We are proud to announce that the following books are nominated to the audiobook prize Storytel Awards 2022!
Category Novel (Roman)
THE WOLF RUN by Kerstin Ekman (Albert Bonniers Förlag)
RUMOUR HAS IT by Anna Larsson (Bazar Förlag)
Category Suspense (Spänning)
IN THE FAILING LIGHT by Mari Jungstedt (Albert Bonniers Förlag)
Category Women’s Fiction (Feelgood)
THE WOMEN AT FLANAGANS BY Åsa Hellberg (Forum Förlag)
Category Non-Fiction (Fakta)
TOUGH CALLS by Jonas Eriksson (Forum Förlag)
Audiobook listeners can vote for their favourites until February 9th. The winners will be presented March 31st.
Congratulatios to all! We keep fingers and toes crossed!
Eager to vote? This is where!
We are happy and proud to announce that Kerstin Ekmans‘s masterful novel THE WOLF RUN is nominated for the prestigious Prize for Best Swedish Novel 2022 awarded by Swedish National Radio (Sveriges Radios romanpris 2022). The winner will be announced on April 9th.
The prize awarded by the Swedish National Radio is quite unique in Sweden, as it is selected by juries consisting of readers and book groups, rather than critics or booksellers.
We keep our fingers and toes crossed!
THE WOLF RUN is now sold to 9 territories.
Håkan Nesser’s 2013 novel, winner of the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy and the Rosenkrantz Prize for Best Crime Novel of the Year, is in production as a feature film by Desmar, a production company with offices in London, LA and Singapore.
The psychological thriller, titled Unmoored, will feature Mirja Turestedt (Millenium, White Wall) in the leading role as Maria, alongside Thomas W. Gabrielsson (The Bridge) playing her husband, and Kris Hitchen as Mark.
Michèle Marshall wrote the screenplay and is producing together with Naomi Despres. Desmar acquired the film rights from Bonnier Rights in 2020. Swedish director Carolina Ingvarsson is making her feature film directorial debut with this production. Shooting began in Poland in September and moved to England this month to shoot on location near Winsford.
In THE LIVING AND THE DEAD IN WINSFORD, we meet Maria Holinek arriving one cold November night in Winsford, in the southwest of England. As far as her friends and children are concerned, she is in Morocco with her author husband, Martin, who had plans to write an explosive novel revealing the truth behind dark events in his past. But the couple never made it to their destination. Maria settles in with her dog in a remote house on the moor. She doesn’t use her real name, and why she has come to stay remains unclear. She wanders in thorns, fog and with wild horses. She has decided she is going to outlive her dog. But it soon becomes clear that Winsford isn’t quite the sanctuary she hopes it would be. But what terrible secret is Maria guarding? Where is her husband, and what really happened in Morocco thirty years ago?
And last… who is trying to find her?
Congratulations to Andrzej Tichy, And Other Stories, and the wonderful translator Nichola Smalley for being on the 2021 Translation Prizes Shortlist for The Bernard Shaw Prize 2022 for WRETCHEDNESS.
An award of £2,000 for translations into English of full-length Swedish language works of literary merit and general interest. The winners will be announced in an online celebration on Thursday 10 February 2022, sponsored by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS). This year’s judges are Charlotte Berry and Annika Lindskog.
We keep our fingers and toes crossed!
WRETCHEDNESS is now sold to 7 territories.
WRETCHEDNESS by Andrzej Tichý – Bonnier Rights
Bernard Shaw Prize 2022 and The Society of Authors
Andrzej Tichy- Albert Bonnier Publishing
And Other Stories Publishing
Gustav Lindh and Clara Christiansson Drake. Photos by Eva von Bahr and Anders Thessing.
Filming has now been wrapped on the set of the FLX’s five-part drama-series based on Joakim Palmkvist’s best-selling true-crime thriller THE DARK HEART.
The series, directed by Gustav Möller (The Guilty), written by Oskar Söderlund (Snabba Cash) and featuring Gustav Lindh and Clara Christiansson Drake, is being produced for Disovery+ and is planned to premiere spring 2022.
Seasoned crime reporter Joakim Palmkvist’s narrative non-fiction book tells the story of how Therese Tang, a civilian Missing People volunteer, solved a high-profile murder case in the town of Förlösa, 2012.
“When we read Joakim Palmkvist’s book,” said director Gustav Möller and screenwriter Oskar Söderlund, “we immediately saw the potential for a unique TV series. “A dramatization allows a way into this story that there isn’t space for in the news cycle. We want to go beyond headlines about violent details and speculation, and instead go deeper into the psychological and human element in this on-the-surface incomprehensible story.”
Fifty years after the original Oscar-nominated films with Liv Ullman and Max von Sydow, acclaimed director Erik Poppe is once more bringing Vilhelm Moberg’s epic tale to the screen with THE EMIGRANTS, set to premiere on Christmas Day 2021.
Moberg’s tetralogy is the timeless story of the one and a half million Swedes who emigrated to America in search of a better life in the second half of the nineteenth century. Erik Poppe’s 2021 remake is an ambitious and much-anticipated production by SF Studios, who are co-producing with TV4/Cmore, Film i Väst, Nordsvensk Filmunderhållning, Paradox, SF Studios Danmark and Fantefilm, with additional support from the Swedish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the Norwegian Film Institute, the Danish Film Institute and DR. REInvent are handling the international sales.
In the lead roles, we will see Lisa Carlehed och Gustaf Skarsgård playing the iconic roles of Kristina and Karl-Oskar, a peasant couple fighting for their family’s survival on a farm in Småland. The cast will also include Sofia Helin, Tove Lo and Lena Strömdahl. Screenwriters Siv Rajendram Eliassen and Anna Bache-Wiig have written the screenplay for this new interpretation of the classic story.
The director, Erik Poppe, said of the film: “I want to re-interpret The Emigrants-series. Their brave decision to leave this country a hundred years ago for the chance of a new life for themselves, and their children. Choices that are just as relevant for many people around the world today. Who we were then, and who has to make these decisions today. That makes the story gripping, seductive and ever-relevant. The film should reflect this, and this time through Kristina’s eyes.”
Vilhelm Moberg’s epic series The Emigrants was first published in 1949 and has gone on to become a modern classic, published in more than twenty languages and considered one of the most important works of Swedish (and we would argue, world) literature. Bonnier Rights manages the Vilhelm Moberg Estate.
Kerstin Ekman’s beloved and highly acclaimed novel 
BLACKWATER (Händelser vid vatten) is now in production as a six-part TV-series for SVT, planned for release in 2022. Originally published in 1993, BLACKWATER won that year’s August Prize and the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy Prize, as well as the 1994 Nordic Council Literature Prize. The iconic crime tale has since been published in 25 countries and continues to attract fresh readers.
The premium crime drama is being produced by Emmy and Bafta-winning producer Piv Bernth (The Killing) at Apple Tree Productions in a co-production with Filmpool Nord and ARD Degato in Germany. ITV Studios are handling the international distribution and have already sold the series to DR in Denmark, NRK in Norway, YLE in Finland and RUV in Iceland.
Filming began in June 2021, in the North of Sweden, at Arjeplog, and is planned to wrap in November. The stellar team behind the production consists of screenwriter Maren Louise Käehne (Queen of Hearts, The Bridge och Borgen), director Mikael Marcimain (Gentlemen, Call Girl, Wallander), and Oscar-winning scenographer Anna Asp (Fanny and Alexander, Wallander). We can look forward to seeing Rolf Lassgård (A Man Called Ove, Exit) in one of the lead roles.
Kerstin Ekman is one of Sweden’s greatest living writers. She has published more than twenty-five books, that have been translated into more than thirty languages. In 1978 she was elected to the Swedish Nobel Academy and left her chair formally in 2018. With BLACKWATER, she invented the genre of the atmospheric crime novel, combining the dark suggestive power of nature with suspenseful crime elements.
Congratulations to our author Caroline Engvall who has been awarded the Karin Söder scholarship!
The motivation of the jury goes as follows: ‘Caroline Engvall is an educator. She has extensive experience of speaking about the really difficult issues and has great knowledge about children’s vulnerability online, sexual offenses and sex trafficking of children.’
The scholarship is awarded in memory of Karin Söder, who among other things was Sweden’s first female party leader.
Caroline Engvall is currently out with a new thriller trilogy at Bokförlaget Forum, a domestic suspense series with elements of Nordic mythology. The first instalment, BLOOD SHAME, is available now.
The iconic Kerstin Ekman’s THE WOLF RUN, her first novel in ten years, has been universally lauded by Swedish media and press, and a number 1 bestseller for weeks on the official Swedish bestseller list upon publication.
Meet the author and the book in Jessika Gedin’s tv interview for the culture programme Babel.
‘In format The Wolf Run is a small novel, less than 200 pages long, and yet it covers most of the prominent themes from Ekman’s writing over the decades, spanning the spectrum from her portrayals of rural life, the conflicts between the varying interests of villagers, to her more encompassing critique of civilization, the conflict between man and the earth we inhabit (…) The Wolf Run is a fusion, or perhaps the quintessence, of the core of Ekman’s oeuvre. And yet, in spite of its intimate relationship to her previous work, it is entirely independent. (…) This is an unpretentious novel, and it is precisely this unassuming quality that makes it great. The only thing needed to set rocking the life of an ordinary man (and the reader) was the opportunity to look into the pale eyes of a wolf.’
– Svenska Dagbladet
**
‘Kerstin Ekman’s novel gives the sense of an iridescent cloud. Constantly shapeshifting it contains numerous narratives, on aging, on an encounter that alters a person’s worldviews, on the power of memory, and on preparing for death. All filtered through an older male protagonist, churlish and laconic, but all the more profound in thought and judicious in choice of words.’
– Dagens Nyheter
**
‘The Wolf Run may be a small book, but it cups its hands around all the major ideas concerning memory, language and narrative. (…) In form, a hybrid of journal novel and crime novel (…) but beyond Ekman’s existential forest I would also recommend this book for its sensitive description of a marriage, where every rough edge and every intimacy, in fact the overall dynamic between the spouses, is portrayed in all its splendid simplicity. (…) To me, the transformation of Ulf Norrstig is as captivating as the first wood anemones in spring. Not grandiose, and yet a miracle. Older, contemplative men with a growing ethical commitment are to my mind sorely lacking in contemporary literature (as in life). In Ekman’s work, moreover, the narration-in-itself is always a comfort in a disintegrating world.’
– Göteborgs-Posten
**
‘The subtext is a sort of learned essay on the subject of our relationship to the natural world, the wisdom of which is deeply buried in the mosses, under organic debris, trickling through the groundwater, barely noticeable. (…) On the surface this is the extraordinarily exciting, compact story of a crime, and of different kinds of violence. It is quite brutal at times. In addition, as skilfully intertwined as the strips of rags in the rugs Inga weaves, this is a novel about a long, ordinary marriage. Exciting in itself. (…) It is so mesmerizing you forget that you are reading literature.’
– P1
**
‘The Wolf Run leans on (…) previous authorial experience, but this novel is more distinct in its direction and rhetoric. In addition, it is exciting (Ekman’s crime novels come to mind!). It could have been written for malleable young adult readers or specifically for people involved in logging or hunting who are ambivalent and in need of a nudge to change.’
– Aftonbladet
**
‘It is a true joy to read The Wolf Run. The reader finds so many of the finest melodies of Ekman’s masterful oeuvre to enjoy. She has an eye for the subtlest details as well as the wider contexts, a language that captivates these matters as well as the characters in all their nuances, not to mention the natural world. (…) The Wolf Run is a synthesis of all that is best in literature, written by a beloved author, and beyond any doubt the best reading experience I have had in a very long time. And I must also mention the golden gleam in the eyes of the wolf as he gazes out at the reader from the cover. Absolutely perfect.’
– Skånska Dagbladet
**
‘True to form, Ekman moves comfortably through the natural world and in her language. It is a pleasure to read an author who so skilfully portrays both people and milieux. (…) The excitement mounts gradually in her robust and discriminating prose, a form superbly well- suited to the content.’
– Tidningen Vi
**
‘As reading goes, I find ”The Wolf Run” a deceptively straight forward novel. The abrupt yet mysterious language entices me to constantly look back in the text and search with curiosity between the lines. Ekman, who is also one of our most prominent thriller writers, totally masters the art of composing iceberg prose. (…) However, what I discover between the lines, rather than a major philosophical epiphany, is something even more valued. It is a powerful, unpretentious narrative on the subject of compassion. Not, needless to say, a feeble, indulgent one, but rather compassion as the vital capacity and life force it is. The vital capacity to see ourselves in others may often make us feel powerless, but the effect on the reader of The Wolf Run, achieved both masterfully and sensitively by Kerstin Ekman, is the understanding of how utterly powerless and vulnerable we would all be if we lacked this vital capacity.’
– ETC
**
‘About halfway through the novel the tempo and tension mount. It becomes a page turner with an unexpected ending. (…) Kerstin Ekman provides us with an indirect reminder of two of the deadly sins, pride and avarice, ones we find it difficult to overcome. And she does this brilliantly.’
– Länstidningen Östersund
**
‘This is the contemplative, insightful and gripping story of Uffe, a forest engineer, who encounters a wolf and sees his own life in a new light. He is unsettled by events and – not least – by having lost track of who he really is. (…) No plot spoilers here, but the events that take place transform The Wolf Run into a thriller. And Kerstin Ekman knows how to escalate and maintain tension. (…) She leaves many unanswered questions and offers us no cocky answers. The Wolf Run is a narrative about considering and listening. About being a human being among the other beings in the world.’
– Norrtelje Tidning
**
‘(…) It is easy to understand how competently Kerstin Ekman tramples this territory: this is her world. Charged with symbolism – indeed, but at the same time I have seldom read a portrayal of rural life that feels so realistic. I have never hunted or even held a rifle – but after reading Ekman’s novel I can imagine that I have actually sat in a hunting tower gazing out across bogs and leafy underbrush. (…) Is this in fact what is known as a cli-fi (climate fiction) novel? Well, perhaps not but it is at the very least a narrative that explores our relationship to the world around us and that can very well be read as encouragement to reconsider.’
– Landskrona-Posten
**
‘The Wolf Run is a novel with multiple layers. The mainstay of the novel is a reflection on the circumstances surrounding aging and its impact on our relationship to the world we live in. Kerstin Ekman also demonstrates the possibility that an older person can shift his ethical stance and take a new position on pressing issues. As always with Ekman, we find a deep familiarity with the way in which the natural world provokes in us questions of existential significance, as well as how inescapable our responsibility for that world is in a time of climate crisis. Allowing that sense of responsibility to be expressed through the experience of oneness with one of the proud beasts of nature, in this case a wolf, is to bring that responsibility to life in a way that touches both the heart and the conscience of the reader.’
– Barometern
**
