Glasnyckeln 2009: Johan Theorin

Glasnyckeln 2009 går til Johan Theorin, Sverige, for hans deckare, Nattfåk.
The Glass key 2009 goes to Johan Theorin, Sweden, for his novel, Night Blizzard.
Theorin is a journalist and writer by profession, living in Gothenburg but situating his novels in Öland, an island off the south-east coast of Sweden. Night blizzard is the "Winter-story" in a planned "Four-seasons" cycle.
A young couple buys the farm Åludden on the north-east corner of Öland, which used to be the residence of the keeper of the lighthouse of the same name. Legend has it that the house was built with the timbers of sunken ships - and therefore haunted by the ghosts of drowned sailors.
When the wife drowns, shortly after the couple move in, her husband grieves her but also senses her presence in the now empty house.
Tilda Davidson, the local police-constable, is not quite convinced that the drowning was accidental, but at the same time she has to deal with a small gang of petty thieves on a break-in spree - and try to end her relationship with her married lover.
Theorin builds the suspense and intrigue slowly but surely all the way to the end - with supernatural elements playing a tentative, but by no means verified - or verifiable - part in the investigation.

The final programme

Well, all is set for the conference, if not in stone, then at least in writing. This is how it's going to be:

Thursday
20.00 - ?
Get-together
A warm welcome to all our guests by The Icelandic Crime Syndicate, The Icelandic Writers Union and the GrandRokk-pub.
Location: GrandRokk-pub, Smiðjustígur 6, Reykjavík
A few of us - or a bus - will be waiting for you outside Hotel Loftleidir at around 19.45, in order to take you there (i.e. those of you who are not in the centre already, having dinner or whatever. The GrandRokk is very close to (or actually right in) the city centre.)

Friday
10.00 - 13.00: AIEP business-meeting
Location: The Nordic House.

13.00 - 14.00:Lunch/Lecture: The Nordic Crime Wave part I: Crime in Iceland
Rannveig Þórisdóttir, sociologist/criminologist with the Reykjavík police shares her extensive knowledge of the Icelandic underworld with us during lunch.

16.00 - 17.00: The Glass key-award*: Awarding of SKS's (CWA's) prize for the best, nordic crime-novel of the year, presented by the minister of culture & education, Katrín Jakobsdóttir (one of Icelands leading experts on crime-fiction and a long standing member of the Icelandic Crime Syndicate).

Preceded by two topic-related inputs:
1) Spreading crime around the world - Nordic crime stories are success stories. Speaker: Halldór Guðmundsson, project leader of "Sagenhaftes Island" - Frankfurt, 2011.
2) Presentation of the nominated novels & authors by Kristján Jóhann Jónsson, chairman of the Icelandic GK-jury.
Location: The Nordic House

17.00 - 18.00: The Nordic Crime Wave, part II*: The professionals view, a panel discussion. What are nordic crime-writers trying to convey, and how do they go on about it?
Location: The Nordic House
Participants/Suspects: All Glass-Key nominees:
Arnaldur Indriðason (IS)
Johan Theorin (SE)
Lene Kaaberbøl & Agnete Friis (DK)
Marko Kilpi (FI)
Vidar Sundstøl (NO).

ca. 19.00 - late: Suburban BBQ: Dinner for all conference guests and a welcome opportunity to mingle with each other, the lecturers and other "informants" and contributors to the conference.
Location: Out in the sticks - i.e. the suburbs - if the weather allows, otherwise - well, we'll keep you informed...

Saturday
10.00 - 13.00: AIEP business-meeting
Location: The Nordic House

13.00 - 14.00: Lunch/Lecture. The Nordic Crime Wave, part III: How to rob a nation and steal a country - or vice versa. The collapse of the Icelandic economy and how it was brought about by a few criminally greedy investors (and a (criminally?) inefficient regulatory system). Ólafur Ísleifsson, economist and assistant professor at Reykjavík University.
Location: The Nordic House

14.30 - 15.00: The Nordic Crime Wave, part IV*: What's so special about Nordic/scandinavian crime novels? Are they a (sub)genre within the genre? What defines the Nordic crime-novel, what puts it apart from crime-novels from other parts of the world? A very unacademic and speculative input from Ævar Örn Jósepsson, writer and president of the SKS.
Location: The Nordic House

15.30 - 17.00: The Nordic Crime Wave, part V*: Is it a wave or just a ripple - the Nordic Crime Wave in an International Context.
What, if anything, from the nordic way of crime-solving/writing has seeped into other parts of the world? What have nordic crime-writers learned from their colleagues elsewhere? Does it matter if a man is killed in Scandinavia or elsewhere? Is the globalisation of crime fiction an opportunity or a threat? Etc. etc. A head-on investigation/interrogation regarding the matter of fictitious crime-solving around the world.
Head interrogator: Bob Cornwell, regular contributor to the Tangled Web and leader of AIEP's CrimeTime-project; a series of practical guides to the crime writing nations of Europe and, perhaps, beyond...
Chief suspects: Internationally acclaimed authors Jo Nesbø, Diane Wei Liang and Yrsa Sigurðardóttir.
Location: The Nordic House

19.00 - late: Farewell-dinner and international crime-fiction-quiz, designed to encourage as international a mix of people at each table as possible...

Location: Hotel Loftleidir

Even later: Pub crawl for night-owls and party-animals.

Sunday
12.00 - 13.00: SKS's AGM

14.00 - ? Sightseeing for those with time on their hands. Sights - or at least some of them - will be relevant to crime, both real and fictional.

*Open for the public