Meet the contributors to Nordic Visions!
8th August 2023
Storytelling has been a major force in the Nordic countries for thousands of years, renowned for its particular sense of dark humour, featuring pacts with nature and a view of the worlds you seldom find in other places.
Featuring 16 stories across fantasy, science fiction and horror from the best contemporary speculative authors from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and The Faroe Islands, many in English for the very first time, Nordic Visions edited by Margrét Helgadóttir is out this October and today we’re introducing you to its contributors!
Alexander Dan Vilhjálmsson is an Icelandic novelist who lives in Reykjavík, Iceland. He explores the weird in all its multitudes, usually in fantastical novels and black metal lyrics. His Hrímland duology, starting with Shadows of the Short Days in 2019, merges Icelandic history and folklore with fantasy literature. Its sequel, The Storm Beneath a Midnight Sun, was released in 2022. These days Alexander is very occupied with infusing the mundane with the fantastical. He works in both Icelandic and English, translating back and forth as necessary. The language he chooses to write in is dictated by the work itself—a convenient excuse. Some people try to call him a musician, which he disagrees with for some reason. More details can be found on his website at alexanderdan.net
Emmi Itäranta is a Finnish author who writes fiction in Finnish and English. Her debut novel Memory of Water from 2014 has won numerous awards, including a James Tiptree Jr. Award honours list mention and the Kalevi Jäntti Prize for young writers in Finland. She has also published two other award-winning novels: The Weaver and The Moonday Letters. Emmi’s work has been translated into more than twenty languages. She returned to her native Finland in 2021 after 14 years in the UK. Find out more at her website: www.emmiitaranta.com
Hannu Rajaniemi was born in Finland. At the age of eight, he approached the European Space Agency with a fusion-powered spaceship design, which was received with a polite ‘thank you’ note. Hannu is a co-founder and CEO of HelixNano, a venture- and Y Combinator[1]backed synthetic biology startup building the world’s most advanced mRNA platform to enable previously impossible applications across human and non-human biology, including COVID-19, climate and cancer. Hannu studied mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Oulu and Cambridge and holds a PhD in string theory from the University of Edinburgh. He co-founded a mathematics consultancy whose clients included the UK Ministry of Defence and the European Space Agency. He is the author of four novels including The Quantum Thief (winner of the 2012 Tähtivaeltaja Award for the best science fiction novel published in Finland and translated into more than twenty languages). His most recent book is Summerland, an alternate-history spy thriller in a world where the afterlife is real. His short fiction has been featured in Slate, MIT Technology Review and The New York Times.
Jakob Drud is a Danish author who currently lives in Aarhus, Denmark, with his two children. He’s been writing for the last twenty years and loves fiction that surprises, brings new insights, and makes him laugh— something that the fantastic genres are perfect for. His first novel for children, titled The Man from Sombra, was published in 2022. Many of his stories can be read online, the links can be found at http://jakobdrud.com. On Twitter Jakob is @jakobdrud, if tweets about writing and life are your thing.
Johann Thorsson is an Icelandic author whose short stories have appeared in publications both in Icelandic and English, such as Fireside Fiction and The Apex Book of World SF series. His first novel, Whitesands from 2021, set in the United States, blends Nordic noir with the supernatural. He grew up partly in the Middle East and eastern Europe but now lives in Reykjavik with his wife, two kids and ever-decreasing space on his bookshelves. He can most often be found wasting time on Twitter as @johannthors
Johanna Sinisalo is a Finnish author and screenwriter who has won, among others, the Finlandia Prize and the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. Johanna has been called ‘the queen of Finnish speculative fiction’. Much of her work deals with societal topics, such as equality and environmental issues. Johanna’s writing has been translated into around twenty languages, of which four novels in English, all praised by readers and critics alike: the Tiptree-winner Not Before Sundown (U.S. edition Troll–A Love Story), Birdbrain, The Blood of Angels, and her latest novel from 2016, The Core of the Sun, which made the Tiptree honour list. Her novelette Baby Doll was shortlisted for the Theodore Sturgeon Memo[1]rial Award in 2008 and the Nebula in 2009. You can find several of Johanna’s short stories in English in many anthologies such as Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Volume Four (2017), and she has also edited The Dedalus Book of Finnish Fantasy, an anthology of Finnish speculative fiction. As a screenwriter, Johanna’s most known work is the original story for the 2012 cult SF comedy movie Iron Sky.
John Ajvide Lindqvist is a Swedish author with a background as both a magician and a stand-up comedian. Today he’s a well-known author with several acclaimed novels and short stories, several within horror and fantasy. His debut novel was Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In), in 2004, and his works include novel titles such as Hanteringen av odöda (Handling the Undead), Människohamn (Harbour), Lilla stjärna (Little Star), and also the short story collection Pappersväggar (Let the Old Dreams Die). ‘Border’, one of the short stories in this collection, was made into a feature film in 2019. Lindqvist was also a writer for the television series Reuter & Skoog (1999) and wrote the screenplays for Swedish Television’s drama series Kommissionen (2005) and for the film Let the Right One In, based on his novel. His work has been awarded several times, especially in connection with the script for the film Let the Right One In, but also the Selma Lagerlöf Prize. His work has also been nominated for awards such as Tiptree, Hugo, BFA and Stoker. John is married to the author Mia Ajvide and lives in the archipelago of Roslagen, Sweden. Find out more on his website: www.johnajvidelindqvist.com
Karin Tidbeck is a Swedish author who lives and works in Malmö as a freelance writer and translator and writes speculative fiction in Swedish and English. They debuted in 2010 with the Swedish collection Vem är Arvid Pekon? Their English debut, the 2012 collection Jagannath, received the Crawford Award and was shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award. The novel Amatka was shortlisted for the Locus Award in 2018. Their 2021 novel, The Memory Theater, was named one of the best speculative fiction books of the year by The New York Times. Karin’s short fiction is published at Tor.com, Uncanny Magazine, Lightspeed and more. They dedicate their free time to games, historical fencing and Forteana. Find them online at karintidbeck.com and on Instagram as @ktidbeck
Kaspar Colling Nielsen is a Danish author who debuted with Mount København (Mount Copenhagen) in 2010. The sequel was published in 2013—a futuristic narrative called Den Danske Borgerkrig 2018-24 (The Danish Civil War 2018-24). Both works are on the borderline of novel and short story collection, where the grotesque, tragicomic, and social satirical intertwine in a unique form of narrative art. The topical Det europæiske forår (The European Spring) came out in 2017 and was shortlisted as the best foreign novel for the Prix du Livre Inter in France in 2019. His short story collection Dengang dinosaurene var små (When the Dinosaurs Were Small) was published in 2019, and the novel Frelsen fra Hvidovre (Salvation from Hvidovre) in 2021. Kaspar’s books have been translated into twenty-one languages.
Lene Kaaberbøl is a Danish writer whose work primarily consists of children’s fantasy series and crime fiction for adults. She’s the author of the book series The Shamer Chronicles, Katriona, W.I.T.C.H., Nina Borg (with Agnete Friis), Madelein Karno, and Wild Witch. Several of her books have been made into movies (such as The Shamer’s Daughter), and her Wild Witch book series provided the basis for a Danish children’s fantasy film of the same name. Lene received the Nordic Children’s Book Prize in 2004. In 2009 Lene, and her co-author Agnete Friis, were awarded the Harald Mogensen Prize by the Danish Criminal Academy (Det danske Kriminalakademi, DKA) for the novel The Boy in the Suitcase.
Margrét Helgadóttir is a Norwegian-Icelandic author and anthologist living in Oslo, Norway. Her short fiction appears in many venues, such as Slate, Luna Station Quarterly, Girl at the End of the World, and Sunspot Jungle, to name a few. Her debut book—The Stars Seem So Far Away—was a finalist at the British Fantasy Awards 2016, and is an apocalyptic road tale set in a far-future Arctic world. Margrét is the editor of the anthology Winter Tales (2016) and the anthology series Fox Spirit Books of Monsters, seven volumes published between 2014 and 2020. Three volumes were shortlisted for the British Fantasy Awards as Best Anthology (2016, 2017 and 2018), and Margrét was also awarded Starburst Magazine’s Brave New Words Award in 2018 for her editorial work on Pacific Monsters. Read more on her website: https:// margrethelgadottir.wordpress.com
Maria Haskins is a Swedish-Canadian writer and reviewer of speculative fiction, who currently lives just outside Vancouver, Canada, with a husband, two kids, a snake, several birds, and a very large black dog. Maria’s work has appeared in The Best Horror of the Year Volume 13, Strange Horizons, Black Static, Interzone, Fireside, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Flash Fiction Online, Mythic Delirium, Shimmer, Cast of Wonders, and elsewhere. Her short story collection Six Dreams About the Train was published by Trepidatio Publishing in 2021. Find out more on Maria’s website: mariahaskins.com, or follow her on Twitter, where she is @mariahaskins.
Rakel Helmsdal is a Faroese multi-artist. She has so far published twenty-five books (novels, short story collections and picture books), as well as plays, short stories, and poems. Rakel sees herself as a storyteller for all age groups, and she chooses the medium—texts, plays, poems, pictures, sculptures—depending on what she feels that the story requires. Rakel is the co-author of the book series Little Monster and Big Monster, together with Icelandic author and illustrator Áslaug Jónsdóttir and Swedish author Kalle Güettler. The books have so far been published in nineteen languages. Rakel’s works have been nominated five times for the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Children and Youth Literature Prize. Her novel Hon, sum róði eftir ælaboganum (She Rowed After the Rainbow), from 2014, received the West Nordic Children and Youth Literature Prize 2016. She has also been nominated for the ALMA Award (Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award) on four occasions.
Tone Almhjell is a Norwegian author who writes fantasy in both English and Norwegian. She has a master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Oslo. She was working as a journalist when, in a fit of bravery and/or madness, she decided to quit her job, sell her flat, and write fiction full-time. Her debut novel, The Twistrose Key, was first published in the U.S. in 2013 by Penguin but has since been published all over the world. The novel, a middle-grade portal fantasy, was very well received. Among other accolades, it was named a Kirkus Best Book of the Year as well as one of the best debuts for young readers in 2013 by the American Booksellers Association. The companion book, Thornghost, also received great reviews and was nominated to ARK’s award for children’s books in 2016. Tone currently lives in Oslo, Norway, with her husband, two sweet kids, and two stubborn cats. Her story in this anthology, ‘The Cormorant’, is inspired by a fairy tale from Northern Norway by Regine Normann. It’s Tone’s first story for adults.
Thore Hansen is a Norwegian author, illustrator, and cartoonist. Hansen debuted with the short story collection Grimaser (Grimaces) in 1975 and has since published many books for children and adults—almost fifty in total. He is known for his characteristic illustrations, and in addition to his own publications, he has also illustrated several books written by other authors. He is particularly well-known for his collaboration with Tor Åge Bringsværd on the tales of Ruffen and Det blå folket (The Blue People), among others. Hansen has won several prizes for his work, including The Norwegian Ministry of Church and Education’s Cartoon Prize (1980), and the Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Church’s Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature—a total of five times, the Nordic School Librarian Association’s Children’s Book Prize (2002), and the Book Art Prize (2004). In 2020, he won the Norwegian Cartoonist Forum’s honorary prize, ‘Sproing’.
Tor Åge Bringsværd is a Norwegian author who writes both for children and adults. He is the recipient of several awards as an author and playwright, including the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature, the Ibsen Prize, and the Arts Council Norway Honorary Award. He has been translated into several languages (despite his name having two impossible Norwegian letters that almost no one outside Norway knows how to pronounce). He lives with his wife in a small village in southern Norway, where a river occasionally flows through their garden. While there are few fish in the river, there are, on the other hand, ducks and beavers. Beneath a big apple tree at one end of the garden, Tor Åge spends most of the year writing in his office cabin, complete with a weather pig (Nasse Nøff, a.k.a. Piglet) on the roof and a lively badger family beneath the floor. When the cold comes and ice freezes on the sidewalks, he prefers to escape south to Lanzarote, that blessed pile of rocks off the coast of Africa. His life motto is: Coincidences are our friends.