Jørn Lier Horst’s Dry Land, the latest installment in the bestselling Wisting series, tops both the hardcover and e-book bestseller lists this week.
Photo: Carla Orrego Veliz; Rickard Eriksson
Each year, the Albert Bonnier Scholarship Foundation awards eight scholarships to support, encourage, and celebrate authors writing in Swedish. These scholarships are distributed across the following categories: fiction writers, poets, cultural journalists, translators, illustrators/designers, and non-fiction writers.
Both Anders Rydell and Andrzej Tichý are among this year’s recipients. Tichý, who released his critically acclaimed Book of Events in February, is one of the recipients in the fiction category. Rydell, whose latest work is the highly praised Stolen Music, is one of two recipients in the non-fiction category.
As the year 2024 is coming to an end, Swedish newspaper Falu-Kuriren has listed its best suspense novels of 2024. Among the selected titles are No One by Pascal Engman, The Rust Forest by Anders de la Motte, and Grand Finale by Jens Lapidus. The paper offers the following reviews:
“With journalistic sharpness, Pascal Engman has the ability to create suspense literature in which he puts his finger on different societal issues. Detective Vanessa Frank and her colleagues are recurring characters, but Engman puts as much care into criminals and victims in his stories. /…/ The many threads are intertwined to a ball that rolls faster and faster. Pascal Engman writes highly topical suspense like no other.”
“De La Motte’s writing is impressive, and The Rust Forest is definitely worth a read.”
“Jens Lapidus’ Top Dog series has been influential in shaping both novels and TV shows about Stockholm’s underworld as it appears today. With this, he brings the series to the finish line, and it is truly a Grand Finale.”
This week, Lisa Ridzén’s When The Cranes Fly South claims the No. 1 spot on the bestselling list for paperbacks, closely followed by Liza Marklund’s Storm Mountain at No. 3. Lars Kepler’s The Sleepwalker holds the No. 2 spot on the hardcover list, while Tina Mackic’s The Summer Shadow and the Christmas Prank, comes in at No. 3 on the children’s list.
Sydsvenskan, the largest newspaper in southern Sweden, has announced its list of this year’s best books, featuring the acclaimed works Book of Events by Andrzej Tichý and Stolen Music by Anders Rydell. The newspaper offers the following reviews of the books:
“What a privilege it is to be human and to read the nearly 700-page-long Book of Events. Andrzej Tichý—Sweden’s master of darkness—has written a completely brilliant and twisted novel about racism, violence, and vulnerability. It is a pleasure to follow Tichý into the heart of darkness.”
“With immense knowledge and passion, Anders Rydell portrays the horrifying campaign in the Third Reich to erase Jewish musicians and their works from history.”
The official Finnish bestseller list for the month of November is out, and The Sleepwalker ranked No. 1 in the translated category for hardcover, audiobook, and e-book formats. Moreover, it secured the No. 5 spot across all formats.
Lars Kepler’s latest installment in the bestselling Joona Linna series, The Sleepwalker, debuts at No. 1 on the Czech Republic official bestseller list this week.
Lars Kepler’s The Sleepwalker remains firmly at the top of the e-book bestseller list, holding steady at No. 1. Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger’s Victim continues to secure the No. 2 spot on the paperback list. Meanwhile, Jørn’s Dry Land ranks No. 2 in both the hardcover and e-book categories.
Friday December 6 saw the premiere of Jönssonligan kommer tillbaka in Swedish cinemas. The heist comedy has received great reviews, many of them praising the film for bringing the old and beloved characters into a new contemporary context.
Eddie Åhgren is directing the film with a stellar cast including Robert Gustafsson, Jonas Karlsson, Anders Jansson, Jennie Silfverhjelm, Arvin Kananian and Johan Rabaeus.
The Swedish government has given the National Agency for Education and the Swedish Art Council the mission to create a reading list of fictional works. The list is intended to serve as a resource for teachers in their education. An independent reference group of experts in literature and education has contributed to the preparation of the list.
The list includes Emma Karinsdotter’s Unscientific Studies: Nine Pieces of Evidence for Things That Likely Never Happened with the following motivation:
“The humorous, the absurd and the grotesque all come together here, and the illustrations are essential to the whole. After reading it, further studies in the same spirit can begin.”
The list also includes Moa Backe Åstot’s YA novel Fire From the Sky. The motivation reads as follows:
“A sensitive story about how two young people tentatively and passionately approach each other. At the same time, a fiery confrontation with Sweden’s colonial history.”
Bulgaria, EMAS
Two-book deal closed by Emma Granberg
Greece, Memento
Closed by Emma Granberg
China, Beijing Science and Technology
Five-book deal closed by The Grayhawk Agency on behalf of Ida Schabbauer
Poland, Smak Slowa
Two-book deal closed by Julia Angelin
Lithuania, Pflaŭmbaŭm Publishing House
Closed by Emma Granberg
Germany, Hoffmann und Campe
Closed by Julia Angelin
[A] brilliant thriller. /…/ [Winter Grave] is unsettling, occasionally hilarious and constantly thrilling. /…/ I make no secret of the fact I’m a fan of Heine Bakkeid’s writing (…). Winter Grave is also dark noir on an elite level.
– Harstad Tidene
You’re the One I Write About tells a tale as old as time. But it does so with fire and not without finesse. /…/ The result is a book you can read during a free period, but will carry with you much longer. Why? Perhaps because Åstot succeeds in capturing exactly how words fall between young people in this moment.
– Expressen
The Clan /…/ is recommended for anyone looking for a hard-hitting, contemporary thriller that delves into themes of power, loyalty, and violence.
– Münchner Merkur
The most gripping thriller of the summer.
– Frankfurter Rundschau
Engman’s book is more than a thriller; it portrays a society in rules no longer apply, and power is wielded at will.
– Bremer Nachrichten
Machines are getting smarter while humans seem to have succumbed to brain rot. Tasks that once required human brainpower are increasingly being handled by AI. But what happens to our brains when we stop making an effort?