Granite Noir 2024: Icelandic Noir

Granite Noir 2024: Icelandic Noir

Chaired by Jacky Collins

Solveig Palsdottir  has written eight crime novels and one memoir, all have reached the top ten bestseller lists in Iceland. Skaði (Harm) was one of the most popular audiobooks on Storytel in 2022. Her three most recent books have been published in English by Corylus Books.

One of the rising stars of Icelandic crime fiction, Óskar Guðmundsson has been writing since he was a youngster, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that his novel Hilma was published. The first of his books to be published in an English translation, The Commandments, is a standalone novel which appeared in Iceland in 2019.

Sólveig Pálsdóttir

Before publishing her first crime novel in 2012, Sólveig appeared in several plays at the Icelandic National Theatre, and did radio and TV drama and voiceovers. She also spent several years as a radio programmer, taught Icelandic literature and linguistics, drama and public speaking. Sólveig has written eight crime novels and one memoir. All the books have reached the top ten bestseller lists in Iceland and have been very popular with readers. Sólveig received Blóðdropinn (The Drop of Blood) Award in 2020 when Fjötrar (Silenced) was awarded Best Icelandic Crime Novel of the Year. Skaði (Harm) was one of the most popular audiobooks on Storytel in 2022. Sólveig’s writing style is characterized by strong character creation, well-thought-out plots and an instinctive feeling for Icelandic society and nature. Her first two books were published in Germany and her three most recent books have been published in English by Corylus Books.

Her latest novel The Medium has just been published in Iceland and will be translated and published by Corylus in 2024.

Óskar Guðmundsson

One of the rising stars of Icelandic crime fiction, Óskar Guðmundsson has been writing since he was a youngster, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that his novel Hilma was published – and was an immediate success, winning the Drop of Blood award for the best Icelandic crime novel of 2015. This was followed by a sequel, Blood Angels, in 2018. The first of his books to be published in an English translation, The Commandments, is a standalone novel which appeared in Iceland in 2019. All of Óskar’s books have been bestsellers and rewarded with outstanding reviews. The TV rights to Hilma have been acquired by Sagafilm.

His latest book is The Dancer, which has been published simultaneously as an ebook, audiobook and paperback – accompanied by an original song in which Óskar’s words have been put to music featuring some of Iceland’s leading musicians.

Óskar’s talents don’t end there, as he’s also an artist and has held a number of exhibitions of his work.

Jacky Collins

Dr Jacky Collins aka Dr Noir, formerly Senior Lecturer at Northumbria University in Literature, Film & TV and Spanish Language & Culture, is currently based at Stirling University. In 2014 Jacky established the International Crime Fiction Festival that is Newcastle Noir. With a keen passion for crime in translation, the festival regularly welcomes authors from the Nordic countries, Germany, France and more recently from Romania. More recently, she has been venturing into local radio, co-hosting a fortnightly crime fiction programme on SpiceFM, hosting literary events online with the Honey & Stag events team, and has joined Corylus Books, a new indie publisher of fine crime fiction in translation: from Romania, Iceland and beyond.