AIEP -Berlin

From Piet Teigeler, president of AIEP:

Dear all,

We shall meet in Berlin (Arte Kunsthotel) on 6, 7 and 8 of September 2007.
Fritz Dinkelmann is still dealing with different authorities, but he proposes the following
- AIEP meeting room in the Bundespresseamt (international press building) in walking distance from the hotel
- Meeting with specialized police force dealing with violence from perpetrators on the extreme political right
- Public readings by our members in specialized book stores
- Meeting during boat trip on the Spree
- Visit to Sans Souci in Potsdam
- Bus provided by the municipality of Berlin

I would have waited to contact you until we had more of the ultimate dates and hours, but there is a catch.22:
The Arte Hotel is one of the most sought after addresses in Berlin and the management would only give us an option on a number of rooms until March 31 2007 12.00 CET
Here are the prices:
double room with shower and wc: 135 euro/night (option on 13 rooms)
single room with shower and wc: 89 euro/night (option on 7 rooms)
double room with bath/wc on the floor: 85 euro/night (option on 7 rooms)
single rooms with bath/wc on the floor: 50 euro/night (option on 6 rooms)
Breakfast buffet is 9 euros per person.

----

So what can I add? Apart from the dates of our meeting (6, 7 and 8 of September are cast in concrete) the extra curricular activities of this meeting remain slightly unfocused for the moment. Those of you who have attended our meetings before, will agree with me that Berlin has an enormous potential and we should trust Fritz to make this meeting a success to rival Daun, Amsterdam and Zaragoza.
So please rush and reserve your room in the Arte Kunsthotel right now (of the 13 doubles with bath only 12 remain, since I booked mine today).
You want to mention AIEP and the kind of room you wish to book (arrival 5 September, departure 9 September) and you can address your booking to " Frau Julia Schmidt, info@luise-berlin.com" or phone + 49 30 28 448 -0 fax +49 30 28 448 -448.
Please advise me when you book, so we keep an oversight of the attendance.
Here is the snail mail address: Arte Luise Kunsthotel gmbH, Luisenstrasse 19 D-10117 Berlin.

Get rolling, guys. Remember the deadline: March 31st high Noon!

Piet

Horsens 2007 - Håkan Nesser får Palle Rosenkrantz-prisen

Det Danske Kriminalakademi's krimimesse holdes i Horsens d. 24. - 25 marts. På messen uddeles for 21. gang årets Palle Rosenkrantz-pris, der gives til den bedste kriminalroman, udgivet på dansk i 2006. Prisen, der er på 7.500 kr., går til den svenske forfatter Håkan Nesser for Skyggerne og regnen, som er udgivet af forlaget Modtryk.

Romanen fortæller om tre mennesker, der voksede op sammen, men gled fra hinanden. 30 år efter skal de nu forsøge ”at komme til rette med det forgangne”, ikke mindst et aldrig opklaret drab. En ganske barsk historie med adskillige overraskende tvists. Fortalt med en særegen mildhed, ofte iblandet overbærende ironi. En stor læseoplevelse.


Den nyindstiftede ”Harald Mogensen-pris” går til årets bedste danske spændingsroman. Mogensen var den første danske kritiker, der seriøst befattede sig med krimigenren, og han ville have bifaldet, at den førte modtager af prisen bliver Kirsten Holst, der har fået et fornemt comeback med Sin brors vogter (forlaget Forum), og som nu udmærkes for denne roman og for sit mangeårige krimiforfatterskab.

Kriminalakademiet vil samtidig uddele fem diplomer. Jonas Bruun og Inger Wolf hædres for fremragende debutromaner, hhv. Drivjagt og Sort sensommer. Der tildeles Søren K. Barsøe et diplom for engagerede og indlevede oversættelser, DR 2’s kulturafdeling får diplom for vedvarende interesse for krimi på tryk og skærm, og Nis Jessen får diplom for sine illustrationer til en dansk pragtudgave af ”A Study in Scarlet”.

Kriminalakademiets jury består af Vibeke Johansen, Bo Bjørnvig, Preben B. Christensen, Flemming Jarlskov, Anton Koch-Nielsen og Bo Tao Michaëlis.

Alt om krimimessen her.

Finland/Berlin

Jeg venter endnu på programmet for SKS-kongressen/årsmötet i Finland, men jeg håber at alle som behöver at bestille en ticket har allerede gjort det - jo för man köber biljetten, desto billigere...
Sidste Weekenden i maj - 25. - 27.5, altså ...
Og nu ser det ud til at AIEP's årsmöde holdes i Berlin fra 5. - 9. september.
Datoen er ikke helt sikker endnu, men hvis den ændres, så giver jeg besked. Programmet og nærmere information kommer snart.
- This years AIEP-congress will take place in Berlin, probably from september 5th to september 9th. The date is not absolutely set yet, if it changes, I'll let you know.
Confirmation of the dates, program, and further details will follow shortly...
Cheers,
ævar.

Til Finland!

Hejsan, allesammen og godt nyt år!
jeg håber alle har det godt og har haft et godt år i 2006 - og at 2007 bli'r endnu bedre.
Jeg har lige fået gode nyheder fra Finland - Taavi har konfirmeret at SKS's årsmöde holdes i Finland sidste weekenden i maj, dvs. i dagene 25. - 27. maj.
Nærmere oplysninger ventes senere i måneden, eller i begyndelsen av februar.
Jeg ved ikke akkurat HVOR i Finland vi skal mödes - men det er vel ingen dum idé at bestille tickets til Helsinki så snart som muligt, det er vel förste stop for de fleste av os i Norge, Sverige, Danmark og Island, på vejen til mödet.

ævar örn.

De nya stadgarna

Hejsan, alla tilsammans.
Via linken SKS-stadgar kommar ni åt de nya, redigerade stadgarna, som vi har aksepterad vid årsstämman i Köpenhamn den 20 maj 2006.
Några flere ändrinar blev diskuterat, men inte aksepterad/beslutat vid denna årsstämman, och jag vet at inte alla er nöjd med detta - men det er fakta, att vi inte röstade om de föreslagarna , så de får venta til vores nästa årsstämma, i Finland 2007.
Men "do not despair" - jag hittar inte det skandinaviska ordet for "despair", sorry...
Ingen - jag vågar att lova detta - ingen vil säja någonting, om enskilda medlemssällskaper utser 3, 5, 7 eller 327 människor för att välja sitt lands kandidat for Glasnyckeln - det som gäller er att juryen for självaste Glasnyckeln til slut består av tre personer - dvs när det er dags att välja mellan de fem, nordiska kandidatarna.
Men för vi träffas i Finland nästa är får vi utreda denna saken, vi skal ha glasklare regel for hur det ska se ut med juryerna och hur de skal fungera. Melda er om ni har konkreta föreslag pg. detta emnet!

Nyheter fra Island

Hallöjsan alla samman!
En liten bidrag på skandinavisk, denne gången ...
2005 var et stort år for islandske krimier/deckare, med åtminstone 10 krimis, måske 12, det er litt av en defineringsproblem... Vår jury arbetar just nu med at finde ut av, hvilken av dom er den beste - och 10 författare holder fingrene kryssat (Jag vinner bestemt ikke, for jag måste av-krydsa fingrarna for att skriva detta ... )
2006 publiseras 6 deckare, som jag vet om, måske flere, vi får se. Ni som har besökt SKS-möterna kender minst två, kanske tre av disse forfattere, som nu har nya deckare ut, dvs. Arnaldur Indriðason, Árni Þórarinsson och Páll Kristinn Pálsson, som skrivar sin andra, gemensama deckare, och så jag sjelv.
Den fjerde deckaren - som egentligen er en thriller - er skrivet af Stefán Máni, vores glasnyckel-kandidat sista år, som inte blev översatt på grund av att forlaget inte ville betala for översättningen.
Yrsa Sigurðardóttir skrivar den femte, det er hennes andra krimi, men hennes förste, som blev publiserat ifjol, var väldig populär och er blevet översatt til många språk.
Och den sjette er fra vores veninne som vi aldri sett, nämligen Stella Blómkvist.
Så det ser rett bra ut med islandske deckare i år.
Torsdag 30. november har vi vores årliga krimikvell/deckarafton på Grand Rokk - pub, med fritt whiskey och sigarrer och jazz - och opplesning ur nye krimier, förstås ...
Hur ser det ut i dom andra länderna?
Skriv til mig, och så publiseras det här så snart möjligt ...

Finland 2007, ? 2008, Iceland 2009

As most of you will know by now, Suomen Dekkariseura will be hosting the AGM and the awarding of the Glass key next year. What not so many of you knew, until now, is that we are ready to host these events in the spring of 2009! Yes, I know, it's still a long way away, but anyway...
I reckon it's okay to go public with this information, even if it's not officially official as yet, but our boss, Kristinn, committed the Icelandic crime society to host AIEP's AGM in 2009, so we'll do a double since we're at it... Start saving up for the trip now, it'll be worth it - even if it keeps raining.

But: Do we have a candidate for 2008? Norway? Sweden? Anyone? Somebody mentioned Barbados, but I'm not sure they're up to it.

Cheers,
Ævar Örn.

The worst summer

This is a warning - if anyone of you out there were planning to visit the south, west or, particularly the southwest corner of Iceland this summer: Forget it!
The weather in the northeast has been o.k. but over here - where people actually live - this has been the rainiest, coldest, most miserable of icelandic summers as far back as I can remember - and believe me, I remember a lot of cold, wet and miserable summers and this one tops them all.
Guess I'll just have to stay indoors and write. A crime novel, maybe. Or something.

Cheers,
Ævar Örn.

Copenhagen report

Hello folks - and congratulations Sweden and Finland!
As most of you probably know by now, the 15th Glass key went to Sweden this year, just like last year (we really have to figure out how to beat the swedish mafia, folks, this just can't go on - even if we are a criminal organization...). But, anyway, Stieg Larsson's Man som hatar kvinnor (this should be men in plural, but I'm using a stupid computer right now that doesn't have the double dots at the ready on the keyboard, and I'm just too stupid and lazy to bother finding them somewhere else...) was the best nordic crime novel this time around, according to the juries of the five countries participating in this annual competition of nordic crime writers. The other candidates were, as you no doubt have heard, even if I've neglected publishing this here on the blog, Finlands Matti Yrjana Joensuu (I'll correct the spelling as soon as I get back to Iceland...) for his novel Harjunpaa ja pahan pappi (Harjunpaa och djavulens prest); Norways Frode Grytten for his novel Flytande björn and Denmarks Gretelise Holm for her novel; Under fuld bedövelse. Iceland did not have a candidate this year, for reasons previously explained.
Sadly, Stieg Larsson died of a heart attack before his first crime-novel was even published. He passed away in november 2004, a few months before Men som hatar kvinnor was published, only 50 years old.
This novel, however, was only the first one in a trilogy he called The millenium trilogy, which he had already written before his premature death. The second novel in this criminal trilogy; Flickan som lekte med elden, will be published shortly.

The AGM itself went better than anyone could hope for - or not nearly as well as some might have hoped... I'm not at all sure how to put it, to be honest. There were not many of us there, but representatives from all four remaining countries in the SKS as suc, i.e. Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland, were present at the meeting, and Anders Koch Nielsen was present at the handing over of the Glass key on friday, representing Denmark.
In short, we can put it like this: The show will go on.

There was a compromise of sorts, regarding the premises for membership/partnership in the SKS/glass-key co-operation. There is no obligation to host a conference/AGM/glass-key ceremony on any host country. If some member-organization takes it up on itself to host a regular, full-blown meeting, the glass-key will be presented at that very meeting. Should this not be the case, however, it is up to the winner's home-country to do something in order to bring attention to the fact that she/he won the award.

Some more changes were made to SKS's rules in order to simplify things and secure the future participation of all five independent nordic countries in the glass-key co-operation, the details will be published here as soon as the minutes of the AGM are ready.

Let it suffice to say, that the 11 of us who were there left Copenhagen pretty optimistic as to the future of the Glass-key - at least I left Copenhagen in a much more optimistic mood than I was in before the AGM.

As to the meeting beyond the meeting - the informal meeting of minds and friends - it was, I think, quite successfull. We had some nice chats, the outer surroundings were a bit chilly, I admit (Copenhagen was not in it's sunniest of moods, this time around), but the Faroese house was as cozy as ever, their food, their hospitality and the general, laid-back atmosphere of this nice house made us all, I think, feel at home and welcome.

We also shared a nice dinner on friday night, but as there was no conference, the program ended early saturday afternoon, and the majority of attendees went their seperate ways after that. I freely admit that I quite regret having decided to spare myself the costs of another night in a hotel and going directly to visit my very best friend in the world instead. Ordinarily, this would not be a decision to regret, but as I sat there in front of the tv, with my very best friend in the world, his wife and a couple of their friends, cheering - along with everyone else at this small and informal party - for Lordi and their success as each and (almost) every country gave them 8 or 10 or 12 points that fateful saturday night, I must admit that I wished I'd stayed and went with Paula, Marja and Taavi to some pub or another to watch the Eurovision Song Contest. I almost jumped on a train back to Copenhagen, as the voting progressed and Lordi's victory seemed more and more of a certainty... But I decided to do the sensible, responsible thing, and just get drunk in their honour right where I was instead...
But I bet no-one had more fun in Copenhagen that night than Paula, Marja and Taavi. And I must say that Lordi's victory renews my hope in mankind...

Anyway, this years conference was short and to the point - and, I think, quite successfull. We managed to change the rules in a way that will hopefully secure the future of the Glass-key, and we had a good time together. What more can one ask for? Well, a full blown conference for one thing, some might say - and that's exactly what we're getting next year if everything goes according to plan - and that conference will be held in Finland.

So keep posted - if we stick with the tradition, the conference will be held on the same weekend as the Eurovision finals ... and that will surely be an extraordinary weekend in Finland next year.

And yes - alas - I was, under heavy protest, elected president again. So it's not all good news from Copenhagen - but most of it is.