Put Forward for the Petrona

Twelve crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden are longlisted candidates for the 2026 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year:

• One True Word, by Snæbjörn Arngrímsson,
translated by Larissa Kyzer (Pushkin Vertigo, Iceland)
• Murder Tide, by Stella Blómkvist,
translated by Quentin Bates (Corylus, Iceland)
• Broken, by Jón Atli Jónasson,
translated by Quentin Bates (Corylus, Iceland)
• Into Thin Air, by Ørjan N. Karlsson,
translated by Ian Giles (Orenda, Norway)
• The Writing in the Water, by John Ajvide Lindqvist,
translated by Michael Meigs (Amazon Crossing, Sweden)
• Wolf Hour, by Jo Nesbø,
translated by Robert Ferguson (Harvill Secker, Norway)
• The Heirs of the Arctic, by Aslak Nore,
translated by Sean Kinsella (MacLehose Press, Norway)
• The Grave in the Ice, by Satu Rämö,
translated by Kristian London (Zaffre, Finland)
• Black as Death, by Lilja Sigurðardóttir,
translated by Lorenza Garcia (Orenda, Iceland)
• The Wake, by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir,
translated by Victoria Cribb (Hodder & Stoughton, Iceland)
• The Girl with Ice in Her Veins, by Karin Smirnoff,
translated by Sarah Death (MacLehose Press, Sweden)
• The Winter Job, by Antti Tuomainen,
translated by David Hackston (Orenda, Finland)

A press release notes that “The Petrona Award was established to celebrate the work of Maxine Clarke, one of the first online crime fiction reviewers and bloggers, who died in December 2012. Maxine, whose online persona and blog was called Petrona, was passionate about translated crime fiction but in particular that from the Scandinavian countries.

“The award is open to crime fiction in translation, either written by a Scandinavian author or set in Scandinavia and published in the UK in the previous calendar year.”

This year’s winner will be announced on September 24.

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In other awards news, the winner and runner-up in this year’s Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story Competition have been revealed.

Kathy Schilbach, a retired teacher in West Sussex, who writes as Kate Finnemore, has been named as the overall victor for “Making Friends,” a “disturbing tale about a mysterious and anxious woman who has a dark secret to keep.” She will receive the £1,000 first prize along with a guest appearance at the Bloody Scotland Festival, scheduled to take place from September 18 to 20 in Stirling. Ross Alexander, a Scottish author based in East Lothian, was chosen as the runner-up “Life Wasted,” described as “a gripping confession from an unlikely vigilante who took justice into his own hands to free a woman from her abusive, alcoholic husband.” He will receive £500 in prize money.

Both of their stories are to be published on the Bloody Scotland and Glencairn Glass (whiskyglass.com) Web sites.