Swedish TV4 has announced that the channel has ordered a second season of its hit TV-series Modus. Based on Anne Holt’s novels about Inger Johanne Vik, Modus has been a success among viewers and critics alike, on average reaching 1.039 million viewers per episode. In addition to this, hundreds of thousands of viewers have been following the series on TV4’s online streaming service. With its extraordinary ratings, Modus is the most successful Scandinavian TV series to have been aired on TV4 in 25 years.

Anne Holt says: “I am both proud and happy that Modus will continue for another season. As an author, it has been a pleasure to see ones universe treated as elegantly and professionally in the adaptation from book to TV, and I look forward to a continued collaboration with TV4 and Miso Film.”

Jo Nesbø’s Midnight Sun is shortlisted for the highly regarded Brage Prize. The Brage Prize is Norway’s most prestigious literary award that is awarded annually by the Norwegian Book Prize foundation in the following categories: Fiction, Children’s literature, Non-fiction and an open class that varies each year. This year it is Crime literature.

An excerpt from the jury’s motivation reads:
“Like Blood on Snow, this novel deviates from his earlier works in style and form. The novel is above all well-written, with an impeccable drive and excellent character, time and environmental depictions.”

The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Oslo on December 8th 2015.

Screenwriter and playwright Malin Lagerlöf (b.1968) began her career writing for the stage, and has crafted more than a dozen plays for theatres around Sweden. Lagerlöf’s career in film and TV took off in 1999 when she wrote the feature film Vägen Ut, which was nominated for a Guldbagge at the 1999 Official Swedish Film Awards in the category ‘Best screenplay’. The success was quickly followed by the popular feature films Hans och Hennes (2001) and Miffo (2003). Known for her diversity as a writer, Lagerlöf easily moves between writing for the stage, feature film, and TV series such as Wallander (2013) and the acclaimed Bibliotekstjuven (2011), nominated for a 2011 Kristallen Award in the category ‘Best Drama Series’.

Matthew Reeve (b. 1979) is an American screenwriter, director and producer based in Stockholm. His debut film, the documentary Hope in Motion (2003), was nominated for an Emmy in the category ‘Best Non-Fiction Special’, and short-listed for a Bafta in the category ‘Best Television Single Documentary’. The film and its sequel, Choosing Hope (2004), were released on DVD in 2007.

Anna Lo Westlin (b.1984) is a screenwriter, director and producer based in Stockholm, Sweden. Westlin began her film career in New York as a Production Associate for Killer Films, working on movies such as I’m Not There (2007), Savage Grace (2007) and Then She Found Me (2007). She soon moved on to working as a manager of finance and later as an acquisitions executive at renowned film distribution company Magnolia Pictures. In 2014, Anna Lo received the Ingmar Bergman residency scholarship and has most recently written and directed the short drama thriller Ladies Who Lunch (2016).

Matthew Reeve and Anna Lo Westlin write separately as well as a duo.

The film rights to Bobbie Peers’ William Wenton and the Luridium Thief have just been acquired by Oscar nominated film director Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) in a preemptive deal.

Sofi Oksanen’s highly anticipated new novel Norma has gone straight to No. 1 on the official bestseller list in Finland. The stand-alone novel is a dark family drama with fantastical undertones, and introduces yet another facet of Oksanen’s authorship.

The acclaimed artist, concept designer and author of Ur Varselklotet (2014) Simon Stålenhag (b. 1984) is best known for his highly imaginative images and stories portraying illusive sci-fi phenomena in mundane, hyper-realistic Scandinavian landscapes. Ur Varselklotet was ranked by The Guardian as one of the ‘10 Best Dystopias’, where it is joined by works such as Franz Kafka’s The Trial and Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca.

Not only have Stålenhag’s unique and cinematic images earned him a worldwide fan base, but have also made him a go-to storyteller, concept artist and illustrator for both the film and computer gaming industry. Simon Stålenhag’s work can be seen in films such as Searching for Sugarman (2012), directed by Malik Bendjeloull, and in games such as Ripple Dot Zero (2013).