russos make the most of their enormous budget, with a boatload of impressive visual effects, faithful recreations of Stålenhag’s epic vistas, and some nicely analogue art direction.
– Empire
The Stranger Things star, Chris Pratt and the Russo Brothers have made a Spielbergian treat. /…/ (…) what fun it is to watch a film this expensive and not be able to quite work out where it’s going – or even if it might just stay put for a bit, and soak up the dustily poetic death-of-the-American century vibe.
– The Telegraph
In Wolf Hour, Jo Nesbø sets the action in the American Midwest in 2016. A hard-boiled police novel in the best Nesbø style – from an America that’s on the edge of a precipice.