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.

Christmas is just around the corner and the entire class at Pear School simply cannot wait. But neither Lisbet nor her best friend Hanin celebrate Christmas – they don’t even know how. Lisbet grows ever more excited about celebrating a Real Christmas this year. Problem is, her granny the Samba King hates traditions with a passion and wants to do everything her own way. Someone who on the contrary knows exactly how Christmas ought to be celebrated is their next-door neighbor. Unfortunately, he just so happens to be grumpiest old man in the world (who’s also potentially a catnapper!). How will Lisbet dare to approach him to get hold of his expert knowledge?

In A Happy Dissmas we return to Emma Karinsdotter’s beloved, vibrant and zany universe that encourages children to have the confidence to be themselves.

Niklas Natt och Dag’s just published 1795 grabs the No. 1 spots on both the hardcover list and the e-book list this week, also coming in at No. 3 in audio. Meanwhile, the children’s list sees Kristina Ohlsson’s The Ghost Detectives and the Case of the Ghastly Shadow, book one in her new Ghost Detectives series, debut at No. 3. Also debuting but on the audio list is Arne Dahl with Meltdown, which claims the No. 4 placement.

Today the Swedish Oscar Committee presented the shortlist for Sweden’s submission to the Academy Award for ‘Best International Feature Film.’ The Emigrants, screenwriters Siv Rajendram Eliassen and Anna Bache-Wiig’s adaptation of Vilhelm Moberg’s immortal classic, is one of three titles in the running.

The Emigrants is the story of Kristina Nilsson, a mother who leaves a poverty-stricken Sweden with her family in the 1850s and sets out on a long, dangerous journey, hoping to find a better life for herself and her children in America. Starring Lisa Carlehed and Gustaf Skarsgård, the story is now being told from Kristina’s perspective for the first time ever.

Acclaimed Norwegian filmmaker Erik Poppe is the director of the film, which is produced by Fredrik Wikström Nicastro, SF Studios, with support from the Swedish Film Institute.

The Petrona Award’s jury has just presented its shortlist for the 2021 Petrona Award for ‘Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.’ The list of six nominees include Anne Holt with A Necessary Death, Jørn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger with Death Deserved, and Yrsa Sigurdardóttir with Gallows Rock.

The Judges have the following to say about each title:

“A pacy, absorbing thriller with a gutsy, complex main character.” – on Anne Holt’s A Necessary Death.

“The novel expertly fuses the writers’ individual styles, while showcasing their joint talent for writing credible and engaging characters, and creating a fast-paced, exciting plot.” – on Jørn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger’s Death Deserved.

“[The protagonists’] relationship provides readers with some lighter moments and occasional black humour, along with a frisson of mutual attraction. The novel’s intricate plot focuses on skewed morals and revenge.” – on Yrsa Sigurdardóttir’s Gallows Rock.

The winning title will be announced on Thursday 4 November, 2021.

A pandemic has swept the world. Hanne Wilhelmsen, long since retired from the police force, has already lived in self-imposed exile in her apartment for years. As Norway is shut down, she finally has the chance to reclaim her empty city.

At the same time, police officer Henrik Holme is struggling with a murder case that no one seems to care too much about. A woman has been found naked in the trunk of a car. The body is intact, apart from the face which has been beaten beyond recognition. No one has reported her missing. No one knows who she is. Holme must turn to his old mentor Hanne Wilhelmsen for help.

At the biggest publishing house in Norway, the young editor Ebba Braut is only four days into her new job when the pandemic hits with full force. From her cramped home office, she is assigned the task to hunt down a very valuable lost manuscript by one of the publisher’s best-selling authors. She too is forced to call on Hanne Wilhelmsen, who recently submitted her first crime novel without being especially interested in being edited.

The Eleventh Manuscript is a story about family secrets and deceit, about identity theft and fraud, about authors and the publishing industry, and about how “realistic fiction” can be life-threatening. Literally.