Agencyfiction2014

Published by CAPPELEN DAMM AS www.cappelendamm.no Layout: CAPPELEN DAMM AS, Christoffer Bogsti Print: Livonia Print, Latvia, 2014 ISBN: 978-82-02-44740-3 Cover Photo: Terese Moe Leiner, Blæst Design © CAPPELEN DAMM AS 2014

Contents Contact Information................................................... 4 Novels....................................................................... 8 Crime Fiction.............................................................. 28 Short Stories, Poetry, Essays ..................................... 46 Flamme Forlag........................................................... 56 Series........................................................................ 68

Kristin Weholt Rights Director kristin.weholt@cappelendamm.no Dir +47 21 61 75 74 Mob +47 975 89 622

Gerd Moss Rights Manager gerd.moss@cappelendamm.no Dir +47 21 61 75 72 Mob +47 911 36 157

Ingvild haugland Rights Manager ingvild.haugland@cappelendamm.no Dir +47 21 61 74 31 Mob +47 414 10 647

Cappelen Damm Agency Cappelen Damm is Norway’s largest publishing house, publishing approximately 1000 titles a year, within the genres of fiction, non-fiction and children’s books. Cappelen Damm’s list of authors includes Lars Saabye Christensen, Karin Fossum, Erlend Loe, Erik Fosnes Hansen and Roy Jacobsen. We also have a strong list of fiction and non-fiction in translation, which includes J.M. Coetzee, Antony Beevor, Lars Kepler, Lucinda Riley, JK Rowling, José Saramago and Jonathan Franzen.

Cappelen Damm is owned jointly by Bonnier and Egmont, each of which owns 50%.

Cappelen Damm Agency represents the rights of all of the authors in this catalogue. This includes titles from Flamme Forlag, a subsidiary of Cappelen Damm AS. It is an Oslo-based small press devoted to experimental fiction in all categories. Their list boasts a new, bold generation of Norwegian writers. Flamme Forlag place great emphasis on book design, collaborating closely with the award-winning design studio Yokoland.

The Agency is responsible for all foreign book rights, as well as rights for TV, film, radio, anthologies, electronic media, etc. We are happy to answer any questions you may have regarding the authors and the sales of foreign rights.

We look forward to speaking to you.

Novels

N ov e l s

Out of the Fire The protagonist in Ambjørnsen's new novel is Alexander Irgens, Norway's king of crime, who has a large part of the international crime fiction audience falling at his feet with his series about Stig Hammer.

His seventh novel, Høye mørke menn, is launched in grand style at the literature festival in Lillehammer, where the great author is coddled by a female-dominated industry that just wants to interview and feed him. Irgens is married with a son, but he's in Lillehammer with his mistress, Vilde, a volatile woman who thinks both he and his violent crime writing receive a ridiculous amount of attention. Whereas most people flatter and fuss over him, she's only too willing to hit where it hurts when he oversteps the mark.

Author:

Ingvar Ambjørnsen Title English:

Out of the Fire Title Norwegian:

Ut av ilden is an exciting and enjoyable portrayal of the publishing industry which addresses the increasing brutality required to satiate an audience. But fundamentally it is a novel about shame and an author who knows his life has taken a downward turn and that he has not been true to himself.

Ut av ilden Format:

Photo: Tine Poppe

130x205 mm

Ingvar Ambjørnsen (1956–) made his literary début in 1981, and has since published novels, crime fiction, short story collections, children's and young adults books as well as essay collections. His works have been translated into 27 languages.

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Our World Is Dew When Tarak loses his mother to the feared sorrow eaters and his father disappears soon afterwards, he is looked after by his grandfather, Elmer, who teaches him to make shadow birds and tell stories.

When Tarak turns fourteen he leaves Ulu and sets out into the great wide world. On his travels he learns a lot about love and responsibility and what it is to be 'human'. And in the course of his life he becomes an important pawn in the fight between good and evil.

Author:

Tor Åge Bringsværd calls forth a world which is strange to us. A world where people make up only a small minority dominated by other races. Where scrap metal is the most valuable commodity and the desire for oblivion keeps people in check.

Tor Åge Bringsværd

This is a delightful and fanciful fable kept alive by great stories and words. An exciting and gripping tale of what it is to be human.

130x205 mm / 352 pages

Title English:

Our World Is Dew Title Norwegian:

Vår verden er dugg

Tor Åge Bringsværd (1939–) has received many awards, as a writer and as

a playwright. His works have been translated into 23 languages and his theatrical works have been staged in twelve countries. Bringsværd writes for all ages.

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Photo: Berit Sandberg

Format:

S h o rt S to r i e s

Sense of Direction Stedsans is surely one of the most cheerful books that Lars Saabye Christensen has written in a long time. It is a collection of short stories, full of sly humour. One character recurs throughout, a rather problematic writer whose would-be highbrow books do not get the recognition he feels they deserve. It reads a little like self-parody.

There is a photo of young Saabye cycling in France on the inside flap of the book jacket. In the story called 'Self Portrait with Cycle and Guitar', the protagonist is the only boy who is taking Special French at school. He plans to impress the girls by having his answer ready when the French teacher asks: ‘What did you do in your summer holidays?' He will boast: ‘J'ai fait de la bicyclette d'Amsterdam à Paris'. But he must do the trip before making his claim. It turns out to be a wild, tough journey and the reward is far from what he had counted on.

Author:

Lars Saabye Christensen Title English:

Sense of Direction Title Norwegian:

Stedsans Format:

130x205 mm / 272 pages

The collection includes several stories about couples who struggle with relationship issues. Female readers are likely to take note of how often the males fail to make the right choices. Saabye Christensen himself has pointed out that his characters are people who make mistakes and rarely learn anything other than to recite them by heart.

The collection is elegantly structured around recurring characters and themes that are scrutinised from many different angles.

Virtuoso writing – funny, literary, enjoyable.

Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun

Lars Saabye Christensen (1953–) made his literary début in 1976 with

Historien om Gly. His break-through novel was Beatles, which is one of the greatest literary successes in Norway and which continues to speak to new generations. He received both the Booksellers' Prize and the Nordic Council's Literary Award for Halvbroren in 2001. This novel also marked his break-through to the international market. It has been translated into 35 languages.

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‘Still young at 60. Lars Saabye Christensen shows he's more playful than ever before. ... Stedsans is a high-spirited collection of surplus narrative joy which proves that one of Norway's greatest contemporary authors isn't prepared to rest on his laurels and is still pushing himself to greater heights.’

VG

‘Supreme Saabye Christensen … It's good to read something as unique and enjoyable as the new short stories in Saabye Christensen's new book. Warmly recommended.’

RANA Blad

‘Refined tales of grumpy old men... This collection of short stories overflows with silliness and wordplay, but all the stories have a point or twist which shows how professional and elegant Lars Saabye Christensen is.’

DAGBLADET

N ov e l s

The Invisible 100,000 copies in print!

Again, Roy Jacobsen has written a novel about an unlikely heroine, and he does it better than ever before. De usynlige is a monument over human courage and life-saving practical and social knowledge.

The novel is set in the first half of the 20th Century on an island on the North-Western coast of Norway. The island is small, there is only space for the Barrøy family. Life on the island is difficult. The Barrøy family is poor, but certainly not without guts and skills. They live off of their small land, they have some livestock, they fish in the sea and make use of whatever the waves wash ashore.

Author:

Roy Jacobsen Title English:

The Invisible

Jacobsen's descriptions of man and nature are breathtaking.

There is plenty of light here, even humor. The family's daily work is a balancing act between refining the riches that wild nature so generously offers, and surviving in the very same wild nature that takes lives. The family's love for their environment is brilliantly communicated. A life somewhere else is unthinkable to them.

Title Norwegian:

De usynlige Format:

130x205 mm / 256 pages Rights sold to:

Albania (Shkupi) Czech Republic (Pistorius & Olšanská) Denmark (Rosinante&Co) Estonia (Eesti Raamat) Faeroe Islands (Sprotin) Germany (Osburg Verlag) Israel (Keter) Italy (Bompiani) Sweden (Norstedts) Turkey (Yapi Kredi) UK (MacLehose Press)

De usynlige is inspired by real people, who Jacobsen knew in his childhood. It is a family saga, and a coming-of-age story about Ingrid. It can also be labeled a Robinsonade.

‘De usynlige is a modern masterpiece about poverty in Norway. … Roy Jacobsen's new book will remain a central novel in Norwegian literature. … Hardly any Norwegian author is capable of creating these oppositions in such a powerful language, nothing short of the best within saga literature and in Jewish and Greek narrative art.’

Klassekampen

Roy Jacobsen (1954–) has since his literary début in 1982 with the short story

collection Fangeliv evolved into an original, strong and analytical writer with a special interest in the underlying psychology at play in human relationships and actions. He is a wonderful storyteller with obvious political engagement. He has twice been nominated for the Nordic Council's Literary Award: for Seierherrene in 1991, and Frost in 2003. He was also short-listed for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2009 for his novel Hoggerne.

His books are translated into 26 languages.

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‘In De usynlige Roy Jacobsen shows us why he is one of our most important authors. … Jacobsen returns to his childhood's northern paradise, and writes with an enormous experience and great energy. The literary giant lets out the pressure in small portions. … Jacobsen must have done extensive research in order to write this novel. He shines with his knowledge about working methods, types of weather, the fisherman's many secrets, how to make the most of the forces of nature.

The many small nods to Knut Hamsun are easily traceable. … This is a terrific novel. The level of precision is joyous, the language poetic. Roy Jacobsen stays in top form. He has the observational skills and the abilities to tell the truth about the human being. The result is great art.’

Vårt Land

‘This is simply a beautiful and moving read, an effortless alternation between small events between people and the great, dramatic ones – like the descriptions of storm and wind and wild weather. … Not only does Roy Jacobsen make his fine characters visible – forever – he makes the reader wiser.

A master's hand turning the small into the great.’

VG

‘...Roy Jacobsen at his very best. ... De usynlige is simply a fantastic novel.’

Dagbladet

‘...a novel that stands out among the rest. It has what it takes to become a hit on the more traditional side of this autumn's publications.’

Dagens Næringsliv

‘Equipped with a playful and subtly changing omniscient narrator, Jacobsen moves in and out of the various family members and gives each and every one a quivering presence in the text … Roy Jacobsen's new novel is simply literature of a high class.’

Aftenposten

‘… with a great vision and wisdom Jacobsen rolls out an unsheltered drama on barren land.’

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Photo: Fredrik Arff

Adresseavisen

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Higher Than the sun The novel begins with the male first-person narrator receiving an unexpected email from an American called Eliot. It instantly brings back memories of the summer of 1997. That was the summer when he returned home after a long journey. He had called his mother from the quayside. ‘I asked my mother if she would pick me up and she couldn't say no to me, I was the prodigal son.'

Good food, a clean bed and clean clothes are ready for him, but the summer is going to turn out to be quite different from any other. Two friends, Eliot the American and Aaron the Jew, are on their way to his part of the country. They come across an empty house in the forest and move in. Eliot has brought with him a bag full of strong intoxicating stuff. The goal is intoxication, overwhelming and mind-changing.

Author:

Geir Olav Jørgensen Title English:

Higher than the sun Title Norwegian:

Høgare enn sola Format:

130x205 mm / 208 pages

Many have written about ‘blowing your mind', but few have succeeded as well as Jørgensen in this book. He also writes brilliantly about the unexpected and irresponsible state of mind that goes with intoxication. This is an uncompromising novel that searches for transgression, for the boundaries where space, talking, music-making and events coalesce into a whole.

‘Høgare enn sola is frightening, and beautiful. Also, it provides insights into an understanding of reality and a search for something else.’

Bergens Tidende

‘The moving descriptions of love, sorrow and loss, and new hope, make Høgare enn sola rise above most of the Norwegian novels I read in 2013.’

Photo: David Jørgensen

Stavanger Aftenblad

Geir Olav Jørgensen (1971–) dropped his psychology studies to travel the world for seven years. He visited 27 countries and nearly every continent. He earned his living as a street musician in Amsterdam and New York. In 2006 he made his literary début with the novel mono, which he wrote while working in an orchard in Andalusia. He has since written three novels.

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N ov e l s

My Life Was a Hot Library This is a novel about the interlocking of eroticism and literature, and how it shapes the conscious mind as well as emotional, sensory awareness. The book describes the search for a literary father-figure and poetic obsessions, night-time visits to the graves of dead poets, gathering for orgies in the cosy calm of terraced houses and the melancholy solitude in the twelfth floor flat of a tower block.

Author:

The narrator is a librarian. But can his job truly satisfy the nebulous Desire for literature that he feels has dominated him since childhood? And which of the two women does he really want to share his life with: Turid Smedgård, the vital motorbike girl from Drammen who has never read a book, or Hedda Bryne, who is a member of the Norwegian Shakespeare Society?

Kristian Klausen Title English:

My Life Was a Hot Library Title Norwegian:

Mitt liv var et hett bibliotek Format:

130x205 mm / 208 pages

Mitt liv var et hett bibliotek explores the boundaries between the single individual and history – in this case, literary history – and enters into formal and thematic dialogues with several influential modernist works by authors such as Joyce, Proust, Kafka, Nabokov and Roth.

‘This novel is a joy to behold.’

KLASSEKAMPEN

‘Kristian Klausen at his best cannot be compared with anyone else, his associative, page-long sentences leaving the reader breathless. There are few who write as supremely well as K (with a capital K).’

DRAMMENS TIDENDE

‘Let's state the obvious first. Kristian Klausen is a great storyteller.’

Kristian Klausen (1971–) has been a freelance writer and art instructor, and

currently works as an environmental therapist with a psychiatric hospice. He made his literary début in 2008 with his critically acclaimed short story collection Måltidet i Emmaus. He has since written three novels.

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Photo: Finn Michelsen

NRK P2

N ov e l s

A Personal Matter Alexander Aas suddenly breaks with his life in Oslo and travels to Lofoten, his grandmother's birthplace. He rents a house from a widow, intending to find time to paint and try to discover his roots.

He asks Magnus, the widow's young son, to model for him and becomes fond of the boy. But, in the end, he flees from Lofoten, from Magnus and from the challenging behaviour of Staube, a German.

After his winter in Lofoten, Alex goes to stay in his family's house on Peloponnesus, where most of his childhood summers were spent.

The constant shifting between Greek and Norwegian cultures and between Alex's inner tensions and his encounters with different men, between his relationships with his lover, Dino, and with his family, allows the author to create the portrait of a man and his background: Alexander Aas, the artist, lover, brother and son.

Author:

Odd Klippenvåg Title English:

A Personal Matter Title Norwegian:

Et personlig anliggende Format:

‘This is a riveting read, impressively written.’

130x205 mm / 352 pages

STAVANGER AFTENBLAD

‘A finely-tuned tale from Klippenvåg … He is also able to hold the reader's attention in such a way that it is difficult to put the book down. The language he uses is, as always, of the highest class, and Klippenvåg is nothing short of a master when it comes to conveying mood shifts and the small details which contribute to driving the story forward. Et personlig anliggende confirms once more that Lofoten has produced an author who deserves an extensive readership.’

LOFOTPOSTEN

‘Once again Odd Klippenvåg proves his fantastic ability to describe people up close and credible in a language which can almost be characterized as refined. It is a true pleasure to move from page to page and simply enjoy the language – in addition, of course, to the fact that the story he tells is interesting, and as a whole it moves this reader strongly.’

Photo: Ulf Ziener Johansen

FÆDRELANDSVENNEN

Odd Klippenvåg (1951–) made his literary début with the novel Nattbilde in 1978. He has since published several novels and short story collections, some of which focus on homosexuality. He has also written a trilogy about the lives of classical composers. Klippenvåg is a critically acclaimed writer whose work is of a rare literary quality.

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N ov e l s

If Anybody Sees Me Now Hvis noen ser meg nå is the story of the lives of the identical twins Vanja and Mona during three important six month periods in the 1980s and 90s. From early childhood, they have been treated as the unit of MonaVanja and have done everything together.

The first part of the novel focuses on their childhood and puberty.

It is during adolescence that the differences between them become meaningfully clear: while Mona finds the changes that affect her exciting, the shyer Vanja becomes frightened and wants to hold on to her body as it was. Vanja, the perfectionist, shines at school, while Mona goes with the flow. Vanja becomes anorexic and feels watched from everywhere. It is during this period that, for the first time, the idyllic, loyal relationship between the two sisters is tested, and more conflicts soon materialise.

Author:

Benedicte Meyer Kroneberg Title English:

If anybody Sees Me Now Title Norwegian:

Hvis noen ser meg nå Format:

130x205 mm / 240 pages

Part two deals with their first years as students; Vanja has chosen medicine and Mona, mainly to have something to do, Nordic language and literature. Throughout, both sisters are tormented by the fact that Mona needs to keep an eye on Vanja at all times.

When part three begins, both sisters have to shape their adult lives and, by now, the stage is set for a confrontation between the sisters. Essentially, it is about the need to create a personal identity: to make clear the distinctions in a relationship which, to outsiders, is mainly characterised by their similarities.

‘Hvis noen ser meg nå is a wonderful novel about a young girl's difficult path from childhood to adulthood.’

AGDERPOSTEN

‘With a firm grasp of language and means, she depicts the structures within a group of girlfriends, the exclusion of parents from a sibling relationship, studying, love and a recurring sense that something is wrong... This is familiar and recognisable.’

Benedicte Meyer Kroneberg (1972–) was born in Oslo, but now lives on the outskirts of Arendal. She graduated from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology with a degree in Nordic literature, and works as a lower secondary teacher. She has written three novels.

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Photo: Fredrik Arff

FÆDRELANDSVENNEN

N ov e l s

The Leaves Are Singing Britt Karin Larsen's four previous books about the people from the Finnforest were received with huge enthusiasm and, in 2012, Før snøen kommer was a success with the critics.

In the new novel from the Finnforest, Larsen continues where she left off last year. In a subtle and at the same time powerful style, she tells of poverty, death and love in the lives of the forest people.

Author:

Britt Karin Larsen is an exceptional writer, with a unique voice of her own.

Britt Karin Larsen Title English:

The Leaves Are Singing Title Norwegian:

Det synger i lauvet

‘Britt Karin Larsen has this unique ability to see life and events in the forest area between Hedmark and Värmland from a bird's eye view, an almost divine point of view, and to zoom in on the strengths and weaknesses of individuals. She does this without the language she uses becoming pompous or melodramatic. We relate to the characters' pain and joy, and follow the Forest Finns through almost a century of Norwegian history. This series deserves a big literary prize, and a bigger readership!’

Format:

130x205 mm / 360 pages

TARA

‘A great storyteller … Britt Karin Larsen fascinates once again with a strange language which is hers and hers alone.’

VG

Britt Karin Larsen (1945–) lives in Hedmark. She has written poetry, books for children, documentary books and novels. Her first published work was the 1978 collection of poetry 5 mg blues og andre dikt. She regards her Gypsy trilogy as her main work to date: De som ser etter tegn (1997), Den usynlige by (1998) and Sangen om løpende hester (1999).

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‘It's amazing that Larsen manages to keep the pace up in this beautiful, critically-acclaimed and entertaining series.

She writes so warmly that the series gets better with every book. These books are a gift to the book-reading public. …

Traditional, well-written historical novels which are fastpaced and dramatic. I enjoyed every page of these books, and I hope that Britt Karin Larsen keeps going. The series is still going strong in follow-ups one and two and three.’

DAGBLADET

‘She just keeps going. Britt Karin Larsen's series about the people of Finnskogen just gets better with every book she writes. … A masterpiece in the making.’

HAMAR ARBEIDERBLAD

‘Narrative art from Finnskogen … A great storyteller who deserves a large audience.’

DAGSAVISEN

‘Larsen manages to combine a sense of the dramatic with interest in the everyman, an individual struggling to get by in a life of poverty who finds happiness where it is least expected.’

DAG OG TID

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N ov e l s

Europe A young girl finds out that her ex-boyfriend has written a book about her. To avoid confrontation she moves home to live with her disgruntled, unhappy mother. Her stomach swells underneath her jumper, but before it becomes noticeable to others she moves to a diversified Europe. She meets Morritz in an unnamed, run-down town. He works as a scaffolder, sleeps in a room full of mattresses and is just as desperate and unlucky as she is when it comes to attempting to be part of something bigger.

Europa is an understated novel written using stylised and descriptive language to depict the attempts of destructive people to get closer to one another.

Author:

Amalie Kasin Lerstang Title English:

Europe

Title Norwegian:

Europa Format:

Photo: Anna-Julia Granberg BLUNDERBUSS

130x205 mm / 168 pages

Amalie Kasin Lerstang (1988–) is educated at the Westerdals School of Communication, and works, among other things, as an editor in the journal fanfare. Europa is her first novel.

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N ov e l s

Norwegian Jewels Victor Sommerfelt grew up in upper-class Oslo surrounded by friends and family bearing surnames resonating with old upper class values. He is highly educated and finds it just as easy to talk about art and literature as sex, rape and dry martinis.

In true satirical and humoristic tradition, the self-image of this environment is presented through dazzling prosperity, a cold and ironic distance and a passionate obsession for perfection.

This image is shattered by Victor when he departs from this creed and makes his feelings known. But his feelings, conveyed as existential pain, lack conviction. Just as Victor positions himself in the social game he is part of, he orchestrates his own pain.

Author:

Emil B. Lund Title English:

Norwegian Jewels

This novel gives voice to an environment and a mentality which is seldom discussed in Norwegian literature, an environment which on the one hand seems credible and very real, and on the other hand makes use of the hyperbole and class conscious stylisation which lends itself to intensity and excess.

Title Norwegian:

Norske edelstener Format:

Emil Bussolini Lund (1978–) was born in Oslo, and has a degree in Comparative Literature. Norske edelstener is his first novel.

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Photo: Fredrik Arff

130x205 mm / 280 pages

N ov e l s

Taking Stock There were those who thought that Nina Faber should have won the Nordic Council's Literature Prize in the 1970s. In her own careful way she was a fine poet, but never sufficiently able to find the rhythm of the forced political times; when others wrote about Mao, Nina wrote about marsh helleborine, the pattern in the wings of the dragonfly and about the weather in cities she had never been to.

Nina is an ageing poet. Thanks to an award she has spent the past few years in Istanbul, where she completed her most recent poetry collection, entitled ‘Bosporos'. Back in Oslo she settles in a cottage in Sogn allotment garden and awakes early, on the day that will come to be her last. She waits for the editor to call and share the good reviews. But it doesn't happen. Everything falls through, so Nina decides to take revenge.

Author:

Erlend Loe Title English:

Taking Stock Title Norwegian:

Vareopptelling Format:

Erlend Loe writes humorously and ironically about publishing procedures, the mature woman's meeting with a new age, and about how much anger and bile there is in a woman of a certain age, spectacularly revealed when she makes the decision to take matters into her own hands.

125x194 mm / 136 pages Rights sold to:

Denmark (Gyldendal) Russia (Azbooka-Atticus) Serbia (Geopoetika) Slovakia (Premedia) Sweden (Alfabeta)

Photo: Fredrik Arff

Erlend Loe (1969–) is one of Norway's best-selling authors. He made his literary

début with Tatt av kvinnen in 1993. His break-through, both in Norway and internationally, came with the publication of his second novel Naiv.Super. in 1996.

His 2004 novel Doppler was critically acclaimed for its depiction of the modern man. Erlend Loe also writes books for children, and has had great succsess with the Kurt series. His works are translated into 36 languages.

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‘The novel Vareopptelling by Erlend Loe instantly reminds us all of the author's obvious qualities. He is funny! Who but Loe would have cared to write about a lactose-intolerant hedgehog? No one, no one at all. Only Erlend Loe.’ NRK

‘Alternating sensitively between rebellion and a feeling of great unease about our culture, Erlend Loe tells the story of a human being who feels that everything fails to be what it should, in her own case and in the world at large. ... The novel is at its best when it describes her general, existential despair.’

Dag og Tid

‘It has become a narrative brim-full of nerve-tensing humour; sensitive, full of excitement and humbling ... In this tightly organised short novel of less than 130 pages, Loe offers us a dense and detailed introduction to settings, times and to a personality losing its grip, and thus, Vareopptelling becomes an elegant account of the slippery slope into disgrace and breakdown. But, in razor-sharp literary dissections, Loe manages also to turn humiliation into more than a driving force. Although written with a light keyboard touch, Vareopptelling is also a serious analysis of the logic driven by an excessive sense of shame.’

Dagsavisen

‘A funny, burlesque and grotesque novel about the poet Nina Faber's intense anger and robust retribution after a cruel review ... According to my own inventory of his writing, Loe has written his best novel since 'Doppler' – both are also comparable in focusing on protagonists above the ordinary Norwegian standard. Recommended!’

Adresseavisen

‘He picks settings that he pictures with precision, and his funny passages are light-hearted, easy-going and enjoyable. Characterisation is sparse but sharply observed ... The plot sweeps along, told in a lively tone and at a fast tempo, with brilliantly absurd turns of phrase. Towards the end, Loe completely lets go of the reins, with a quite priceless outcome.’

Klassekampen

‘It's really great, is Vareopptelling. A darkly funny little story that takes each turns tightly. Concise and suggestive. Stunning finale. Recommended, if you have an afternoon or two to spare.’

Universitas

N ov e l s

The Swathes Skårgangar is Sivert Nikolai Nesbø's debut novel, a linguistically powerful narrative drawn from a farming community in Norway's west coast.

The story is told by several voices, but primarily by one of the characters, Johannes, the scion of a freeholder family. We become aware of his loneliness and profound sense of carrying a heavy responsibility for managing the farm and the rest of the property.

The tone of the novel is quiet and contemplative but, beyond both the magnificent landscape and the apparently uneventful daily tasks, one senses agitation as well as anger, and the restrained style evokes a highly charged, occasionally frightening world.

Johannes is a sullen, subdued and brutal protagonist and a truly fascinating character who seems to change all the time depending on who is the main narrator.

Author:

Sivert Nesbø Title English:

The Swathes Title Norwegian:

Skårgangar

Sivert Nesbø shows a strong natural authority in his descriptions of farming and hunting, landscape and weather, labour and its routines. He is a great literary talent, who has learnt his craft at the Creative Writing Academy in Hordaland.

Format:

130x205 mm / 112 pages

‘You can sense the influence of both Tarjei Vesaas and Jon Fosse in certain passages. His cast of characters is well-defined and closely-observed. The scarce text is rich in lasting nuances and presented in beautiful, melodious New Norwegian.’

VG

‘This debut novelist's strength is a precise and poetic language which quickly draws the reader into the epic, dark universe in Skårgangar. … This novel is well-composed and he writes dialogues worthy of an experienced author.’

BERGENS TIDENDE

‘It will be exciting to see what he has up his sleeve for next time.’

Photo: Magne Sandnes

DAG OG TID

Sivert N. Nesbø (1982–) lives in Bergen. He trained at the Academy of Creative Writing in Hordaland and is one of the writers represented in Signaler 2011, the Cappelen Damm anthology of work by first time writers.

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Eternal Sleep Once, Yngve gave me a bouquet of poppies. I thought he had picked them himself. It made me happy. Later on, I found out that, in the language of flowers, poppies mean: Eternal sleep.

Cora believes that there are dark shadows under her eyes and buys an expensive concealer to deal with the problem. At some point in the future, she thinks maybe she'll make a drawing of a hare. She has never got up in the middle of the night to get herself a glass of water. She has bought herself a stem trimmer, even though she never buys cut fresh flowers.

Author:

The novel Du er meg for søvnig is about Cora. She has read that every day is a treasure. She tries to fill her days.

Caroline Kaspara Palonen Title English:

Eternal Sleep Title Norwegian:

In this novel, Caroline Kaspara Palonenen offers a wonderful little book about a fragile relationship. As well as a story of a mildmannered but strong young woman with a sense of humour and an unexpected take on the world around her.

Du er meg for søvnig Format:

130x205 mm / 208 pages

‘A fascinating female view of relationships and breakups.’

Caroline Kaspara Palonen (1984–) has a first degree from the College of

Art in Bergen, where she specialised in photography. She also studied at the School of Creative Writing in Tromsø. Du er meg for søvnig is her second novel.

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Photo: Randi Grov Berger

STAVANGER AFTENBLAD

N ov e l s

Son The main storyline in this novel follows a young Sámi artist called Amund Amundsen who is travelling to Kautokeino to work with the main attraction in an exhibition. It may seem that he then bumbles idly about the town in the following weeks, but the outline of Amund Amundsen's masterpiece takes shape outside of the reader's vision. His work on this piece draws the reader even further into the dark.

The storyline jumps around in time and follows excerpts from the lives of Amund Amundsen's grandmother, grandfather and mother in the Sámi villages of Skånland in South Troms.

Author:

Sigbjørn Skåden Title English:

Son

This novel looks closely at power structures, sexuality and upheavals in the Sámi community in the last century.

Title Norwegian:

Photo: Susanne A. Andersen

Sønn

Sigbjørn Skåden (1976–) is a Sámi author who lives in Tromsø. Sønn is his first

novel in Norwegian.

26

Crime fiction

C r i m e F i ct i o n

Certain Signs of Your Death In Akershus University Hospital, a patient disappears. In the evening, his body is found in a basement box-room with its throat cut. When retired forensic pathologist Jennifer Plåterud is called in to examine the dead man, she has no idea of how closely she is involved in the murder herself. In the merciless light of summer, she is gradually forced to grasp the connections she would have preferred to ignore.

Author:

Torkil Damhaug

This is a psychologically tense, closed-room crime story set in a hospital, but with links to the Balkan wars in the 1990s, the Rosengård gangs in the Swedish city of Malmö and Torkil Damhaug's own world of characters from the Romerike district near Oslo.

Title English:

Certain Signs of Your Death Title Norwegian:

Sikre tegn på din død Format:

130x205 mm / 416 pages

With Sikre tegn på din død Damhaug has completed his planned quartet of psychological thrillers, each book set in a different season. He won the Riverton Prize for the third book in the quartet; Ildmannen.

Rights sold to:

Denmark (Modtryk) Germany (Droemer Knaur) UK (Headline)

Photo: Fredrik Arff

Winner of the Riverton prize

Torkil Damhaug (1958–) has a degree in medicine with a specialization in

psychiatry. He has published seven novels, the three latest have been successful crime novels. His crime novels are translated into twelve languages.

28

‘Sophisticated and well-integrated 'gourmet crime' from Damhaug with a plot which spans nations, all sewn together with surgical precision.’

VG

‘Convoluted murder mosaic reaching out through time and space.’

STAVANGER AFTENBLAD

‘Great crime writing from Riverton Prize winner Damhaug... Sikre tegn på din død is a brilliant new psychological crime novel from someone who knows their craft and has taken their research seriously.’

FÆDRELANDSVENNEN

‘A thoughtful thriller … Damhaug fires an adrenaline-inducing starting gun, and then all you can do is sit back and follow it around the bends of intelligent intrigue and through a number of destinies which in addition to many other things embody the complexity of a new, multicultural Norway. ... overall a superior thriller, boosted by Marius Renberg's exceptionally indulgent and imaginative cover design.’

AFTENPOSTEN

‘More than a thriller … Torkil Damhaug is an ambitious author, he wants to do more than just tell a readable story.’

AKTUELL

C r i m e F i ct i o n

Vindicated Frikjent is a thriller which takes place against the backdrop of real historical events and characters. The main storyline takes place in contemporary times, triggered by a lost medieval artwork which is suddenly found in Norway: the jewel-encrusted cover of the Bible manuscript 'Book of Kells', produced in the 9th century by monks at Iona Abbey off the west coast of Scotland before a brutal Viking raid interrupted their work.

When TV reporter Erik Engum and librarian Rachel Maier try to trace the anonymous donor, they are unwittingly led to the darkest pages of Norwegian war history – the deportation of the Norwegian Jews and the seizure of their possessions. Their hunt uncovers alliances which rip holes in the idealised image of the Norwegian resistance movement and legal purge, holes which powerful people are desperately trying to cover up.

Author:

Ole Kristian Ellingsen Title English:

Vindicated

Title Norwegian:

Frikjent Format:

Even though this novel is fictional, it contains facts and raises issues with which Norwegian society has still not reconciled itself.

Photo: Anna-Julia Granberg BLUNDERBUSS

130x205 mm / 442 pages

Ole Kristian Ellingsen (1952–) works as a writer for the advertising agency McCann. Frikjent is his first book.

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C r i m e F i ct i o n

The Creep The discovery of a girl's body in Nordmarka prompts a frenzied police search for the perpetrator. Oslo police department are forced to resort to unusual methods to find the right person.

At the same time, a talented psychiatrist returns home to Norway after several years working in the USA. He becomes a central figure in the police hunt for the suspect, considerably more central than you might initially guess. It also transpires that the police are not the only ones looking for the suspect.

Krypet is an intense reading experience with elements from the crime and thriller genres, and where the reader is not sure whose side to take in the hunt for a solution.

Author:

Ragnar Enger Title English:

The Creep

Title Norwegian:

Krypet

Format:

Ragnar Enger (1986–) is an economist and works for the Ministry of Finance.

Krypet is his first publication.

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Photo: Anna-Julia Granberg BLUNDERBUSS

130x205 mm / 272 pages

C r i m e F i ct i o n

Hellfire A rusty old caravan sits in a forest grove. The door is open and a four or five year old child lies inside. The child's body has been chopped into pieces and is nearly drained of blood. An adult woman, presumably the child's mother, lies on a sofa, also stabbed to death.

This is brutal even for Konrad Sejer. The deceased are Connie, who works as home help for the elderly, and Simon, her son.

There are many characters in this book, but the central figures are Connie and Simon as well as Mamma Mass and her 21-yearold son Eddie. Both are single mothers not in contact with the fathers of their children. As Connie works as home help, we also encounter many other people and their destinies in the homes she visits.

Author:

Karin Fossum Title English:

Hellfire

Title Norwegian:

Helvetesilden Format:

The author switches deftly between chapters set in 2004 and chapters set in 2005, or rather, before and after the murders.

This increases the tension, and the reader is able to participate in solving the mystery of who the killer is. There are many clues leading in different directions.

130x205 mm / 248 pages

Helvetesilden deals with topics such as poverty in a wealthy Norway, the situation of the elderly and the absence of a father.

But above all it makes for very exciting reading.

Photo: Arild Sønstrød

Karin Fossum (1954–) made her literary début in 1974 with the poetry

collection Kanskje i morgen, for which she won the Vesaas First Writer's Award.

She has published books in several genres, but is perhaps best known for her crime fiction about Konrad Sejer. Several of her books have been filmed. She has received a number of prestigious awards, including an LA Times Book Award for her novel Elskede Poona.

Karin Fossum's books are translated into 30 languages.

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C r i m e F i ct i o n

Carmen Zita and Death Konrad Sejer is back! In Carmen Zita og døden, Sejer is very present indeed, not only as the thoughtful, incisive crime investigator but also the human being Konrad Sejer, with problems of his own to deal with.

This time, Skarre arrives at the scene first. A small child has drowned in a pond. One unguarded moment and the very worst thing has happened. The young parents are devastated and everything indicates that the death was an accident. But Skarre is taken aback by something about the mother, and tells Sejer of his impressions. As always in cases of sudden death, an investigation is begun and Carmen, the child's mother, proves to be somebody rather special. Selfish, shallow, spoilt and crazily vain.

Author:

Karin Fossum Title English:

Carmen Zita and Death Title Norwegian:

Carmen Zita og døden Format:

130x205 mm / 224 pages

This novel has everything you have come to expect from Karin Fossum's crime fiction; a terrible incident and well-drawn, exciting pictures of the people involved, solid police work and a surprising turn of events. And, as ever, literary writing at a high level.

Rights sold to:

Denmark (Gyldendal) Estonia (Eesti Raamat) Finland (Johnny Kniga) Germany (Berlin Verlag) Sweden (Forum) UK (Harvill Secker) USA (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

‘Karin Fossum is among our foremost authors, regardless of genre. This because of her unique ability to create real people and her deep understanding of the human soul. She has always mastered this, but never better than in Carmen Zita og døden.’

Drammens Tidende

‘Among Fossum's finest novels … with a strong literary quality all the way, wisely distributed portions of revealing details and quivering suspense.’

Dagsavisen

‘… well-written and gripping about the hidden murders.’

Dagbladet

‘Around the fascinating Carmen character a room for reflection opens up, related to the much debated sorting society. … Karin Fossum always gives the reader the solid pleasure of being in good hands, simply because she has something to tell which exceeds the mastery of this genre's machinery.’

Aftenposten

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C r i m e F i ct i o n

The Iron Virgin In December 1981, a young mother disappeared without a trace from her home outside Tønsberg. She was only out running an errand while her child slept. She never came back.

Thirty years later two new women disappear from the same area, and Ida Gabler, journalist for Tønsberg Tidende, gets involved in the investigation. Might these cases be connected to the latest rape case in the area, or are there other motives behind it?

The police are fumbling in the dark, but those affected want answers. When Ida Gabler starts researching old disappearances, she finds a lead which casts new light on recent events. After digging even deeper into the past, she starts to suspect a new and terrifying connection. It's just too evil to be true.

Author:

A. C. Gjersøe Title English:

The Iron Virgin Title Norwegian:

Jernjomfruen Format:

130x205 mm / 400 pages

A.C. Gjersøe (1975–) has had great success with her romance series Livsarven, which includes 36 volumes. The series gained 100,000 faithful readers. Now Gjersøe has written a crime novel set in the area where she was born.

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C r i m e F i ct i o n

Scavengers In an old earth cellar in Vika, a homeless drifter finds the remains of a child. Or is it? Elli investigates the site and discovers more remains. Slowly, the site is further excavated, and claustrophobic tunnels and forgotten bunkers are uncovered. It is a world apart, where animals are mistreated and people killed. Only the murderer knows all the exits. But Elli must get in there. She has several lives to protect.

Do we really know what exists under the ground in Oslo?

This is the fourth book about Elli Rathke, the half Norwegian/half Thai investigator with a black belt in karate.

Author:

Eystein Hanssen Title English:

Scavengers

Title Norwegian:

‘Frightening and brilliant … He keeps the excitement going for 448 pages. You just want to keep reading, and it is almost sad when it’s over.’

Åtseldyr Format:

130x205 mm / 448 pages

STAVANGER AFTENBLAD

Rights sold to:

‘In the plot itself, the author also shows us something real, a special environment unknown to many which I have not seen discussed in a novel so far. And the reader does not only get a trip down into the dark spaces under Oslo, but also a trip into the darkest corners of the human mind. … exciting throughout.’

Germany (Aufbau Verlag)

VG

‘Eystein Hanssen is socially engaged and looks at contemporary issues. This time he touches upon various issues such as fauna crime, illegal adoption and the abuse of au pairs. These themes are handled in an interesting way. ... He has a unique ability to create thrillers from contemporary issues. This makes for both frightening and exciting reading. There is no shortage of action, and the end in particular is breathtaking. All the loose threads are tied up and solutions are found.’

OPPLAND ARBEIDERBLAD

Photo: Fredrik Arff

Eystein Hanssen (1965–) portions out his time between writing books, working

on film projects and PR tasks. His first work of fiction De ingen savner came out in 2010 and his next book Giftstrøm the following year. Both books were nominated for the Booksellers' Prize. His third novel in the series about investigator Elli Rathke, Triangel, was published in 2012.

36

Brage Withberg, wearing a lab coat, leaned over the table with the bones on it and with a thin metal pin pointed to two of the toe joints on the sole of the left foot. Given Withberg's age it seemed odd he wasn't using glasses. Laser operation maybe.

There was a self-assured calm about him, Elli noted. As though he had nothing to prove. She liked people who were comfortable with themselves. She'd had her fill of poseurs.

Elli and Nereng stared at the chimpanzee foot.

‘Seven toes?’ Nereng asked in disbelief.

To Elli it looked as though it had seven toes.

‘There was something about the number here,’ Withberg added ironically, and his gaze wandered from Elli to Nereng before he demonstratively counted up the toes on the chimpanzee's left foot from one to seven.

Elli raised an eyebrow quizzically.

‘You said this wasn't just about a chimpanzee?’

Withberg nodded. ‘Look here,’ he said, as he picked up one of the toes and put it under a microscope. He indicated that they should both take a look at what lay under the lens.

‘Bones,’ Nereng announced with his eyes to the lens.

Elli looked impatiently at Withberg, who raised his arms in apology. ‘Sorry. I understand you're wondering where all this is leading. Well, it's very simple.’ He nodded towards the microscope. ‘That there is not a chimpanzee, it's a human.’

Nereng and Elli exchanged quick, doubtful looks.

‘So the skeleton is a human being after all?’ Elli asked.

Withberg shook his head demonstratively. ‘No. Only these toe fragments, these that are most badly damaged.’

‘And there's no possibility of a mistake? You say yourself that humans and chimps are very much alike?’

He shook his head again. ‘This is a human. The cell structure is unmistakable.’

Elli gave the information a moment to sink in.

Nereng put the whole thing in perspective: ‘Well, if that isn't a pretty original way to hide a corpse. . .’

Excerpt from Åtseldyr

C r i m e F i ct i o n

Chameleon People This is Lahlum’s fifth book about K2 and Patricia. We have reached 1972, Norway is conflicted about the EEC and Soviet spying is not unheard of.

On Saturday 25th March, the weekend calm is shattered when a small boy, scared for his life and with a bloody knife in his pocket, frenziedly rings K2’s doorbell. The boy manages to say just two sentences: ‘Please let me in! They are after me and I must talk to you before they get to me!’ before his pursuers get hold of him.

They turn out to be policemen and the bloody knife is the weapon that killed Per Johan Fredriksen, a Member of Parliament.

Author:

The investigation closes in on Fredriksen and hidden events in his past which may also be relevant to why he was killed. In his youth he was one of six friends – three couples – who were present during a holiday weekend when one of them, the man all the girls wanted, died under mysterious circumstances. The five survivors kept in contact off and on, and Fredriksen married the dead man’s sister. When K2 investigates the MP’s day job, one issue turns out to be the political relationship between Norway and the Soviet Union. K2 needs help. And, who can he turn to, except Patricia? This will have unexpected consequences for his partner, Miriam.

Hans Olav Lahlum Title English:

Chameleon People Title Norwegian:

Kameleonmenneskene Format:

130x205 mm / 392 pages

Hans Olav Lahlum has written a new, exciting crime story drawn from Norway’s recent history. EEC arguments and espionage mixed with personal passions and intrigues. A true Lahlum crime novel! ‘… K2 has not become a famous detective for no reason.

Despite his general confusion when it comes to love, he focuses on the investigation, and with help from the genius Borchmann, he effectively propels the reader through his well thought-out murder mystery. … New and entertaining retro crime from hard-working historian Hans Olav Lahlum.’

DAGBLADET

Photo: Fredrik Arff

Hans Olav Lahlum (1973–) is a historian. He made his literary debut with

the critically acclaimed biography Oscar Torp in 2007. He has since published five crime novels and five non-fiction books. His novels will shortly be available in English, Italian and Korean.

38

‘Playing with the genre … There is still nothing to fault his plots for. He has once again written a book which confirms he is a true crime writer.’

DAGSAVISEN about Kameleonmenneskene

‘An intelligent and well written crime novel … the novel is splendidly constructed with an escalating suspense, this was really a fun read.’

Dagbladet about Menneskefluene

‘Refreshingly old-fashioned and genial … Satellittmenneskene is impossible to put down. It contains a forceful drive and demands the reader’s full attention, because here there is a lot to keep straight. Bulls eye once again.’

Oppland Arbeiderblad about Satellittmenneskene

‘Thorough retro crime fiction … If you like the classical crime novel as it was created by Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, you should immediately go and buy Hans Olav Lahlum’s Satellittmenneskene.’

Dagbladet about Satellittmenneskene

‘Here is style. Lahlum puts his own fingerprint on this work, as he did with his previous novel. We are talking ‘Lahlumian’ here. There is no one like him.

Dealing with such a particular pen is so liberating. And with a mysterious plot, carefully constructed, and delightfully free of unneccessarily detailed voilence.’

VG about Satellittmenneskene

‘Lahlum in top form.’

VG about Katalysatormordet

‘The historian Hans Olav Lahlum’s third crime novel is so thrilling it is impossible to put down.’

Fædrelandsvennen about Katalysatormordet

‘Katalysatormordet is so entertaining and cleverly plotted that I will be happy to read 15 more books in this series.’

Dagbladet about Katalysatormordet

C r i m e F i ct i o n

Operation Hydra A young Jewish boy is brutally knocked down and scarred for life outside Ila school in Oslo. The same day, someone sets fire to the house of a prominent but controversial Norwegian politician.

A mother of two is killed in the blaze. This is just the prelude to a wave of violent attacks against the Norwegian population. One thing that seems to connect these events is Norway's Middle Eastern politics.

Axel Th. Munthe, undercover detective in Oslo police force's special operations department is brought in early in the case. Both he and the security service work hard to combat various different extremist groups, but they find themselves struggling to keep up as things escalate. Finally the threat is directed at the heart of what it is to be Norwegian: the independence day parade on Karl Johan street.

Author:

Sigbjørn Mostue and Johnny Brenna Title English:

Operation Hydra Title Norwegian:

Operasjon Hydra

Meanwhile, Axel tries to get his regular partner Tobben back on his feet following a personal breakdown. All while the clock is ticking and the decisive hour draws nearer for Axel and the nation of Norway.

Sigbjørn Mostue (1969–) has a degree in the History of Ideas. He works full Photo: Tanya Hanzalowa Wibye

time as a writer, having issued two crime novels for adults together with Johnny Brenna. He has also written two fantasy trilogies for middle grade readers.

Johnny Brenna (1964–) is crime editor at the magazine Alfa. He has previously been a consultant on crime issues for TV2 and advised the Conservative (Høyre) parliamentary group on crime policy. He worked in the police force for 20 years, and for 13 of these, he dealt with organised crime. Brenna is one of the leading contributors to the award-winning documentary study Politi og røver.

40

C r i m e F i ct i o n

The Bogeyman The autumn is darker than it has ever been before in Oslo, the most dangerous city in the world. The popular crime fiction writer Nelly Lundin has been found dead, killed by a box of sweet’n sour microwave dinner. A serial killer has struck and no one knows when he will strike again. Also, in this autumnal, dark Oslo, pets are disappearing like snow in summer. The situation is untenable.

Within the force, many fear the Crime Squad has no wish to deal with the case. The only one who can sort things out is DI Willy Wakum, but he is a burnt-out, unreliable drug addict with huge personal issues. Besides, he is dead.

Author:

Knut Nærum, Elisabeth Botterli, Peder Udnæs, Askild Hagen and Jørgen Mehren

This is a juicy parody of Jo Nesbø’s Harry Hole stories. The hero is more worn out, Oslo a more rotten city, the weather worse and the violence almost more brutal.

Title English:

The Bogeyman

‘Busemannen is silly and nonsensical, but also a brilliantly well-written parody – and it is recognition which makes it so entertaining.’

Title Norwegian:

Busemannen Format:

148x210 mm / 352 pages

brabok.no

Knut Nærum (1961–) has created eleven books of comic strips and fifteen books for children and adults. He is also the playwright behind the production Henrik Ibsen's samlede verker på 68 minutter.

Peder Udnæs (1971–) writes scripts for the Norwegian Broadcasting

Corporation's Norwegian version of the TV show Have I Got News for You. Previously, he was an importer of chewing gum and a travel secretary in The People's Action against Hash. He has been a writer on many TV programs and lives in Oslo with his wife and two children.

Elisabeth Botterli (1971–) is text editor for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation's Norwegian version of the TV show Have I Got News for You and has also written for several other programs. She lives in Oslo with her partner and two children.

Askild Hagen (1964–) works as a freelance copywriter, rapper and blogger.

He has been a writer for the Norwegian version of the TV show Have I Got News for You since 1999 and for the radio show Hallo i uken for 20 years. He has also created a children's TV series, and is the founder of the rap collective Hedmarkens sønner.

the TV show Have I Got News for You since 1999. He has also been a scriptwriter for a range of other satire and sketch programs on the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation since 1994, and has co-authored two books.

41

Photo: Fredrik Arff

Jørgen Mehren (1971–) has been writing scripts for the Norwegian version of

C r i m e F i ct i o n

The Blind God In the previous Tvedt crime novel, Av jord er du kommet, we met his new hero, Edvard Matre, investigator with the crime squad.

Matre is also the leading character in the new crime story, Den blinde guden.

An exceptionally brutal robbery ends in murder. Edvard Matre and his team are investigating. The trail leads them to a group of violent right-wing extremists, but, to Edvard’s total frustration, he is told by the PST, the Norwegian security services, to keep off.

Which is easier said than done. In the end, Edvard has to make up his mind about what matters most: ‘The safety of the realm’ or a woman’s life. At the same time, he also has to deal with the growing suspicion that one of his own people may have lives on his conscience.

Author:

Chris Tvedt and Elisabeth Gulbrandsen Title English:

The Blind God

Chris Tvedt’s previous crime novels are sold to the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Poland and Ukraine.

Title Norwegian:

Den blinde guden Format:

130x205 mm / 432 pages

‘There is little more to say except to congratulate on a smartly completed work ... Superbly exciting and intelligently plotted.’

VG

‘Den blinde guden is Chris Tvedt’s second book about DI Edvard Matre. The first one was good, the second one just as good.’

Dagbladet

‘Well plotted, elegantly invented and, definitely, no happy end.

This will become a TV series, the only question is how soon.’

Bergens Tidende

‘Den blinde guden is one of the more believable narratives that have so far emerged out of this autumn’s flow of crime fiction.

Believability doesn’t make any less exciting than everybody else’s hunts for serial killers, but rather the opposite.’

Dagsavisen

Photo: Fredrik Arff

Chris Tvedt (1954–) is born in Bergen. In addition to law school he has studied Comparative Literature. In 1988 he started practicing as a lawyer, but is now working as a full-time writer.

Elisabeth Gulbrandsen (1955–) lives in Bergen. After training as a goldsmith, she later went on to study law. She has since worked for the Hordaland county authority and for the Rafto Foundation, a Bergen-based human rights organisation. She is married to the writer Chris Tvedt.

42

Tommy saw everything in slow-motion. The club that dropped from Ulv's hand and danced on the asphalt. The fractional hesitation, the doubt that fluttered across his face like a shadow. The moment when everything was in the balance.

Tommy had time to realise that this was what it was going to be like anyway, that the showdown he had been ignoring and turning his back on was not going to turn its back on him.

Tommy was quite calm, he had good time. He bent his knees slightly, the pistol was already cocked, his arm straight, the other hand in support around the wrist.

And Ulv knew he was too late. It showed in his eyes, in the flash of desperation and hatred.

Only then did Tommy see the two little girls. He saw them over Ulv's right shoulder, holding hands, their eyes wide, mouths open in shock, maybe they were even screaming, he didn't know. All he knew is that they were in the direct line of fire.

He hesitated for a fraction of a second. Began to smile at the irony of it.

Let his hands drop. The barrel pointing down towards the asphalt.

The bullet hit him in the chest and wiped the smile from his face.

Only afterwards did he hear the crack, like an afterthought or an echo, and realise that he had been shot.

Excerpt from Den blinde guden

Winner of the Riverton prize

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C r i m e F i ct i o n

Cockrow Winner of the Cappelen Damm crime fiction competition!

On her first day at work in the crime squad, Jenny Brox is sent off to Møre og Romsdal county to join her boss, who is there to support the local police investigation. The county hall head of social services has been found dead, and when the local officers go to inform the dead man's brother, a solitary man who farms the isolated land Tverrmoen, they open the door to a nightmarish scene. Not only has the farmer been decapitated and his head dumped in the hen-house, but under a trapdoor in the floor they find a starving, terrified and mute boy. Everything indicates that he has been incarcerated for a long time.

Author:

Lars Ove Sæther Title English:

Cockrow

Jenny Brox soon realises that they are up to their necks in trouble, and matters do not improve when Mormons turn up in the neighbourhood and also show an interest in the family who once lived at Tverrmoen.

Title Norwegian:

Hanegal Format:

130x205 mm / 384 pages Rights sold to:

‘Debutant Lars Ove Sæther won Cappelen Damm's crime novel contest with this book. And rarely have I been more convinced by a jury's decision. Because this is first class suspense and entertainment. Written by an author who knows how to put together a plot stretching from Eidsvåg to Haiti and from religion to madness.’

Faroe Islands (Sprotin Forlag)

VG

‘With this fresh crime investigator Jenny Brox and her brusque boss Victor Fougner, Sæther has created a couple of investigators whom most readers of Hanegal will want to follow further. … an original crime plot which gets a surprising and good solution.’

Photo: Cappelen Damm / Liliann Eidem

Adresseavisen

Lars Ove Sæther (1965–) lives outside Trondheim. He has a degree in information technology and has since 1998 run his own business. Hanegal is his first book.

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Illustrated Shortnon-fiction stories, (iii) Poetry, essays

S h o rt sto r i e s

The Sun Sighs in my Shoes Solen sukker i mine sko is a collection of short stories in which Dragseth gives us excerpts from people's lives: The man who cannot be alone and sits on a high-speed train from Hamburg to Berlin.

The man who is startled when his psychic says: 'Now I see your destiny clearly.'

Author:

Terje Dragseth

The man walking along a path through the forest surrounded by flying demons.

Title English:

The Sun Sighs in my Shoes Title Norwegian:

Solen sukker i min sko

The woman walking unaffectedly along the street wearing red trousers while someone waits impatiently for her.

Format:

120x180 mm / 160 pages

Photo: Alf Solbakken

Dragseth makes use of everyday, normal situations, but gives them their own little twist. Something almost supernatural. He continues much in the same way as in Bella Blu, where he speculates and plays with the utmost seriousness.

Terje Dragseth (1955–) made his literary debut with Offerfesten in 1980. Since then he has published a series of books which have confirmed his position as one of Norway's most innovative and incisive poets.

46

s h o rt sto r i e s

UNtime Utid

Utid by debut writer Kristin Lund is an intense and original collection of short stories where she investigates the relationships and communication between people, or the absence of the same. These short stories hint at the fact that life is a job, and often a difficult one at that, despite its tendency towards being multifaceted and going off on tangents.

Lind writes with energy and precision, and with a deep sense of seriousness.

Author:

Kristin Lind Format:

130x205 mm / 120 pages

Kristin Lind (1969–) studied history at the University of Bergen, and also works as a translator. She had a short story published in anthology Løsrivelse in 2010.

The Gates of Hell Helvetesporten

Thematically, Helvetesporten looks at Rodin's sculpture of the same name. In these three short stories we meet artists who are at a crucial point in their lives, both artistically and in their interpersonal relationships. In one of the stories we meet Rodin himself, who takes in a young Rainer Maria Rilke to assist him in his work with the sculpture.

Hilde Lindset's second book is a powerful collection of short stories!

Author:

Hilde Lindset Format:

130x205 mm Hilde Lindset (1978–) has a degree in Nordic literature, media theatre studies.

She has taught Norwegian literature and language at the Goethe University in Frankfurt. Currently, she lives in Berlin. She made her literary debut with Jeg burde sperret deg inne in 2012.

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S h o rt sto r i e s

The Caractères Based on the Works of La Bruyère Karakterer. Etter La Bruyère

Karakterer. Etter La Bruyère is loosely based on the French classic Les Caractères by Jean de La Bruyère (1645–1696), which was in itself a continuation of Teofrast's (around 371–287 BC) Characters. In Thomas Lundbo's version, the future is used to reflect our time as a kind of reversed science fiction. It contains a few direct translations from La Bruyère's texts, and also develops some ideas discussed in La Bruyère's book. However, this collection for the most part comprises original texts. Karakterer. Etter La Bruyère contains portraits of different 'characters' or types of people, small short story-like tales, aphoristic reflections on the historic development and characteristics of our time, reflections on morality, society and modern life in general.

Author:

Thomas Lundbo Format:

148x210 mm

Thomas Lundbo (1971–) is an author and translator. His first work was the

highly acclaimed Det som blir igjen, 2006. In 2009 he was awarded the prize for the best translated book for young adults by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

Bring Home Dead Animals Hente heim døde dyr

In a village next to Sognefjord, people have established their own rules and grounds for survival. There is friction between neighbours and friends, between married couples, between people and animals – and between people and things that cannot be explained. Where do you draw the line between a joke and utter seriousness? And where do you draw the line between what you believe in and what can only be madness?

Author:

Brynjulf Jung Tjønn

Through these eight stories we enter a world unlike any other place in Norway.

Brynjulf Jung Tjønn (1980–) made his literay début with the novel Eg kom for å elske in 2002. I morgen skal vi sitte i solen (2009) was his début as a children's book author, and was sold the Faroe Islands. His young adult novel from 2013, Så vakker du er, won the Brage Award.

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P o e t ry

The Burden of the Light Vekta av lyset

Poet Hanne Bramness writes with intensity to produce poetry crafted with concrete language and rich in content. Often the poems come across like short stories from a childhood or person's recollection, and rich experience and a deep sense of understanding characterises her work. Her use of language is precise and poetic and depicts existences full of meaning.

Author:

Hanne Bramness Format:

151x226 mm / 56 pages Hanne Bramness (1959–) is, and has been for decades, one of Norway's outstanding lyricists. In 2006, she was awarded the exceptionally prestigious Dobloug Prize.

After the Carnival Etter karnevalet

There is a strong sense of that which is lost or missing in this moving new collection of poetry from Saabye Christensen, which among other things looks at putting your childhood behind you and looking to the future.

This is a collection of well-known and humoristic motifs from an authorship pitted against poems about death and transience.

These poems contain memories, present and future. Together they form a life cycle, from gym class uproars to the silence of hotel lobbies.

Author:

Lars Saabye Christensen Format:

130x205 mm / 83 pages Lars Saabye Christensen (1953–) made his literary début in 1976 with

Historien om Gly. His break-through novel was Beatles, which is one of the greatest literary successes in Norway and which continues to speak to new generations. He received both the Booksellers’ Prize and the Nordic Council’s Literary Award for Halvbroren in 2001. This novel also marked his break-through to the international market. It has been translated into 35 languages.

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P o e t ry

Urn Urne

Hæggernes returns in this collection of poems Urne to a theme that is familiar from his earlier books: to live inside a human body is to exist subjected to the tension between a sense of belonging with all living things and an equally strong sense of isolation and loneliness; between an obscure past and numerous possible futures; generations of the dead and generations of the unborn and, with an ever intrusive awareness of the fact that this body, which is not only a home but one's all, will in the end give up.

Author:

Kristian S. Hæggernes Format:

130x205 mm / 80 pages Kristian S. Hæggernes (1972–) saw his first collection of poetry Tyngde av fallende skygge, published in 2004. The collection Med vinterstemme came out in 2008.

Circular War Umgangskrigen

Umgangskrigen is Cornelius Jakhelln's seventh collection of poetry and the last volume in the trilogy 'Norrønasongen', i.e. a poem referring to the age of the Norwegian Vikings. In this trilogy, Jakhelln explores 'høgnorsk' or High Norwegian, an archaic form of the Norwegian language known as Nynorsk, in order to create a tonal range which is both culturally right ('norrønt') and comprehensible to present-day readers.

Author:

Cornelius Jakhelln Format:

140x199 mm / 88 pages

Cornelius Jakhelln (1977–) made his literary début in 2001 with the poetry

collection Gebura Muse. Later followed Yggdraliv (2004) and Fagernorn (2006), and in 2008 his most recent work Quadra Natura Galderhug / Spellmind was published. In 2007 Jakhelln's novel Gudenes fall garnered him much attention when it was the Norwegian winner of Cappelen's Nordic novel competition.

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P o e t ry

The Bitch and the Sea Fitta og havet

The poems in Fitta og havet revolve around the same point of pain: a loved one who has been or may be lost. The poems also deal with other big themes such as the sea, sexuality and earthworms.

Maja Anette Flønes Monsen debuts with Fitta og havet, which is a playful, powerful and precautionary collection of poetry.

Author:

Maja Anette Flønes Monsen Format:

147x210 mm

Maja Anette Flønes Monsen (1983–) has a master's degree in pharmacology and also studied writing for two years in Tromsø. Fitta og Havet is her literary debut.

Crochet Myths Hekla myter

Eli Fossdal Vaage writes about Norwegian ancestral history and a common female inheritance in her own unique way. Her poems describe sisterhood across generations, with a young woman depicting historical womanhood, an older woman's voice and her own existence on a farm she has taken over or possibly taken by force.

Hekla myter contains equally effortless great and small reflections, all presented in a language which is simultaneously straightforward and high-flown.

Author:

Eli Fossdal Vaage Format:

151x226 mm / 72 pages

Eli Fossdal Vaage (1984–) was born in Leirvik in Stord, but lives in Bergen. She studied at Skrivekunstakademiet [the Creative Writing Academy] in Bergen, and was included in Cappelen Damm's debut writers' anthology Signaler in 2010.

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P o e t ry

Circular Hymn Sirkelsalme

In Sirkelsalme, Monica Aasprong plays with the format of her book and the endless shape of the circle, the implications of hymns and the meaning of poetry.

In her previous collections of poetry, among other aspects, she grasped the visual qualities of poetry and of its capacity for epic expression. Here, song and hymn form her Star of Bethlehem.

Author:

Monica Aasprong Format:

135x210 mm / 122 pages Monica Aasprong (1969–) grew up in Kristiansund and currently lives in Stockholm. She is an author, but also works as a translator and an interpretative poetry translator. Previously, she was responsible for books pages in Morgenbladet and editor of the Nordenfjeld literary magazine.

Double Life Foreword by Audun Vinger Dobbeltliv

Eivind Buene picks up musical threads from the novels Enmannsorkester and Allsang, and takes them further in a collection of literary essays.

These texts listen, investigate and postulate, but most of all, they ask questions. What can music teach us about slowness? What stories can Glenn Gould's piano stool tell? Why do we talk about writing a song? What does a Norwegian novel sound like – and what is it about Gustav Mahler?

Author:

Eivind Buene Format:

130x205 mm / 248 pages Eivind Buene (1973–) has been a composer in residence with orchestras and

festivals in Norway and abroad. His music has been performed in prestigious venues like Centre Pompidou, Berlin Philharmonic Hall and Carnegie Hall. He made his literary debut in 2010 with the novel Enmannsorkester. Allsang from 2012 is his second novel.

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Essays

Danger and delight fryd og fare

Above all, Vigdis Hjorth is a novelist, but she is also a committed and critical reader and contributor to the social debate. In 1999, her collection of prose pieces En erotisk forfatters bekjennelser was published. The book is a showcase for her sense of humour and acute insights in small as well as larger matters. Since then, her writing has developed until she is now one of Norway's most interesting authors. She was awarded the Hunger (Sult) Prize and her recent Lenge leve posthornet! won the Critics' Prize. Her novels always trigger comment and discussion. Now, we are offered another opportunity to read her thoughts about other authors, for instance Hamsun, Brecht, Woolf, Kierkegaard, Gombrowicz and others. This collection contains articles, poetry, interviews and longer essays. The tone of Fryd og fare is laid-back and amusing, but demonstrates the author's great intellectual breadth and engagement.

Author:

Vigdis Hjorth Title English:

Fryd og fare Title Norwegian:

Fryd og fare Format:

148x210 mm / 216 pages

‘Vigdis Horth presents a collection of great articles she has written about literature in a book called Fryd og fare.’

Dag og Tid

‘When I read Fryd og fare, I want to write more like Vigdis Hjorth... an inspiring contribution to the never-ending debate about the role of literature.’

Morgenbladet

‘Vigdis Horth is a master of the art of seducing the reader without losing sight of seriousness. The result is eleven great texts about life and literature. … Vigdis Horth's essay collection Fryd og fare reminds us that literature in one way or another must concern the reader in order to be relevant and interesting.’

Bergens Tidende

‘An exemplary presentation of other writers.’

Dagbladet

Vigdis Hjorth (1959–) has made an exciting literary career and has written many popular books for both children and adults. Today she is one of Norway's most interesting contemporary writers.

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i llu st r at e d F i ct i o n

That Day in Florence An uncanny message in a glass of Italian prosecco ripped through the idyll, shame struck, and screams, howls and monsters threatened the future. A short tale of inner turmoil, making friends with fear and gore, and resisting the undercurrent when taking the plunge.

This book is lavishly illustrated with Iben Sandemose's distinctive lines.

Author:

Iben Sandemose Title English:

That Day in Florence Title Norwegian:

Photo: Privatbilde

Den dagen i Firenze

Iben Sandemose (1950–) is a versatile artist and a master of imagery. She has created a number of distinctive children's books – and her work is critically acclaimed.

54

Narrative non-fiction Flamme forlag

F l a m m e F o r l ag

Over the Bridge Minnesund, 1998. All of Jonas’ friends have left for the big city to study, including his girlfriend Nina. Jonas has stayed in his hometown to work for a year at the timber mill. He lives with his mother, rents films from the video store and waits for Nina to call him.

One day he catches a girl his age stealing calling cards from the petrol station. Magda is Polish and has been working illegally on some of the local farms, but is left on the streets when work dries up. Since then she’s lived alone in a shed on a construction site.

Just like Jonas she’s stranded in a place where she doesn’t really wish to be, without friends and plans for the future.

A flamme book

Before long Jonas and Magda fall for one another. Their liaison causes friction among the local community and the Polish workers, who already endure a fraught relationship. Is it true that Poles steal from their Norwegian employers? Or have the Norwegians only themselves to blame, allowing their Polish employees to work themselves to the bone for small change?

Jonas is caught up in a web of lies, jealousy and prejudices, where nobody is free from guilt.

Author:

Lasse Wardenær Fosshaug Title ENGLISH:

Over the Bridge Title NORWEGIAN:

Over brua Format:

130x195 MM / 136 Pages

‘A book with a coherent vision of complex people … Fosshaug, writing with an easy-flowing pen dipped in black humour, has created an entertaining and thought-provoking book.’

Vårt Land

‘It is a pleasure to read Lasse W. Fosshaug’s classy debut novel Over brua. The language is so down-to-earth, the characters so utterly without dramatic affectations as they wait, full of inarticulate watchfulness and unremarkable tensions, while the days run past … that one becomes impressed by the seemingly effortless, stylised skill with which this debutant creates a seamless whole.’

Stavanger Aftenblad

Lasse W. Fosshaug (1982–) has previously published Looking for Love (2011),

a conceptual poetry collection based on leaked intelligence reports from Iraq and Afghanistan. He studied at Litterär gestaltning in Gothenburg.

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F l a m m e F o r l ag

Paris Syndrome Have you ever heard of Paris Syndrome? ‘A diagnosis often given to Japanese tourists who travel to Paris and find that all of their dreams and illusions about Paris being the world’s most beautiful city are entirely shattered. They anticipate that the city will resemble a French musical from the 1960s, when in actual fact it is simply Paris. Raw and hard-hitting. Complete chaos,’ Heidi Furre writes in her debut novel.

In Parissyndromet we meet a young girl who lives in at least two worlds, as most of us do – the world within her and the world around her. Or, in other words, the world she gives away and the world she gets back. After giving a globe to a charity shop, a globe that ought to have been a gift for the boy she loves, she concludes, ‘I don’t want to give the whole world to someone who doesn’t want me.’

A flamme book Author:

Heidi Furre Title ENGLISH:

And thus begins Parissyndromet, with a girl who has the whole world inside her but nobody to give it to. And so she travels to France. Why not? To Paris. Naturally. A fantastic new world. To learn French. She leaves her friends and home, grandmother and parents. And him. In order to find a whole world. And (perhaps) to find somebody to give it away to.

Paris Syndrome Title NORWEGIAN:

ParisSyndromet Format:

130x195 MM / 208 Pages

‘This story about a girl in Paris strikes me as one of the best books about friendship that I have read in a long while …

Heidi Furre does not only write in easy-going, uncontrived Nynorsk, she is also able to control her evocation of atmospheres, emotions and actual settings in a manner that is unobtrusive and, precisely for that reason, seems true to experience.’

NRK

‘A fine, laid-back debut novel by an author who is perfectly able to tug at the reader’s heartstrings at will but mostly writes with a shrewd and humorously critical – also self-critical –touch.’

Dagens Næringsliv

Heidi Furre (1968–) has spent two years living in the French capital, and is

subsequently very familiar with her subject area. Parissyndromet is her first novel.

In addition to her writing, Heidi spends the majority of her time working as a photographer (www.heidifurre.com).

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F l a m m e F o r l ag

Doomsday Dommedøgn is a disaster novel about Berg, a little village on the west coast of Norway where the mountains tower over the village and the fjord stretches deep beneath them. A village whose continued existence has been secured all these years because of a factory which has now closed. A place where the rational and productive human being is flanked by a powerful and irrational nature which would increasingly have its own way. What will happen to them when the structures they have spent their entire lives building, fall?

We follow five characters: the prophetic and strange teenager Linn is sure that something bad is going to happen. She is tormented by bullies, but awaits a greater catastrophe. Her only friend in the world is Fiver, her rabbit, who she thinks is psychic.

Ingrid is the mayor trying desperately to attract new businesses to the town with help from national reorganisation, but she is constantly exploited. Gard, a misanthropist and recently unemployed drug addict who does everything he can to disturb the standstill. Care nurse Cecilie who makes friends with an elderly patient and helps her to die, but becomes so disturbed by this act that she leaves the body where it is and observes the slow process of decay. Lars, a naïve and self-appointed inventor who is working with a machine that will bring new business to the disillusioned village, a machine which packs waste into squares.

A flamme book Author:

Kjersti Wøien Håland Title ENGLISH:

Doomsday

Title NORWEGIAN:

Dommedøgn

All of them are trying to give meaning to an existence which seems to have lost it, but from the mountain and out over the fjord hangs a rock which constantly threatens to fall into the water.

Kjersti Wøien Håland (1988–) comes from Høyanger in Sogn og Fjordane

and now lives in Oslo. She debuted in 2013 with Kjersti er ein fiktiv person, helsing Kjersti; a poetry collection about being young, about being watched by and watching others, about cherry-patterned bedclothes and dancing beside your window. It was a witty and bitter debut which is now followed by a frightening and penetrating novel about many lives being threatened by something bigger.

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F l a m m e F o r l ag

Lisbon Lisboa is a novel in travel-book format. In Lonely Planet-inspired chapters on hotels, bars, museums and ‘get-aways’, the reader is guided through, on one hand, the capital of Portugal and, on the other, the thoughts of a Norwegian man in love and far from home.

The Norwegian protagonist moves to Lisbon to be with an Interrail traveller whom he met in Oslo. Inês. The Portuguese girl with the big rucksack. But how easy is it really to live together when you come from different cultures? How are you to know if you have made the right choice? Why isn’t love more like how it seems in the movies? And why must all conversations between Norwegians and Portuguese, however desperately serious, end up in a row about dried cod?

A flamme book Author:

Lisboa does not give an exhaustive picture of either the capital of Portugal nor the search for true love in our time, but you will nonetheless learn something about both topics. The book also contains useful spoken vocabulary, restaurant rankings and at least one cutting remark about Karsten Alnæs’s 2001 Guide to Lisbon.

Ola Innset Title ENGLISH:

LisboN

Title NORWEGIAN:

Lisboa

Format:

130x205 MM / 192 Pages

‘Lisboa is part romantic comedy and part fact googling.’

DAGENS NÆRINGSLIV

‘Ola Innset uses many great touches. He uses a warm and entertaining narrative voice for what is simply a good travel guide, which becomes rather funny when he starts getting irritated by everything that is wrong with the country and not like home.’

KLASSEKAMPEN

Ola Innset (1985–) is a trained historian and an active musician in indie pop bands such as Making Marks, mylittlepony and Sunturns. Lisboa is his first novel.

Innset writes as he plays: playfully, wittly and tenderly, but with serious undertones.

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F l a m m e F o r l ag

Furuset As Eva finally completes her Master’s degree and sits on the roof terrace with her family and friends, champagne flowing freely, it strikes her that she can do whatever she likes – that the future really is up to her. She can find a job, but which? And where? She can find a flat. Fill her days. Live life. The world really is her oyster, as they say, but what will she do with it?

She can’t decide. She just can’t do it. And so she moves back home, back into her old bedroom and surrounded by her parents and old circle of friends in Furuset. Before she knows it, she’s wandering through streets she knows inside out, back living a life that she hadn’t realised that she had left behind.

And how are things with Jo? And Nina? What’s really happening with Mum and Dad? And do you remember the bench we used to sit on? And the school roof that we climbed up on? And how long has everyone considered staying here? Is it possible to stay for the rest of her life?

A flamme book Author:

Linn Strømsborg Title ENGLISH:

Furuset

You can’t go home again, said Tom Wolfe. Sure you can, says Linn Strømsborg, but only for a little while.

Title NORWEGIAN:

furuset Format:

140x210 MM / 224 Pages

Furuset is a suburban novel. A post-study depression novel.

A novel about growing up in reverse. About friends, music, getting lost and realising that you can’t simply get lost after all. About taking a step back before you might be able to take two forward.

‘A moving, beautiful account of when grown-up life did not arrive when it should.’

NRK

‘Linn Strømsborg has written a charming novel, full of pop-cultural references to the vacuum that you enter after completing a Master’s degree.’

Bergens Tidende

Linn Strømsborg (1986–) debuted in 2009 with the novel Roskilde, the story of a group of young people at a music festival. She was born and raised in Furuset and works in a bookshop.

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F l a m m e F o r l ag

I’m coming!

Is there anything more dangerous than a horny woman? That question was surely asked a hundred years ago, when ladies who were up for it were told Oh-shame-on-you – at least officially. Now, we react the other way round. We live at a time when lusting for someone is obligatory. We can hardly pass a newsagent without the tabloids bombarding us, on a more or less daily basis, with hints about how to practice our orgasms, breathe or eat the right way to get them, or talk dirty until we have one.

Is it so odd if our heroine asks herself: I don’t come, so is there something wrong with me?

The leading lady in Jeg kommer snart is a rather ordinary woman who lies down one day to find out – on her own, or, better, by her own hand – if she can do orgasms or not. And while she lies there, the reader is allowed to sneak into her head and listen to her thoughts and find out about whom she is thinking while she tries to come. Meanwhile, her family is buzzing about on the other side of her bedroom door, forever knocking on it and wondering why she isn’t coming (out) soon.

A flamme book Author:

Selma Lønning Aarø Title ENGLISH:

I’m coming!

Title NORWEGIAN:

JEG KOMMER SNART

Jeg kommer snart is wise, sensitive, funny and, as an existential diagnosis of our time – and our media – almost too close to the bone.

Format:

151x226 MM / 160 Pages

‘Daring and direct writing about a woman’s inability to orgasm, with great satirical subtext.’

BERGENS TIDENDE

‘Funny, smart and important novel about the last sexual taboo – why do women fake it?’

DAGBLADET

‘This is quite simply enjoyable reading.’

Selma Lønning Aarø (1972–) made her debut in 1995 with Den endelige

historien. She has been a newspaper columnist for Dagbladet and Klassekampen for a number of years.

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Photo: Fredrik Arff

KK

F l a m m e F o r l ag

Are We Friends Again?

Er vi venner igjen?

The situations in Pål Angelskår’s short stories are somewhat recognis­ able to us all. Here we meet people who have known each other for a while and who suddenly, if not completely out of the blue, see each other in another light. In one story we meet a couple of old friends who can’t quite connect like they used to. In another we meet a couple at a party where the girl spends a little too long dancing with one of their friends. What does it mean? The lives of the people in these short stories are packed into relatively short yet complete episodes and scenes. It’s about recognising yourself and losing others – for a while at least. Long enough that you have to put some effort into becoming friends again.

A flamme book Author:

Pål Angelskår

Pål Angelskår (1973–) made his literary debut with a collection of poetry called I sommer skal jeg gifte meg med Cecilie (2011). He is perhaps best known as the singer and songwriter with Minor Majority. The band has sold more than 150,000 discs and created a large number of radio hit tunes during the 2000s.

Format:

Rabbits Never Die Kaninene dør aldri

Kaninene dør aldri comprises comments on a skiing championship, boat weather reports, receipts, encyclopaedia entries, neologisms, suggested Google searches and incomprehensible notes after conversations with the authorities – but also records, confessions and other matters shared with a sister outdoors. Because sisters exist, outdoors exists, and all the above exists. These are stories about falling on one's face, avoiding shame, turning on the lights in every room, embracing community, taking part in something bigger, becoming part of the rabbit warren, the one which never dies. It's also somewhat about imagining both A and B, where B is perhaps an individual eternal and introspective quest for meaning and A is perhaps letting oneself be moved by the world beyond the self.

A flamme book Author:

Ranneveig Revhaug

Rannveig Revhaug (1980–) debuted in 2010 with IRL, a novel in which the boundaries between ordinary life, computer games and imagination are suspended. Kaninene dør aldri is her second book.

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F l a m m e F o r l ag

Museum Museum

During the war against Iraq in 2003, Iraq's National Museum in Baghdad was looted and vandalised. Thousands of items and objets d'art from the early history of mankind disappeared overnight. To put this catastrophe in perspective, researchers have compared it with what it would be like if the Louvre was emptied and destroyed in a day, and if everything the museum had contained had been sold to collectors immediately afterwards without anyone lifting a finger to stop it. In Hans Petter Blad's poetry collection, the museum items themselves are permitted to speak, but the story also covers the looters, buyers, museum guards, military, those who tried to rebuild the museum and those who found the items and tried to bring them back.

A flamme book Author:

Hans Petter Blad Hans Petter Blad (1962–) has written scripts for film and theatre. In 2002 he

made his literary début with I skyggen av små menn midt på dagen. He has since written three novels and four collections of poetry.

Do I Exist in other formats Kan jeg finnes i andre formater

Isabell El-Melhaoui debuts in winter 2014 with her poetry collection Kan jeg finnes i andre formater, a book where a traditional lyrical theme – alienation and identity issues – is updated for the age of Twitter and Instagram. Through a series of portraits and self-portraits we are introduced to the life of a young woman from a multicultural background; her best friend Selma, who writes about everything that happens and doesn't happen on greaseproof paper; her friend Daniel, whose mother is an ambassador and who likes to do impressions of Bruce Willis; her grandmother, who comes home from a trip to Iceland with the volcano Hekla tattooed on her arm; and her brother, who has shaved his head and dreams of hacking Facebook.

A flamme book Author:

Isabell El-Melhaoui Format:

170x240 mm / 96 pages

Isabell El-Melhaoui (1993–) is studying psychology and writes for the

newspaper Natt og Dag. Kan jeg finnes i andre formater is her literary début.

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F l a m m e F o r l ag

Restaurant Restaurant

There are a lot of people in front of televisions and bar counters in this country. They can't cook. Restaurant is a cookbook for these poor souls, especially those with an interest in conceptual strategies for cooking and enjoying life. The idea of a dish is more important than the actual execution.

Ingrid Furre writes realistic and dialogic poetry. No estimates too small, no consequences too dire. This is her second book; she debuted with Kollektivet in 2012.

A flamme book Author:

Ingrid Furre Ingrid Furre (1983–) was born in Stavanger, but currently lives in Malmö, where

she has studied at the Arts Academy. Her literary début came with Kollektivet, a collection of poetry, in 2012.

Mother, Wife, Slave Mamma, kone, slave

Linda Klakken's collection of poetry called Mamma, kone, slave is made up of poems about being a queer, proletarian mother of small children in post-Millennial Norway. We like to tell ourselves that, in 2013, homosexual people are seen as equals, but maybe you have not tried – like Linda (and many like her) – to play with your child and your wife in full view of others. Sure, lesbians are free to be together, but care for a child together?

Klakken's writing about life as a queer woman is wounded and warm, tough and engaged. It is about an ordinary life that is far from queer. Mamma, kone, slave is poetry about struggle and liberty. About a small human being fighting for her even smaller but still too exposed place in society and the world at large.

A flamme book Author:

Linda Klakken Format:

130x205 mm / 96 pages

Linda Klakken (1973–) was born in Ålesund. She lives in Oslo.

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F l a m m e F o r l ag

A Theory of Singularity Teori om det eneste

At the age of 19, Nils Christian Moe-Repstad broke his neck in a diving accident. Later, he became a poet – but never explicitly made that life-changing event into a theme in his writing. Not until now. Teori om det eneste consists of two books: Book I is about the body as nature, about physicality and ease, about the mathematics of language during the evolutionary span ‘from flint stones to drones'. Book II is the history of a city and of a family but also an investigation into an accident and its consequences, especially in medical terms.

A flamme book Author:

Nils Christian MoeRepstad

Nils Christian Moe-Repstad (1972–) has published six collections of poetry.

He has been involved in several music projects. Moe-Repstad's poetry has been translated into French, Italian, Dutch and Danish.

You Decide Du bestemmer

We live in a time when ’liberty’ means the option to choose between forty kinds of coffee. And afterwards, the experience is to be evaluated according to the format of the questionnaire. Sure, the modern consumer is ’heard’ – actually, business cannot hear enough from us: How old are you? Where do you live? What do you have for breakfast? Do you smoke? Do you donate blood?

Do you smile often? Do you have many friends? Do you like our coffee or prefer a rival brand? In his new collection of poems, Bård Torgersen has taken as his starting point a type of written material that rarely is linked to poetry. The outcome is a book which directly interconnects with our present; a kind of ’found poetry’ which invites the reader in and emphasises his or her participation.

A flamme book Author:

Bård Torgersen

Bård Torgersen (1967–) is a carpenter, musician and writer. He has written five novels. In the 00s, he has contributed to several music projects. Previously, Flamme Forlag published his Hei horunger, a collection of poetry (2010).

Format:

130x200 mm / 128 pages

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F l a m m e F o r l ag

I Was frank’s dog Jeg var bikkja til Frank

Terje Thorsen's fourth collection of poetry is about a couple of men who are not entirely good. Frank and Frank's brother. Or, maybe more to the point: it is about human beings who are not entirely good. People who have had to find their own way in life, outside the law and beyond the idylls and the wealth. Who have acquired the skill-set of the unwanted: a sharp sense of smell, a bang-on memory and an endless capacity for anger. If you have trampled on them once, you always will. What guides them are impulses; the moment matters and nothing else. The thing is not to think too much, these poems tell us, not to waste your time on this planet on analysing, but instead: grab life by the balls and keep the car on the road.

A flamme book Author:

Terje Thorsen Terje Thorsen (1965–) was born in Lillehammer where he also grew up. He

is a critic as well as a writer and has, in addition to these jobs, worked for several decades in the quite legendary bookshop Tronsmo Bokhandel in Oslo.

Men Are Beautiful from the Waist Up Mannen er vakker fra livet og opp

Linda Utstøl and Unnveig Aas' debut collection Mannen er vakker fra livet og opp is a mix of individual poems and everyday conversations between the poets about love, dating and desire.

The attitude in these poems is deliberately disruptive. Sometimes silly, sometimes grotesque, but with genuine and somewhat nostalgic wonderment throughout.

Unnveig Aas (1990–) debuts in spring 2014 with the ’split poetry collection’

A flamme book

Mannen er vakker fra livet og opp, written together with Linda Therese K. Utstøl.

Aas studied creative writing in Bø. She is also a musician.

Author:

Unnveig Aas, Linda Utstøl

Linda Therese K. Utstøl (1990–) debuts in spring 2014 with the ’split poetry collection’ Mannen er vakker fra livet og opp, written together with Unnveig Aas. Utstøl is from Nes in Hedmark and studied creative writing in Bø.

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Series

Series

Sunniva's Saga Sagaen om Sunniva

The year is 1349. On the Elvestad farm, they are preparing for the wedding of the young farmer's daughter Sunniva Persdatter, just as the Plague is closing its clammy fist around the countryside.

Sunniva must fight for her life. This powerful saga is about people who are torn from one another, about fates that are interwoven and about the bonds of love that are forged and broken.

Author:

Liv Almendingen 23 books

Daughter of the Sea Havets datter

Elisabeth gazed over the small, gray tree stumps under the mountain while she grasped the worn suitcase in her hand. She was sixteen and off to work as a servant on the Dalsrud estate. She had never been away from her childhood home and now felt expectation and a sense of freedom. Drama, romance and the hard life in Lofoten, Norway.

Author:

Trine Angelsen 30 books Rights sold to:

poland

Original Sin Arvesynd

Young, beautiful Mali comes from a poor family and is ’sold’ into marriage to a rich farmer boy. The marriage is loveless, and Mali suffers. One day a band of gypsies turn up at the farm, and Mali meets the wild, handsome Jo. Now she learns what love is all about, but this discovery will have fatal consequences for her whole life. This series has broken all records in readership and sales figures. Three chapters in English are available.

Author:

Anne-Lise Boge 26 books

Rights sold to: Finland, poland and sweden

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Mother's Heart Morshjerte

The year is 1928. Maren is the daughter of the merchant Thorvald Bredli. He is a wealthy man, with a lot of influence in the community. Since Maren is the only one who can carry on his legacy, he expects her to find a husband of equal social standing. One day the indigent boy Trond Lia is given a job in the storehouse. Maren falls head-over-heels, and the young woman is unaware of the dramatic consequences this relationship will have in regard to her life.

Author:

Anne-Lise Boge 24 books by the end of 2014 Rights sold to: poland

Legacy Livsarven

The story of Livsarven takes place at the venerable Gimle Farm in Vestfold in the 1880s. This is an action-packed and heartwarming tale, which revolves around the lives and loves of three young women at a time when women were rarely in charge of their own destinies.

Author:

Ann-Christin Gjersøe 36 books Rights sold to:

poland

The Stone With Violets Fiolsteinen

One morning a baby girl is found abandoned on the doorstep at Grønvoll farm. It turns out the baby is of Gypsy blood and has a deformed foot. At Grønvoll, the girl is taken care of by the spinster Gurine and given the name Hansine. Life in the mid 1800s is far from blissful at Grønvoll, but Hansine grows up to become a wise and beautiful young woman, and, as it turns out, she appears to have supernatural powers ... Hansine struggles to fit in with the locals who never quite approve of her, and one day she vanishes.

Author:

Inger Harriet Hegstad 24 books Rights sold to:

69

poland

Series

Wind of Change Sønnavind

The author takes us to the factories and houses along the river Akerselva in Oslo, 1905. Elise and her little sister work at one of the factories. Their mother is ill and their father an alcoholic.

Elise must take responsibility for her family. The radical changes occurring at the turn of the century, and the fate of the common people are brought sharply into focus in this successful saga.

Author:

Frid Ingulstad 73 books by the end of 2014 Rights sold to: poland

Ingebjørg Olavsdatter Ingebjørg Olavsdatter

By 1352, the Black Death has killed two-thirds of the Norwegian population. A young girl, Ingebjørg Olavsdatter lost her father.

Ingebjørg is young, strong and beautiful, but as an unmarried woman she has little to say regarding her own future.

A gripping tale from the Middle Ages; a personal and political drama.

Author:

Frid Ingulstad 45 books Rights sold to:

poland

Alvestad Alvestad

Love and desire, betrayals and mysteries, poverty and the harsh everyday grind are all components of Elin Brend Johansen's new suite of novels set at the end of the 19th century.

For many years, Ingrid Alvestad lived peacefully as a member of the upper class in Christiania, but one day, a telegram shatters the calm. Her father has died and Ingrid has inherited a large estate in ancient province of Romerike. Soon, Ingrid is forced to choose between duty and longing, between her responsibilities and her dreams. The estate, where past sins still lurk, does not welcome her.

Author:

Elin Brend Johansen 28 books by the end of 2014

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Dangerous Powers Farlige krefter

In Farlige krefter, an historical series set in Ringerike in the 1600s, we meet the young and passionate heiress to Svanemyr manor, Sunniva. She is blissfully ignorant of the extent of her supernatural powers, but will soon enough experience that her powers will have fatal consequences. In this dramatic series we follow Sunniva's struggle to survive in a time when women with supernatural powers were burned at the stake.

Author:

Elin Brend Johansen 21 books

Water Fall Fossefall

Passion and Mystery at Finnskogen!

Fossefall is set in Finnskogen, an enormous forested area that stretches along both sides of the Norwegian-Swedish border.

Finnish immigrants settled there in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the culture is rich with myths and sagas. Amalie, a farmer's daughter, has fallen in love with a Finnish man named Mitti. Her parents have other plans for her. They have already decided that she will marry the town's sheriff.

Author:

Jorunn Johansen

Jorunn Johansen’s new series Soloppgang (Sunrise) will have 19 books by the end of 2014.

55 Books Rights sold to:

poland

In War and Love I krig og kjærlighet

This story is set during the Second World War. From an early age, Kristin has looked after her home and siblings, and has not been particularly concerned with what is going on in Europe towards the end of the 1930s. She just dreams about marrying Jan and living happily together. But soon the war casts its shadow over her world, and she is forced to make a choice that will influence the course of her life.

Author:

Else Berit Kristiansen 46 books

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White Frost Rimfrost

The sorceress Rime is guarding a much soughtafter secret. As a result she is afraid to fall in love. Only Bork, a farmer's son, succeeds in wearing down her defences. This strong, silent man makes an impression on her, and against her will she is drawn to him. However, Rime has mighty enemies who are aware of her secret and want a share of it. She is not safe anywhere...

Author:

Trude Brænne Larssen 14 books Rights sold to:

poland

Eyes of the Wolf Ulveøyne

This Viking saga is set in a period of time when superstition was stronger than religion, when tempers ran high and conflicts were solved by the sword. When the little slave-girl is born, people are shocked at her appearance: raven-black hair and ice-grey, luminous eyes. Word has it her father must have been a wolf, and so she is given the name Ulva. Refusing a life of slavery, Ulva runs away and tries to survive on her own.

Author:

Trude Brænne Larssen 26 books Rights sold to:

poland

The Rose Garden Rosehagen

In 1881, ten-year-old Emily and her mother set out on a voyage.

The ship goes down. Emily survives but loses her memory. Twelve years later she discovers a letter that reveals the fact that her life has been founded on a web of lies fabricated by her own mother.

A series in which tension, intrigues and hidden pasts mingle.

Author:

Merete Lien 58 books by the end of 2014 Rights sold to: poland

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Descendants of the Storm Barn av stormen

Agnete is the daughter of a harbor pilot and lives on an island with a fierce and beautiful nature. The story begins when she falls in love and faces a difficult choice between two men. Agnete and those close to her must fight against inner and outer enemies, as well as the ferocious forces of nature on the island that faces the wild ocean. This is a touching love story that also paints a picture of the daily lives near the end of the 1700s.

Author:

Merete Lien 36 books Rights sold to:

poland

The Midwife Jordmoren

As a newly qualified midwife Astri moves to a small community in Western Norway in the 1920s. Work as a district midwife can be both lonely and dangerous, but Astri is pursuing a long time dream. Although the locals are welcoming and seem eager to meet her, she senses their apprehension. She settles in – and faces the challenges of a district midwife. Astri's story is a momentous drama of love and betrayal, life and death.

Author:

Sigrid Lunde

A new saga by Sigrid Lunde, Lokketoner, started in 2013.

12 books by the end of 2014.

66 books Rights sold to:

poland

Kristin of Gilstad Odelsjenta

This series is set in the mountain village of Aurdal in Valdres in the late 1800s. Kristin is the rightful heiress of the grand farm Gilstad and expected to marry a man of her father's choice. Kristin is horrified when she finds out which man her father has chosen for her, but has no saying in the matter. The marriage will assure the future of Gilstad and bury her father's dark secrets from the past ... But Kristin's heart belongs to someone her father never, ever will accept into the Gilstad family.

Author:

Anne Marie Meyer 47 books by the end of 2014.

Rights sold to: poland

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Series

Flame Dance Flammedans

The year is 1880. A band of gypsies roams through Lillehammer and the surrounding countryside. We follow their lives, full of drama, excitement and passion, through towns and deep forests. Anna is a young gypsy girl travelling with a large group of migrants. Her engagement to Nikolai is celebrated one bright summer night. But before they are married, a murder is committed in the camp. Nikolai is forced to flee and Anna is left to fend for herself.

Author:

Jane Mysen 66 books by the end of 2014 Rights sold to: poland

God's Chosen Utvalgt av gudene

Just as Amund begins to speak the child's name, the prophetess suddenly interrupts. She lifts her arms toward the sky and the glass pearls in her staff flash in her hands. With breath-taking power she cries out: ’The girl child is chosen by the gods – and the gods say she shall be named Gyda. Odin himself, who reigns over Valhall, is her protector, and no one shall harm her.’ The second child must be sacrificed, or the wrath of the gods will strike Jotungard...

Author:

Jane Mysen 30 books Rights Sold To:

Poland

The Chains of Life Livets lenker

The year is 1856. At Heimsett farm, 18-year-old Elen is growing up. Even if the family lives in poverty, Elen is happy. But one day, a great tragedy is revealed. Her father has incurred huge debts.

Unexpectedly, the doctor in the village offers to save the family farm from being sold at auction. His one request is that Elen accepts be his bride…

Author:

Christin Grilstad Prøis 32 books by the end of 2014

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Series

Anna's Fate Annas skjebne

It is the year 1900, and on a cold winter’s day in Hallingdal, fouryear-old Anna Johnsen is taken away by child care authorities. She is placed with Helga and Nils Bergmoen, a deeply religious couple who take saving little Anna from the sinful life in Ura as their calling.

“I want to stay with you,” whispered Anna in a low, trembling voice.

“Not now, sweetheart.” Her mother had started to cry. “I will come for you. I promise,” she whispered and dried her own tears before reaching out her hand to stroke Anna’s damp cheek. “It’s just that I didn’t want to go away before I’d seen you and said goodbye, but I will write to you … and I will come back.”

Author:

Ellinor Rafaelsen 18 books

Polar Nights Polarnetter

In the beginning of the 1900s, Tora follows her heart from Tromsø to Svalbard. But no loving reception awaits her. Life on the male dominated and barren island is more than just full moons and midnight suns. It is a fight against intrigues, jealousies and nature itself. It is a world that Tora will never fully understand.

Author:

Ellinor Rafaelsen 18 books

Gunhild’s Choice Farsarven

In this historical series set in Hallingdal, Norway, in the late 1800s we get to know the life of Gunnhild Johnsen and her five children after her husband follows his dream and sets off to America to find gold. All he leaves Gunnhild is a letter with a promise to return ... one day. Gunnhild struggles to provide for her family after her husband abandons them in poverty, and in despair she decides to put the children into foster care and seek work outside the small village in Hallingdal. Will Gunnhild’s husband return from America as a wealthy man? And will his family be there to welcome him back?

Author:

Ellinor Rafaelsen 18 books Rights Sold To:

75

Poland

Series

The nightman’s Daughter Nattmannens datter

A warm and thrilling tale of poverty-stricken orphaned children set in 18th century Bergen.

Bergen, 1701. Lucie Tønnisdatter holds a lasting memory of her father, seized by mysterious men when she was young. He'd told her he'd always take care of her, but in his absence she was forced to grow up alongside the other poor, orphaned children of the feared Manufactory House.

Author:

May Lis Ruus 23 books by the end of 2014

The Guldberg Saga Storgårdsfolk

Johanna is the eldest daughter of the country policeman in the farm district of Hedmark. When her father dies in an accidental gunshot incident, Johanna – a young girl at the end of the 18th century – must take responsibility for the farm and the police work. She feels confident that she will manage. However, when it comes to love… things are not as simple.

An abridged English version of book no. 1 is available.

Author:

Eva J. Stensrud 60 books Rights Sold To:

Poland

The Timber Girl Lassjenta

A magical series from the 1800s. Barbra is 16 years old when she runs away from her home in Julsruddalen, taking with her a dangerous secret. Barbra dreams of being a ’timber girl’, working to transport timber to Christiania (now Oslo). But a young girl on her own, travelling desolate country roads and staying in disreputable inns is tempting prey.

Author:

Berit Sandviken 34 books Rights Sold To:

Poland

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