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News: The Crime Writers of Scandinavia’s Glass Key will be awarded in Iceland this year – and I’m going!

The award will be delivered to the winner in the Nordic House in Reykjavík on Friday, May 29th, by the Icelandic Minister of Education, Katrín Jakobsdóttir.

The nominees are:
  • Iceland: Arnaldur Indriðason for Harðskafi (Hypothermia)
  • Sweden: Johan Theorin for Nattfåk (Night Blizzard)
  • Denmark: Lene Kaaberbøl & Agnete Friis for Drengen i kufferten (The Boy in the Suitcase)
  • Finland: Marko Kilpi for Jäätyneitä ruusuja (Frozen Roses)
  • Norway: Vidar Sundstøl for Drømmenes land (The Land of Dreams)

There will be a panel discussion with the authors afterwards, and on Saturday there will be lectures, followed by a panel discussion with the participation of Jo Nesbø, Diane Wei Liang and Yrsa Sigurðardóttir.

Unfortunately, none of the Scandinavian books are available at a library I have access to, and none have so far been translated into Icelandic, so I have had no opportunity to read them.
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Anonymous said…
Oh, lucky you! Jo Nesbo is a big favourite with us at Euro Crime - and we were lucky enough to meet his wonderful translator (into English), Don Bartlett, at CrimeFest recently.
I have not read any of the shortlist as I don't think they are translated into English, but I loved Joel Theorin's first novel and equally have adored all of Arnaldur Indridason's.
Yrsa Sigurdadottir's first novel is simiarly very good - she seems to like England because I have only ever been to three crime-fiction book festivals and she's been at all of them!
May 22, 2009 7:26 pm
Dorte H said…
If one has learnt Icelandic, any Scandinavian language should be a piece of cake so I can´t see what´s keeping you back ;)
May 22, 2009 9:29 pm
Barbara said…
I envy you! Surely Harðskafi is available?

Is it difficult to get translations of books in other Scandinavian languages, the ones that have sadly departed too far from their Eddic roots?

I hope you will report for all of us who are envious of your opportunity.
May 23, 2009 12:36 am
Bibliophile said…
Dorthe, I do read Norwegian and Danish (never tried Swedish, but shouldn't be too difficult), but I am not buying new books these days unless I know they will be keepers (e.g. cookbooks or reference books), so if I want to read them, it's either the library or BookMooch.

Barbara, of course Harðskafi is available, but keep in mind that Iceland is not in Scandinavia.
Many Scandinavian authors have been translated into Icelandic, both the classic and modern, but sadly, none of these particular ones have been. It's probably only a matter of time.
May 23, 2009 11:17 am
Dorte H said…
"I am not buying new books these days unless I know they will be keepers"
That is a point of view I can understand and usually follow myself, especially because one also has to pay for the postage!
May 23, 2009 4:37 pm
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