The much-esteemed Dagens Nyheter’s Culture Award features both Lina Wolff, in the literary category, and Tarik Saleh, in the film category, among this year’s nominees.

In the literary category, the jury argues that Lina Wolff’s The Devil’s Grip, without any mercy, drags the reader into the darkness. The temperature is at the heights of hell and the madness is eye-opening. It takes a master like Lina Wolff to turn such damage into an irresistible drama adventure.

Lina herself describes the process of writing The Devil’s Grip being “like writing with a razorblade between your teeth”

In the film category, Tarik Saleh is nominated for his film Boy from Heaven, which saw its world premiere at Cannes film festival this year.

The jury argues that Tarek Saleh takes us on a captivating voyage through the Sunni Muslims holy centre of power in Kairo, an isolated world which also becomes the arena for a deadly showdown between religious and secular forces. Boy From Heaven is a spiritual, riveting and profoundly original thriller drama.

The Details by Ia Genberg and The Devil’s Grip by Lina Wolff  have been nominated for the prestigious August Prize 2022 for best Swedish fiction book of the year.

The August Prize is an annual Swedish literary prize awarded each year since 1989 by the Swedish Publishers’ Association. The prize is awarded to the best Swedish book of the year.

For the seventh week in a row, Lina Wolff’s The Devil’s Grip comes in at the top of the prestigious critics’ choice list of Dagens Nyheter, Sweden’s largest newspaper.

Lina Wolff’s The Devil’s Grip comes in on the official Swedish bestseller list for hardcover fiction at No. 4 this week, followed by Anders de la Motte and Måns Nilsson’s second installment of the Österlen Murders Death Goes Antiquing which comes in at No. 5. The first installment, A House to Die For, grabs the No. 2 spot on the paperback list.

Lina Wolff’s just published The Devil’s Grip enters the official Swedish bestseller list for hardcover fiction at No. 5 this week.

“At what time does everything derail? A few weeks later, she will try to map the course of events, try to understand at what moment the compass loses its northern position.”

A woman arrives in Florence where everything seems strange and overwhelming to her. The tile roofs, the church towers, all the loving couples. The man she has met. She thinks that she herself comes from a very barren area, has a lot to learn, and that he may be the one who thaws the solid-frozen soil within her. This is the story of the two, of their bodies and minds. About her grip on him, and his increasingly tight grip on her. The devil’s grip.

The critics at Norwegian book publication Bok365 have each chosen their favorite titles of 2021. Lina Wolff’s Carnality and Liza Marklund’s The Polar Circle are two of the selected works on the list.

Critc Leif Gjerstad gives Carnality 6 out of 6 stars and says:

“This burlesque expanding story is a gem! Sudden throws, incredible imagination and captivating storytelling joy about love, power and desire were some of the ingredients that made The Polyglot Lovers such an excellent read. These same elements ensure that Carnality – the title alludes to a reality show with the same name on the dark web – offers a fascinating journey on many levels.”

Gjerstad gives The Polar Circle 5 out 6 stars with the following praise:

“The first volume in a promising trilogy. A macabre discovery brings an old case to life when Liza Marklund turns her eyes to her home village in Norrbotten. With a sensitive pen, it depicts the teenagers’ vulnerable insecurity and search for identity, while Liza Marklund also skillfully manages to balance portrayals of women and depictions of teenagers with the progress of the murder investigation and the gradually and subtly increasing levels of excitement.”