Gyldendal Agency Foreign Rights Guide Spring 2018
Gyldendal Agency Spring 2018
ANNE CATHRINE ENG FOREIGN RIGHTS DIRECTOR ANNE.CATHRINE.ENG@GYLDENDAL.NO
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GYLDENDAL AGENCY IS AN IN-HOUSE LITERARY AGENCY
Gyldendal Agency Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS P.O. Box 6860 St. Olavs plass 0130 Oslo, Norway Tel: +47 22034100 http://eng.gyldendal.no/ foreignrights@gyldendal.no
FICTION
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FICTION NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES
Red Handler – Collected Works Johan Harstad
“Kudos to Harstad for writing this novel.” VG
“Red Handler showcases Harstad’s riveting creativity and impressive ability of make-believe […]” MORGENBLADET
“... an extraordinary and hilarious project.” DAGENS NÆRINGSLIV
Frode Brandeggen (1970 – 2014), an unknown voice to most readers, made his debut in 1992 with the experimental 2000 + page novel Conglomerate Breath. It was never reviewed and soon forgotten. He created a new form of genre, writing 15 micro novels about Red-Handler, a protest-oriented crime fiction project aims at confronting genre’s weakness and often unnecessary length. As his weapon, he developed a private investigator who is already at the scene or in the immediate vicinity when foul play takes place. This book for the first time brings together all the 15 micro-novels Brandeggen wrote about Red Handler, and is also equipped with a comprehensive amount of enthusiastic, explanatory, complementary and sometimes strangely digressing endnotes, written in the pen of Brandeggen’s closest literary confidant in the final years, German professional annotator Bruno Aigner (1934-). The book about the fictive character Red Handler is the literary talent Johan Harstad’s newest project, sprawling with creativity. Watch out – you will be caught red handed!
About the author Johan Harstad (b. 1979) made his debut in 2001 with the prose collection From Here On You Just Get Older. His first novel, Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion?, was published in 2005, and was a huge critical and commercial success. Harstad has also written short stories, theatre plays and a YA novel, and has been published in 20 territories. In 2017 he received the prestigious Hunger Prize. NOVEL // ORIGINAL TITLE: FERSKENEN // 240 PAGES FOREIGN SALES // THE NETHERLANDS
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FICTION NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES
Max, Mischa & the Tet Offensive Johan Harstad Friendship, exile, war and art: Johan Harstad’s novel has it all. Max Hansen is a theatre director on tour across the US. He can’t sleep. It’s possible that he has turned into an American. He hasn’t been home for over 20 years. If it was up to him he would never have left the place he was born, a suburb to Stavanger on the west coast of Norway, where kids made as much noise as they wanted while their fathers were away, working on the oil rigs in the North Sea, and where a heavy silence descended on the houses when they returned. But no one gets what they want. Max, Mischa & the Tet Offensive is a novel about the applicability of Vietnamese guerilla warfare in everyday life, about those who have been to war and those who have demonstrated against them: about hyperrealist paintings of washing machines and girls who look like Shelley Duvall; about the sun out on Fire Island and a sought-after working copy of Apocalypse Now. But more than anything this is a novel about the question anyone who has ever left home sooner or later has to ask himself: How long do you have to be away before it becomes too late to go home?
NOVEL // ORIGINAL TITLE: MAX, MISCHA OG TETOFFENSIVEN // 1104 PAGES FOREIGN SALES // DENMARK, GERMANY, THE NETHERLANDS, ITALY, SPAIN
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‘An engrossing novel that makes you for it and leaves you exhausted but impressed.’ DE VOLKSKRANT, NETHERLAND
‘An enormous, sprawling story about homesickness, art and the question of what home means.’ JAN MAGAZINE, NETHERLAND
‘Brutally clever!»
VG, NORWAY
‘A gigantic novel about war, love, flight and art which takes your breath.’
DAGBLADET, NORWAY
‘I have only one thing to say: Respect!’ AFTENPOSTEN, NORWAY
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FICTION NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES
Our Street Zeshan Shakar “I’ts not gonna happen. I don’t like writing. At least not writing a journal, man. That’s for cunts, man. I prefer talking, you know. But ok, yeah man, I’m Jamaal. Black, Muslim, from Stovner, T.U.V. – Tante Ulrikkes street, you know, always representing.”
Editor’s pick, the BEST BOOKS OF 2017: VG, Dagbladet, Aftenposten, Dagens Næringsliv, Adresseavisen, Klassekampen Nominated for Tarjei Vesaas’ debutant prize
It is Norway in the 2000s. Two boys grow up on the street Tante Ulrikkes street in Stovner, a suburb of Oslo. Their parents had hope. They themselves are in the middle of the transition between suburb and wider society, between car wash and student canteen, exam grades and keef. While growing up, their lives take completely different directions. One on the best books of 2017! A profoundly literary and authentic voice, describing second-generation immigrant’s position as both insider and outsider in Norwegian society.
About the author Zeshan Shakar (b. 1982 in Oslo) grew up in Stovner. He is a qualified political scientist and has also studied economics at the Norwegian Business School (BI). Shakar has worked in various ministries and directorates, and now works at Oslo City Hall. He made his debut in autumn 2017 with the novel Our street.
NOVEL // ORIGINAL TITLE: TANTE ULRIKKES VEI // 432 PAGES
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FICTION NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES
“Perhaps the most important book this fall.” DAGBLADET
“[A] powerful, important and artistically successful novel about growing up as a second-generation immigrant in OsloSuburbia.” VG
“OUR STREET isn’t important because it represents something or someone, but because it’s a really great novel.” MORGENBLADET
“When there’s hardly anything about a debut to put your finger on, you start wondering which name the author has used for his previous novels.” ADRESSEAVISEN
“The novel offers political awareness on a difficult subject. It offers drugs, unemployment, child neglect, but also care, warmth, humor and a pride over your roots.” TARA
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FICTION NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES
The Last Safe Deposit Box Ulrik Høisæther What might be hidden away in a safe deposit box that no-one can find the owner of? In whose interest was it to murder Eva Berg, a single bank clerk, found dead in her home in a well-to-do part of central Oslo? Chief Inspector Frans Nansen is put on the case. He is a single dad with exceedingly unhealthy eating habits: Trying to fill out the aching gap that his wife’s death tore in his soul with chocolates and frozen pizzas, he is closing in on 310 pounds. Nansen and his partner Henke Li are soon to find out that there has been a break-in in the last safe deposit boxes that were to be liquidated, and that a key suspect seemingly has vanished off the face of the earth. In the Caribbean, an exiled Norwegian is hunting down an enormous treasure located somewhere on the sea floor off the coast of Colombia. It soon becomes apparent that this treasure hunt is connected to the ongoing events in Oslo.
About the author Ulrik Høisæther made his debut as crime author with the crime novel Pokerface, which soon was followed by Clean Hands. He works within finance, and now for the largest Bank in Norway. The Last Safe Deposit Box is his first novel about Chief Inspector Frans Nansen.
CRIME FICTION // ORIGINAL TITLE: DEN SISTE BANKBOKSEN // 352 PAGES
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FICTION NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES
Confessions of a Bear Huntress Berit Hedemann A woman is disappointed in life, in betrayals, in defeats and in men, generally speaking. Selling her posh villa in the western part of Oslo, she moves to the abandoned family farm in a secluded valley in the Eastern Norwegian backcountry, where hostility against wolves and bears is the absolute norm. She has made up her mind: In the parking lot behind the gas station, she is going to build a temple celebrating goodness, female sexuality and empirical morale. It is to resemble the Pantheon. Confessions of a Bear Huntress is a book about hate and desire, about frozen rivers and spiritual women’s hair dressers, about bureaucratic framework conditions for temple-raising in the districts, and about the Sumerian High Priestess Erheduanna, known as the woman who wrote the world’s first erotic poem.
“it’s burlesque, intelligent and hilarious.” ADRESSEAVISEN
“Berit Hedemann sheds a light on the desires and needs of men and women.” DAGSAVISEN
About the author Berit Hedemann (b. 1949 in Trysil) has won several international awards for her radio documentaries and radio theatre productions. Her first book, the children’s book Melinda’s Mysterious Mystery, was published in 1990. She made her debut as a novelist with All My Contempt. The Story of a Love.
NOVEL // ORIGINAL TITLE: BJØRNEJEGERSKENS BEKJENNELSER // 368 PAGES
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The Enlightened Øystein Stene
About Zombie Nation (2014): “an allegorical novel of international class.” DAGENS NÆRINGSLIV
“[Stene] has succeeded incredibly well ... solid research, great imagination, boldness and fresh conspiracy theories make this an entertaining novel” DAG OG TID
“Remarkable ... Stene’s novel can’t be compared to simple entertainment movies. Zombie Nation performs the unique feat of being a smart and original depiction of the living dead ... written in fine, vivid prose, without a single dull point.»
The story takes place in a time where battle lines are drawn between believers and non-believers, where adherents of all religions have banded together against humanist atheists. All over the world, a battle is raging over truth and untruth, belief and doubt, life and death. Through the destinies of different characters, The Enlightened paints a multifaceted picture of the new world order, of people trapped in a network of ideologies and dogmas. What gradually emerges out of this narrative is no less than the possibility of humanity’s shared existence. The Enlightened can be read either as a utopia or dystopia, as an interweaving narrative, a mystery novel, or a collection of stories all dealing with the eternal question: Is there a God? Øystein Stene’s existential zombie novel, Zombie Nation (2014) received rave reviews when it came out, and sold to the French publisher Actes Sud and the Polish press Zysk. In The Enlightened, the author again creates an alternative reality, a platform for the “big questions” about a topic that is relevant as never before.
VG
About the author Øystein Stene (b. 1969) is a writer, playwright and director. He made his fiction debut with Master of Patience in 2003, which was followed up with The Bearer of Shame (2006) and The Necromancer (2011). In 2014 he published the acclaimed Zombie Nation. He has written and directed stage plays and feature movies, as well as a book on the history and art of acting. He teaches at The Academy of Theatre in Oslo. NOVEL // ORIGINAL TITLE: DE OPPLYSTE // 400 PAGES
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FICTION NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES
People I Remember Joakim Kjørsvik People I Remember consists of a series of portraits of people who play supporting roles in the life of a man who is himself a supporting role. The I of the novel recalls people who in some way or other have taken part in his life, either as ex-girlfriends, friends, family, teachers, fellow soldiers, colleagues or completely random persons. A keen capacity for observation and a language full of wit and energy characterize the portraits. Together they make up important parts of the story of a life.
“Rough comedy, resignation and joie-devivre interchange in texts that never seem clichéd […] Whose voices do we listen to, whom do we observe? The narrator’s willingness to listen to and see other people adds a sense of seriousness to these odes to the people that pass us by. ” MORGENBLADET
“One of the best and funniest books of the year.” LITTKRITIKK.NO
“A funny, warm book that reminds us of the imprints we leave in this world.” KLASSEKAMPEN
About the author Joakim Kjørsvik (b. 1978) lives in Oslo. His first work of fiction, a collection of short stories titled Obviously No Neighbour, published in 2007, and the novel Last Year Was a Long Night (2015) were very favourably received by the critics.
NOVEL // KOLON FORLAG // ORIGINAL TITLE: FOLK JEG HUSKER // PAGES 200
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FICTION NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES
Mountain Folk Ellen Emmerentze Thommesen Jervell
NEW WRITER
A strong, sensitive debut on the inability to cope with the life we’ve been given
One winter’s day in the 90’s, as Katrine lies in a tent on the plain with her daughter Frida beside her, she sees her husband leave. She and her daughter never see him again. For Katrine, Fredrik’s disappearance is the beginning of a downward spiral, including prescription drug and alcohol abuse. She has turbulent relationships with men, while her body gradually wastes away and her daughter is left more and more to raise herself. Many years later, Frida is pregnant, and the father is in a long-term relationship with someone else. Frida, having been strongly impacted by her difficult upbringing with an unstable mother, lives her life as though her own child didn’t exist. Then she begins walking the dog of the solitary Edvard, a man in love, and Frida and Edvard gradually come together in something that can be called, if not friendship, perhaps a kind of mutual trust. Mountain Folk is a powerful tale about the encounter between the human and a violent, overwhelming nature. About living with open wounds, and the inability to find your way in the world you live in and fulfil your expected roles—as a woman, man, mother, spouse, and daughter.
About the author Ellen Emmerentze Jervell (b. 1990) is a journalist, and has worked four years for the Wall Street Journal. She spent her childhood years in Vollen and Berlin.
NOVEL // ORIGINAL TITLE: FJELLFOLK (WORKING TITLE) // 250 PAGES
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FICTION NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES
Earth Assignment Simen Hagerup A road movie, a modern picaresque novel – both well written and amusing. Earth Assignment is Simen B. Hagerup’s debut novel, a fantasy novel for adults and the first part of a trilogy. Mysterious forces drag the pensioner Tatjana into a weird, alien world where people live in a pact with unpredictable spirits and try to survive in the shadow of a fallen empire. Tatjana joins up with a local fisherman and sets out on a journey across continents.
About the author Simen B. Hagerup works as a writer, critic and translator. Since his debut book Absolutely Everything (2004) he has become known as a particularly experimental and inventive writer, with such publications as Cruel Voids (2009) and Swarm (2012). He has studied in Bø, Copenhagen, Paris and Stockholm, and at present lives in Berlin.
NOVEL // KOLON FORLAG // ORIGINAL TITLE: JORDVERV // 192 PAGES
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Circulating Exhibitions Cecilie Løveid
“Cecilie Løveid’s excellent poems about art, terror and politics becomes the highlight of her authorship” KLASSEKAMPEN
“Mindblowing, energetic prose poems that shakes the border between beauty and ugliness. I hope Cecilie Løveid wins the Brage Prize.” BERGENS TIDENDE
“Humorous and innvoative poetry on art and artists. [...] Cecilie Løveid at her best.»
Circulating Exhibitions (Vandreutstillinger) is a collection on art and artists, their lives or works. The poems are contemplations around encounters with art, tentatively proposing new saints within the field. Many poems are ekphrastic, as likely to comment on and/or recreate the artworks through text as they are to ask fundamental questions about art, text, or life. Here are poems on Munch and Obstefelder, Gerhard Richter and Andy Warhol, Tom Waits, Gunvor Hofmo, John Donne and Nelly Sachs. Løveid’s poetry is fabulating, her position chosen playfully, philosophically. The collection won the Brage Prize 2017.
Winner of the Brage Prize 2017 Nominated for the Critic’s Prize
AFTENPOSTEN
About the author Cecilie Løveid (born 1951) is one of Norway’s most original, experimental and diverse authors. She debuted with the novel Most in 1972, and has from 2000 onwards primarily written poetry. Løveid’s works are often lyrical, sensual, characterized by an associative use of imagery, clever intertextuality, playful imitation and reimagination. She has received a number of prestigious prizes, among them The Brage Prize, The Hedda Prize, and twice the Ibsen award. POETRY // KOLON FORLAG // ORIGINAL TITLE: VANDREUTSTILLINGER // 80 PAGES
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NON-FICTION
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NON-FICTION NON-FICTION
The End Jonas Bergland, Kaveh Rashidi Following a number of popular scientific books about the body (Your Superstar Brain, Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ, and The Wonder Down Under) comes a book about perhaps the most taboo area of the body—the hole in your behind. Here’s everything you always wanted to know (but were afraid to ask) about one of the body’s most important and sensitive regions. An entertaining mix of history, science and practical information, this is a book about serious topics that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Both authors are general practitioners with the requisite medical expertise. Both have worked in the emergency room and provided counselling services to children and youth. And both are veteran writers. The book is written and illustrated in a balance of elegance and edge. The title is a nod to other books in the same genre. Everyone with a hole in their bum will derive benefit from this funny, informative book.
About the authors Both authors are doctors and experienced writers. Kaveh Rashidi is a regular columnist in The Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association and a panellist on the TV2 programme Health Check-Up. Jonas Kinge Bergland is one of Norway’s foremost stand-up comedians and winner of the Komiprisen in 2017. NON-FICTION // ORIGINAL TITLE: MANUS OM ANUS // 200 PAGES
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The Inheritance: An Account of Abuse Eva Lundgren The Inheritance is a powerful narrative about friendship, shame and honour. It is about reclaiming the feeling of being seen and heard, and about certain aspects of society it is sometimes hard to believe exist at all. Eva Lundgren is a professor of sociology and an expert on sexual abuse. At the height of her career, she was the subject of much controversy. In the media she was pilloried as a feminist whose research was dictated by her emotions and made use of fabricated numbers. Even though a commission found these accusations baseless, she ended up taking an early retirement from her professorship in Sweden. Then, however, she received a short note from a former female college friend: “Your entire body of research is what I have lived through personally.” Her friend opened up about a childhood marred by systematic rape at the hands of her father, a prominent member of Bergen’s educated class. By writing her friend’s story—which became interwoven with her own in unexpected ways—both of them were able to work through the ways they’d been violated. This is a powerful story that contains a glimmer of hope.
About the author Eva Lundgren (born 24 November 1947) is a Norwegian-Swedish researcher of gender and violence, and a professor emeritus at Uppsala University. In her research, she has focused on feminist theory and violence against women, particularly within religious circles. She has authored several books on violence, sexuality and religion.
NON-FICTION // ORIGINAL TITLE: FARSARVEN. EN BERETNING OM ÆRESTAP // 300 PAGES
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We Who Loved Africa Gunnar Kopperud
• High literary quality combined with deep insight into Africa • A book that will cause debate over refugees, foreign aid and emergency relief • A book for anyone interested in current hot-button issues
Gunnar Kopperud’s book about Africa begins where the stream of refugees ends on the African side, the last stop before departure for Europe. In the Mediterranean city of Ceuta, thousands of people are gathered in temporary camps in the hope of surviving the crossing to Europe. Over the course of his long life, Kopperud has placed a lot of hope, love and faith in Africa. Today, however, he has had to grapple with hard truths, such as that the wars of independence have led to neither peace nor freedom. Emergency relief has done more harm than good. Foreign aid has been misappropriated. Political asylum has proven ineffective. And human trafficking has become the world’s third-largest industry. In this essayistic masterstroke of a book, Gunnar Kopperud follows the stream of refugees back to where it began. But his geographical journey is also a journey through time, back to a time in recent history where there was still room for idealism, hope and faith. How did we end up here? And how can Africa be saved from itself?
About the author Gunnar Kopperud (born 1946) is a journalist, author and Africa expert. For over thirty years he has reported from almost all African countries, covering the most brutal wars and conflicts, both as a journalist and in fiction.
NON-FICTION // ORIGINAL TITLE: VI SOM ELSKET AFRIKA // 200 PAGES
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Books for children and young adults
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YOUNG ADULTS NON-FICTION
Shameless Amina Bile, Sofia Nesrine Srour, Nancy Herz Nancy Herz, Sofia Nesrine Srour and Amina Bile have over the past year collected stories from girls who have personally experienced negative social control. In Shameless they discuss what it feels like to be constantly limited, corrected and shamed, and they share their own experiences on their way towards shamelessness. And their best hijab hacks. Herz, Srour and Bile started the movement which in the media is referred to as ‘The shameless girls’, and which really put negative social control on the agenda. For their work for freedom of speech they have, among other things, received the award Fritt Ords Honnør (2017).
About the authors Amina Bile (b. 1998) is involved in politics. She’s shameless, but harmless. Nancy Herz (b. 1996) is a Norwegian-Lebanese activist, booklover, daydreamer and writer. Sofia Nesrine Srour (b. 1994) is a Norwegian-Lebanese Muslim who debates a lot and thinks even more. Bile, Herz and Srour are all feminists and profiled voices in the public debate. NON-FICTION // ORIGINAL TITLE: SKAMLØS // 168 PAGES FOREIGN SALES// GERMANY, SWEDEN
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CHILDREN NON-FICTION
‘I hope this book is contagious. I hope the shamlessness spreads … Everyone should read this book, either to be inspired to fight for their own cause or to understand others.” AFTENPOSTEN
“[The shameless girls] challenge the patriarchy and the honor codex, without judging. And even if the Muslim women are the main audience of this book, it is relevant for anyone who wants to understand the issues and work for a multi-cultural society.”
DAGBLADET
“SHAMELESS assaults the great cultural conflicts of our time armed with knowledge, openness, devilish recklessness and a great deal of humour. A chant rings through the Norwegian society that is not likely to die down shortly.” NRK
“I am so enthusiastic about SHAMELESS that I can’t get my hands down. They want to be up there in the air applauding.” KLASSEKAMPEN
“SHAMELESS is an amazing and powerful work, a future candidate for the Norwegian feminist canon.” VÅRT LAND
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CHILDREN YOUNG ADULTS CONTEMPORARY
In Mid-Air Arne Svingen Didrik is woken up by cries of distress from the living room. He gets up. Hesitates. Thinks about sea turtles. Feels the cold floor under his feet. Someone is crying out in pain downstairs.
This is Arne Svingen’s best book since his prize-winning international bestseller, The Ballad of a Broken Nose.
Didrik fetches his father’s revolver, inching his way down the stairs. Then he fires a shot. His father dies, but what really happened? Little by little, Arne Svingen reveals a suspenseful tale of a father whose shady activities put his life in danger, and a son trying to find out why. When the truth comes out, Didrik is forced to see his father in a new light. In Mid-Air is a book about seizing the moment and living with the consequences, a story of one boy who must stand alone and take on more responsibility than a child ought to. But it is also a book about family, friends and sea turtles the world over.
About the author Arne Svingen is one of Norway’s most popular authors. He has received several awards, among them the the Norwegian Ministry of Culture’s Literature Prize for his critically acclaimed novel The Ballad of a Broken Nose, and his works has been translated world over.
YOUNG ADULTS // ORIGINAL TITLE: MIDT I SVEVET // 176 PAGES
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CHILDREN YOUNG ADULTS CONTEMPORARY
“A thriller that just keeps you reading until the very last page. This book offers great emotional depth as well as great tension […] With In MidAir, Arne Svingen has achieved the combination of grief and joy, wonder and tension that the readers so often wish for.” NRK
“Well put-together and intriguing about demanding loss.” AFTENPOSTEN
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CHILDREN READ ALOUD 6-9 YEARS
Blue Håkon Øvreås and Øyvind Torseter (ill.) Our heroes are finally back! Here is the final volume about the three friends who become superheroes to make the world a better place. The first book in the series was awarded the prestigious Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize. In the third book of the series, the super-rich tycoon Tom Hane comes to the village to establish the world’s biggest chicken farm. But there’s a problem: Tom wants to build the farm right over our heroes’ cabin. There another problem: Åse’s dad just lost his job. As usual, only superheroes will be able to set things right—but will it prove too much for the gang this time?
About the author Håkon Øvreås had published three books of poetry before publishing his first children’s book, Brown, in 2013, for which he has received numerous prizes, among them the Nordic Council Literature Prize for Children and Young Adults.
READ ALOUD 6-9 YEARS // ORIGINAL TITLE: BLÅSE // 200 PAGES FOREIGN SALES // BULGARIA, DENMARK, LATVIA, LITHUANIA, GERMANY
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CHILDREN READ ALOUD 6-9 YEARS
Brown Winner of the Brage Prize for Children and YA 2013 Winner of the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize, Children and YA 2014 Nominated for the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis 2017 As long as the sun is up, Rune is merely Rune, but come night he transforms himself into Brown – a totally fearless super hero. Armed to the hilt with brushes and brown paint, he sneaks out of the house. Rune can hardly be blamed if Brown chooses to paint the big bullies’ bikes brown, can he?
Black A new girl has moved into the old bakery. Atle find her exciting. He thinks that if only he borrows the chairman’s prize-winning hen and then pretend to have found it, he surely will have the new girl’s attention. It is worth a try. But, as with many plans, it is bound to go wrong. The series about the super heroes Brown, Black and Blue is about friendship, courage, grief and relations. These are books that takes children’s feelings seriously and is beautifully and thoughtfully illustrated.
Brown: “The book is a highly charming tale of growing up, superheroes and the struggle for survival.” DAGBLADET
Black: “Playful, but serious, with room for foolhardy escapades and quiet reflections.” SVENSKA DAGBLADET, SWEDEN
About the illustrator Øyvind Torseter made his debut as an illustrator in 1999 and illustrates his own texts as well as other authors’ texts. He has received The Ministry of Education’s Prize several times and has also been awarded the international children’s book prize Bologna Ragazzi. READ ALOUD 6-9 YEARS // ORIGINAL TITLE: BRUNE/SVARTLE // 136/200 PAGES FOREIGN SALES // BROWN: AZERBAIJAN, BRAZIL, BULGARIA, CHINA, DENMARK, ESTONIA, FAROE ISLANDS, FRANCE, GERMANY, GREECE, HUNGARY, ICELAND, IRAN, ISRAEL, ITALY, JAPAN, KOREA, LATVIA, LITHUANIA, MACEDONIA, THE NETHERLANDS, PALESTINA, SLOVENIA, SLOVAKIA, SPAIN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, TURKEY, USA / BLACK: AZERBAIJAN, BULGARIA, CHINA, DENMARK, FRANCE, GERMANY, GREECE, HUNGARY, KOREA, LITHUANIA, THE NETHERLANDS, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, TURKEY, USA
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CHILDREN MIDDLE GRADE 9-13 YEARS
Tears Don’t Change Anything Espen Dekko A powerful children’s novel about grief. It is the first summer since Dad died. They say that children cry more than grown-ups. Not me. I won’t. What good does that do? Tears don’t change anything. A little girl has just lost her father, and is spending the summer with Grandma and Grandpa by the mouth of the fjord. Throughout the summer, she has different experiences related to loss and grief. An ill torpoise drifts ashore, and the girl and her grandparents have to perform a burial at sea; the cat gives birth to kittens that are stillborn; grandpa becomes unwell in his boat, and it falls to the girl to save him. Tears Don’t Change Anything is a suspenseful, vivid novel in which children and nature are the protagonists. It is also a beautiful account of grief and loss, and the strong ties between grandparents and grandchildren.
About the author Espen Dekko (born 1968) was born in Oslo. He was trained as a puppeteer and has worked in the performing arts since 1990. He has also attended the Norwegian Institute for Children’s Books.
MIDDLE GRADE 9-13 YEARS // ORIGINAL TITLE: TÅRER FORANDRER INGENTING // 176 PAGES
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CHILDREN MIDDLE GRADE 9-13 YEARS
Dad Tears are thoughts we aren’t able to say, said Dad. That was a long time ago. So long that I don’t remember his voice anymore. Only the words he said. I didn’t say anything. I lay completely still in Mom’s lap and felt her breath on the back of my neck. My eyes were full of tears; if I blinked even once, they’d run down my face. I tried to think about something else. Something nice, something funny. But there weren’t any nice or funny things to think about anymore. There was just us. Dad lying in bed, Mom and I sitting on a chair. Dad looked at me. I tried not to meet his eyes. I didn’t want to cry. I didn’t want him to see what I was unable to say. But there was no way I could hold out for long. The tears ran down my cheeks. Down my throat, down to my sweater. Dad smiled, his eyes sad. My dad, who’d once been the strongest man in the world. Who’d wrestled polar bears and tigers when I was little. Who’d taught me to fly without wings, who made me invisible just by closing his eyes. Now he lay in a bed in a hospital. Thin and quiet. You could hardly believe it was him. But he was still the same old dad inside. And inside me, too. My dad. My dad, forever.
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CHILDREN PICTURE BOOKS
Ida Jackson and Jens A. Larsen Aas Bo Bear is a popular character on the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation’s TV station. He lives together with his mothers in a real wooden house. He loves to leap around and play with his friends, and he gets up to an awful lot of strange things. Also in the series: Goodnight, Bo Bear; Bo bear Goes Shopping; Bo Bear on a Trip and Bo bear Does Some Baking.
Bo Bear Down the Slide It’s Saturday. Saturday is play day, and Bo Bear is finally going to ride the big slide on the playground. But the nearer they come, the bigger the slide gets.
Bo Bear Goes to Day Care Mum is coming to pick up Bo Bear from kinder garten, but Bo Bear isn’t ready to go just yet. He needs to finish building the sand castle, and go down the slide one more time, and, and...but Mum just wants to go home, home, home! Everyday stories that young and old will identify with.
About the author and illustrator Ida Jackson has published books for children, young adults and adults. She has been nominated for the Brage Prize, the Critics’ prize and the Book Blogger’s Award for her previous titles. Jens A. Larsen Aas has a degree from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and made his debut as an illustrator of children’s books in 2016. PICTURE BOOKS // ORIGINAL TITLE: BRILLEBJØRN SKLIR/ BRILLE BJØRN BLIR HENTA I BARNEHAGEN // PAGES 32
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CHILDREN PICTURE BOOKS
Oddball Bob Rut Granli and Bård Sletvold Torkildsen It’s Halloween and Bob is going as a scary shark. The sound of Mum’s sewing machine hums through the house. The finished costume looks more like a dead seal. Bob is the oddball; everyone in the neighbourhood can see his costume is all wrong. The first book in a warm and humorous series about Bob is about daring to be yourself. The language is chiselled-down and playful, and young people will identify with both the action and the cinematic illustrations.
About the author and illustrator Rut Granli is educated as a teacher within arts and crafts, pedagogics and the Norwegian language. Oddball Bob is her third children’s book. Bård Sletvold Torkildsen is an illustrator and designer. He has a Bachelor degree in Virtual Art and Design from the Inland Norway University.
PICTURE BOOKS // ORIGINAL TITLE: RARE REIDAR // 40 PAGES
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CHILDREN READ ALONE
Svingen’s Mad World: Uncle Snake-Charmer Arne Svingen The fifth book in a totally bananas humour series for readers who like Horrid Henry. Jokum loves being babysat by his favourite uncle, Harry. Harry is smarter than the Internet. No one on the face of the earth knows more than him. What’s more, he is a BASE jumper, a famous plumber, and a journeyman carpenter. Not to mention he’s a prize-winning rescuer and a snakecharmer in India. And when the doorbell rings and the girl neighbour needs help with a leak in the kitchen, there’s no one better to have around than Uncle Harry. Right?
About the author and the illustrator Arne Svingen is one of Norway’s most popular authors. His books have received several awards and been translated into fourteen languages. Henry Bronken is a Norwegian cartoonist. His first comic was published in the Norwegian anthology For resten in 2001. Several comic books has since been published. READ ALONE 8 YEARS // ORIGINAL TITLES: ONKEL SLANGE TEMMER // 56 PAGES
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CHILDREN READ ALONE
Svingen’s Dark World: The Night Watch Arne Svingen One night, Bastian joins his father on the job as the museum night watch. His father has him watch the surveillance monitors while he goes to the loo. What is that shadow Bastian sees? It sure isn’t Dad. Can someone else be in the museum in the middle of the night? And where did Dad go? With that, Bastian is in for his scariest night ever in the museum. Svingen’s Dark World is a suspense series for children who like ghosts, supernatural phenomena and getting a little spooked. The series numbers 17 books so far.
Arne Svingen has received several awards, among them the the Norwegian Ministry of Culture’s Literature Prize and the Prix Libbylit Romans Ados in 2015 for his critically acclaimed novel The Ballad of a Broken Nose, and his works has been translated world over, including Korean, Arabic, Russian, Italian, French, Spanish and English.
About the author and the illustrator Arne Svingen is one of Norway’s most popular authors. Torstein Nordstrand is an illustrator and visual designer. In the US, his illustrations have been featured in gaming for many years, and he helped design the visual concept of Funcom’s prize-winning Age of Conan. READ ALONE 8 YEARS // ORIGINAL TITLE: NATTEVAKTEN // 56 PAGES
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CHILDREN READ ALONE 6 YEARS
Tor Becomes a Brother Anneli Klepp A book about a new arrival in the family. Baby is coming soon! Mom and Dad have to go to the hospital, and Tor is staying over at Mia’s place. But then Tor starts to worry. What if the baby turns out to be a ghost? Or a wild animal? Or worse yet: What if everyone forgets about Tor? The tenth book about Tor and Mia is about getting a little sibling and feeling pushed aside. Fortunately, things turn out better than Tor fears. Little boys and girls who have just learned to read will identify with Anneli Klepp’s new, exciting, heartfelt tale.
About the author and the illustrator Since her debut in 2006, Anneli Klepp has written a number of books for children and adolescents. Her writing is always suffused with warmth and humour. Illustrator Camilla Billett has studied graphic design and advertisement, and she runs her own design company. She has illustrated all the books about Mia and Tor. READ ALONE 6-9 YEARS // ORIGINAL TITLE: TOR BLIR BROR // 40 PAGES
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CHILDREN READ ALONE
Magical stories without words
In 2016 we added a new genre to the book palette! WORD-FREE books. These are books that can be read by proficient and poor readers alike, but that give those less proficient in the 6-9 target group that special feeling of finally having read a whole book. On their own!
Where are the Cats to Live? Torill Kove It’s cosiest to live together, the cats feel. But where are they to live when the girl and boy who own them don’t want to live together any more? A strongly told story about what happens to the smallest members of the family when the largest decide to move away from each other.
About the authors Torill Kove (b. 1958) is a Norwegian-Canadian animator, illustrator and writer of children’s books.
READ ALONE 6-9 YEARS // ORIGINAL TITLE: HVOR SKAL KATTENE BO? // 40 PAGES
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CHILDREN MIDDLE GRADE 9-13 YEARS
Robophobia 3: E.V.I.L. Jan Tore Noreng
ROBOPHOBIA are thrillers about three friends and what happens when technology runs riot.
Rikard, Tommy and Karen end up in serious trouble in Oslo. They have to decipher mysterious graffiti messages and explore secret tunnels—and all the while, terror drones are buzzing over their heads. Never before have the three friends faced such a challenge. Never have they experienced such harrowing cliff-hangers. The frenzied robots are back with a vengeance. The suspenseful books in the Robophobia series are about what happens to three friends when technology goes haywire. The second book, Unknown Danger, is nominated for the Bookworm Award, a prestigious children’s book prize that is selected by schoolchildren from all over Norway.
About the author Jan Tore Noreng has studied creative writing at the University of Tromsø. He works as a teacher. He made his literary debut with The School of Death in 2011.
MIDDLE GRADE 9-13 YEARS // ORIGINAL TITLE: ROBOFOBIA 3: O.N.D // 150 PAGES
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CHILDREN MIDDLE GRADE 9-13 YEARS
Robophobia 1: School of Death There’s something strange about Rubbishtip school. Richard and Tommy find ‘memories of the past’ everywhere, and several of the teachers get crazier and crazier. At the crack of dawn, Richard finds himself caught up in mysterious, horrible events. Is a ghost haunting the school, or is there a bloodthirsty murderer wandering about the place? Or are the school’s dark secrets something much worse? The novel was nominated for the ARK’s Childrens Book Prize.
Robophobia 2: Unknown Danger Nearly everyone who works for Rubbishtip municipality is given the sack. They are to be replaced by Technology. Then a mysterious dark van draws up in front of Richard’s house, and masked men kidnap his father. A desperate hunt gets underway! Richard, Tommy and Karen are soon caught up in a game that is larger than anything they could possibly imagine. Can three friends about to start seventh grade really solve deadly dangerous problems when grownups and top-trained special forces cannot manage to?
MIDDLE GRADE 9-13 YEARS // ORIGINAL TITLE: ROBOFOBIA 1: DØDENS SKOLE/ ROBOFOBIA 2: UKJENT FARE // 136/200 PAGES FOREIGN SALES // ROBOPHOBIA 1: DENMARK
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CHILDREN MIDDLE GRADE 9-13 YEARS
Apollo Bjørn Ingvaldsen A story gone haywire about a helpful lad who is an assistant to his eccentric uncle, an inventor. And about getting caught up in the space age and moon shuttles of the 60’s. This is a wacky, thoughtful and suspenseful book about space exploration and politics that is perfect for middle-grade children who are voracious readers. Apollo is the latest novel from one of Norway’s most cherished and critically-acclaimed authors for children and youths, Bjørn Ingvaldsen. His wide-ranging authorship includes humour for the youngest grades to books that take up serious topics for children and youths. One of his latest books, Your Father (2016), was nominated for the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize.
About the author Bjørn Ingvaldsen as a critically acclaimed and prize-winning author. He made his debut in 1995 with a collection of short stories for adults. Since then he has written several books for children and adults. His books for children has been translated into Danish, French, German and Italian.
MIDDLE GRADE 9-13 YEARS // ORIGINAL TITLE: APOLLO // 180 PAGES
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CHILDREN MIDDLE GRADE
Stem Cells Øystein Runde Factual book about an important theme – presented in cartoon style When Øystein Runde draws and explains stem cells, the factual material becomes easily accessible, playful and humorous. This means that children and young people (as well as adults!) can gain knowledge about a theme not many people know all that much about, but one that will be extremely important in the future. Specialist consultant Cecilie Gjerde has achieved amazing results in her research into stem cells. She is able to get us to understand what stem cells are and give us a glimpse of experiments taking place and the results – and of what we can expect in the future. We hear about Chinese researchers who recently made a new mouse out of skin from the cheek of another mouse, and an 80-year-old who has suffered a stroke and is able to walk again after having stem cells injected directly into the brain. Now researchers are working on brain-dead patients.
About the author Øystein Runde is a well-known Norwegian cartoonist and writer of several publications.
MIDDLE GRADE NON-FICTION // ORIGINAL TITLE: STAMCELLER // 56 PAGES
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CHILDREN NON-FICTION
The big book about Fusion Beads
Fusion beads at home, in kindergarten, at school, after school! All Norway has gone mad for fusion beads! The big question is always: “What can we create with them?” Look no further for the answer! In this book you will find hundreds of fusion bead patterns. Everything from animals and fairy tale characters to cars, skeletons and sumptuous cakes. You’ll also get a ton of ideas for ways to use your bead creations. Did you know, for instance, that you can make all your Christmas tree decorations yourself out of fusion beads? All you need is a pegboard, beads, baking paper and an iron, and you can start creating for hours on end. It’s fun for the whole family!
NON-FICTION // ORIGINAL TITLE: DEN STORE PERLEBOKA // 260 PAGES
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