Found in Translation

It was finally announced today which books and authors have been shortlisted to win the 2014 Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. They are as follows:

• Closed for Winter, by Jørn Lier Horst,
translated by Anne Bruce (Sandstone Press)
• Strange Shores, by Arnaldur Indriðason,
translated by Victoria Cribb (Harvill Secker)
• The Weeping Girl, by Håkan Nesser,
translated by Laurie Thompson (Mantle)
• Linda, As in the Linda Murder, by Leif G.W. Persson,
translated by Neil Smith (Doubleday)
• Someone to Watch Over Me, by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir,
translated by Philip Roughton (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Light in a Dark House, by Jan Costin Wagner,
translated by Anthea Bell (Harvill Secker)

This commendation memorializes Maxine Clarke, the British editor, crime-fiction blogger, and “champion of Scandinavian crime fiction” who died in December 2012; Petrona was the name of her long-running blog. It touts crime novels in translation, either penned by a Scandinavian author or set in Scandinavia and published in the UK.

The winner of this year’s Petrona Award will be named during CrimeFest, the annual international crime-fiction gathering in Bristol, England. The 2014 convention will take place from May 15 to 18. “The winning author’s prize,” explains a press release, “will include a full pass to and a guaranteed panel at the 2015 CrimeFest event.”

Three judges were responsible for selecting this year’s six nominees: Barry Forshaw, a specialist in crime fiction and film, and author of--among other books--Death in a Cold Climate: A Guide to Scandinavian Crime Fiction and the first biography of Stieg Larsson; Dr. Katharina Hall, an associate professor of German at Swansea University, who’s currently busy editing Crime Fiction in German for University of Wales Press; and Sarah Ward, an English language teacher in Manchester and the blogger at Crimepieces.

Click here for more information about the Petrona Award.