Danish writers in May Event & Question Competition

Members of the Nordic Noir Book Club have already been emailed with an invitation to our next special event featuring new Danish crime writers Jussi Adler-Olsen and Sissel-Jo Gazan. We have collaborated with the Danish Embassy and the two publishers on getting this event put together close to the launch date of their translated novels Mercy (Adler-Olsen) and The Dinosaur Feather (Gazan). Barry Forshaw will be presenting and discussing the novels with the writers, and we are very grateful to the Danish Embassy, Penguin and Quercus for making this event possible. The novels will be available for purchase at the event, and they will be in book stores from May 12th, as far as I know. You can find more information about the event and the writers at the top of the blog page.

“The-best-question-competition”

Since not everyone following this blog will be joining us for the event, we will have a little competition where everyone interested can post a reply to this blog post containing a question for the writers. The question will be asked by one of the organisers at the May 11 event and the answer(s) will be posted here. The best question will be selected by the organising committee, and will be awarded with one of the two novels signed by the author.

So, come up with some great questions about the writers, their books, Danish and/or Scandinavian crime that we could ask at the May 11 event. All answers should be submitted to the blog by May 9. The winner will be posted on the blog on the 10th of May.

Politiken: The Danish King of Crime has sold 2 mio copies

Jussi Adler-Olsen sells books like no other Danish author

The Danish newspaper, Politiken, reports that the international rights for the Danish crime writer, Jussi Adler-Olsen’ series about Afdeling Q (Department Q) have been sold to 24 countries. Presently, Adler-Olsen’s books are only available in three countries – in Germany, Holland and Norway. From the British publisher, the Nordic Noir Crime Book Club has learned that the series will be published in the UK sometime in May 2011.

Politiken reports that Adler-Olsen is very popular in Germany where his crime novels sell up to 8000 copies a day – his novels have been in the top three on Der Spiegel’s bestseller list for 60 weeks. In Denmark the publisher Politikens Forlag reports that Adler-Olsen has sold 1 mio copies, which includes the four novels in the Department Q series and three other crime novels.

We shall be looking forward to seeing a bestselling Danish crime writer published in the UK again. Readers of Scandinavian crime may know of Leif Davidsen’s international thrillers, maybe even Michael Larsen, but certainly Peter Hoeg’s Miss Smilla’s Sense of Snow, but in comparison to Swedish and Norwegian crime writers, the Danish receive very litte attention and few are being translated. I have heard that Hammer & Hammer’s first novel has been bought by a UK publisher, but how about Sara Blaedel ?

Who do you think deserves to be translated and why? Do you think Danish crime writers are different than their Scandinavian brothers and sisters?