The Nobel Prize in Literature will not be awarded by the Swedish Academy this year. In the wake of that, a new academy has been formed to award an international literary prize.

Sofi Oksanen and Ulf Lundell are both nominated for The New Academy Prize in Literature. The list of nominees is composed by Swedish librarians. Three authors will be singled out from the voting for a final judging by the expert jury. A fourth author will enter the final entirely based on the nominations from the librarians. Of these authors, two will be female and two will be male. The voting closes on August 14th. The winner will be announced on October 14th and presented at a formal event on December 10th.

To see the full list of nominees and to vote, click on “Read more”.

Danish screenwriter Anders August has a wealth of experience in major TV shows, feature films and shorts, and is the recipient of Denmark’s biggest film award: The Nordisk Film Award.

Currently, August is working on the highly anticipated project A Fortunate Man, based on Nobel prize-winning author Henrik Pontoppidan’s 1898 novel Lykke-Per. Set to become both a feature film and a miniseries, it is the biggest fiction project so far from the Danish broadcasting channel TV 2 and ranks as one of the most ambitious European series to date. Produced by Nordisk Film, the feature film will see its premiere in August 2018, with the miniseries airing on Danish TV 2 in 2019.

Stefan Ahnhem has been shortlisted for the 2018 Crimetime Specsavers Award in the category ‘Crime Author of the Year – Reader’s Choice’ in Sweden. The winner will be announced during the Gothenburg Book Fair in September.

To see the list of nominees and to vote, click on “Read more”.

This is the story of how Gustav’s boy, Master Detective Willy, became Master Detective Leif GW Persson. And how the dream of a life as a great detective turned into a career in studying and solving crimes.

In this memoir, we meet the hardworking and successful professional as well as the husband and family father. Leif GW Persson opens up about the years at the junior secondary school, about happy marriages and break-ups, messy relationships, an increasing alcohol abuse and the class journey he has made. About rising fame and what it brought him, what money has meant and what it means to him now. About what drives him as a professional, and the price he has had to pay for success and failure. About friends and enemies, friendship and betrayal. About his secret life. Persson also shares his views on several well-known murders, solved and unsolved.

Master Detective Willy: the Story of My Career is the gripping and fascinating true story about the life of the renowned criminologist and critically acclaimed novelist, Leif GW Persson.

The official Norwegian bestseller lists remain largely unchanged also this week. On the hardcover list, Jørn Lier Horst & Hans Jørgen Sandnes’ The Search for the Castle’s Secret stays at No. 1, and is closely followed by Jo Nesbø’s Macbeth at No. 2. Macbeth is also No. 2 on the e-book list, where the No. 1 spot is yet again claimed by Ingar Johnsrud’s The Cross I Bear. Johnsrud also features heavily on the paperback list, where his Those Who Follow comes in at No. 2 and As We Fall at No. 4.

Daniel Espinosa is set to direct Morbius, Sony’s Spider-Man spinoff, with Oscar-winning actor Jared Leto signed on to star in the feature. The project is based on the Spidey antihero Morbius the Living Vampire, a former biochemist who in an attempt to cure a fatal blood disease injected himself with a treatment serum derived from bats and thus became Morbius.

The film was penned by the team of Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama, the duo who created Netflix’s Lost in Space remake.

Sony has not dated the film, but the movie will likely be slated soon as production is expected to start sometime this year.

Espinosa has strong ties to Sony after directing the sci-fi thriller Life starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds, and is also developing the Afghanistan War pic Red Platoon for the studio.

Norwegian screenwriter and director Magnus Martens is internationally recognized for his ability to deliver stylish and violent action while remaining staggeringly entertaining and savagely funny. He made his feature breakthrough with the slick comedy thriller Jackpot, which he wrote and directed based on a Jo Nesbø story, and has since directed multiple episodes for some of the biggest TV shows in the US. Martens and Nesbø have now teamed up for a second time on a feature film that Martens is attached to direct.

We will shortly reveal the next addition to our select list of top directors. Stay tuned!