News
Success in Scandinavia
Gerður Kristný, Þórarinn Leifsson and Hallgrímur Helgason have been in the spotlight during recent weeks due to great success in Scandinavia.
Gerður Kristný recently gained a nomination to the West Nordic Council's Children's Literature Prize for her book for children and teens Garðurinn (The Garden). The prize is awarded for outstanding books from Iceland, Faroe Islands and Greenland. The adjudication committee's citation says the book “contains rich insight into teenage mentality, in addition to which Gerður Kristný mixes a variety of literary genres, exploiting features of ghost story, fantasy, coming-of-age story and historical fiction.” The prize will be awarded in August 2010.
Þórarinn Leifsson gained impressive coverage in the Danish newspaper Politiken not long ago on account of his children's book Leyndarmálið hans pabba (Daddy's Secret): not only was there a two-page interview in the paper's literary supplement, but Leifsson's drawings also graced the front pages of both the main paper and the literary supplement. The Icelandic newspaper Fréttablaðið reported Leifsson's reaction: “I think I'm in shock, I didn't realise it would be as big as this [...]. I would be satisfied with this kind of coverage once every ten years.” His latest book Bókasafn Ömmu Huldar (Granny's Library) will be published in Denmark in the autumn.
Hallgrímur Helgason's book 10 ráð til að hætta að drepa og byrja að vaska upp (10 Tips on How to Stop Killing and Start Washing Up) was published recently in Denmark in Ellen Boen's translation and has had some very positive reactions from Danish literary critics. Jyllandsposten and Berlingske Tidende awarded it 5 stars and Politiken gave it 4. Jyllandsposten's cultural editor quotes Helgason's book as one of the two best books published last autumn in Denmark and says that Helgason even outsmarts Iceland's most prominent thriller writers.