Arne Dahl has been awarded the prestigious European Crime Fiction Star Award (the Ripper Award). The award ceremony will take place on February 25, 2019 in Germany, where the winner will do a reading of their latest work. The Ripper Award honors a crime fiction author who has rendered outstanding services to crime literature within Europe. Past winners include Henning Mankell, Håkan Nesser, Fred Vargas, and Jussi Adler-Olsen.

For more information click “Read more.”

Jørn Lier Horst & Hans Jørgen Sandnes occupy two of the top five spots on the official November bestseller list for children’s books in Norway. At No. 2 is the duo’s new Christmas-themed short activity book, The Search for the Green Mitten. At No. 3 is Operation Junk Thief, the fourteenth book in Detective Agency No. 2 the series.

An official list of the most sold Norwegian fiction titles of the last decade has been announced by the Norwegian Booksellers Association. Jo Nesbø is the authorship with most titles on the list, occupying a total of eight positions – six of which are in the top ten. Police tops the list at No. 1, followed by Phantom at No. 2, and The Leopard at No. 3. Also on the list are The Son, The Thirst, Headhunters, The Snowman, and Blood on Snow.

Jørn Lier Horst likewise features at multiple positions on the list, appearing with three of his titles: The Hunting Dogs, The Caveman, and Ordeal.

The Ministry of Education and Culture has awarded director Selma Vilhunen the Finnish National Prize. Vilhunen is one of eight artists and groups to receive the award, granted in acknowledgement of a significant artistic career, achievement or promising breakthrough. The prize has been awarded since 1993 and amounts to EUR 24.700.

“With this year’s National Prize we wish to honor solid artistic know-how. These artists represent long-standing competence in, and impact on, the Finnish art field,” says Minister Sampo Terho.

Niklas Natt och Dag’s The Wolf and the Watchman has been chosen as Best Crime Novel of the Year by Adresseavisen. Adresseavisen is one of the largest daily newspapers in Norway.

Director, producer and screenwriter Abbe Hassan is the producer behind the critically acclaimed feature film A Hustler’s Diary (2017), which became one of the most successful Swedish films of the year. He has directed several short films, the latest being Gold (2017), which won ‘Best Short Film’ at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival Kids, and the Grand Short Film Prize at the 2018 Seoul Guro International Kids Film Festival.

Hassan is currently writing the screenplay of the feature film Exodus, which he is also set to direct.

Niklas Natt och Dag and Fredrik Backman have each been shortlisted for a LiveLib Readers’ Choice Award 2018 in Russia. LiveLib is the biggest readers portal in the country, much in the vein of Goodreads. Natt och Dag’s The Wolf and the Watchman is shortlisted in the category ‘Best Crime Novel’, and Backman’s Britt-Marie Was Here in ‘Best Translated Novel of the Year’. The winning authors and titles will be announced on December 19th.

Click “Read more” below to see the full list of nominees and to cast your vote.

On this week’s Norwegian bestseller lists, Lars Kepler’s Lazarus once again comes in at No. 1 in the e-book category. Jørn Lier Horst’s latest installment in the Cold Case Quartet, The Innermost Room, comes in at No. 3.

Sofi Oksanen has been awarded a prestigious Medal of Honour by the French Order Ordre des Arts et des Lettres that recognizes significant contributions to the arts and literature, or the propagation of these fields, by French and foreign citizens alike. She receives the Chevalier (Knight’s) distinction, which in the past been bestowed upon the likes of William S. Burroughs, Alice Munro and Tim Burton. The ceremony which will see Sofi decorated is to be held at the beginning of 2019 in France. Oksanen has previously been the recipient of several major French literary awards, notably the Fnac- and Prix Femina Ètranger awards for her novel Purge in 2010.