10 to Watch

Zeshan Shakar

It’s been a long time since Norway has seen a debut author whose success can match that of Zeshan Shakar (born 1982).

Norway’s paperback hit this summer wasn’t a crime novel, a thriller or popular fiction. No – the book most widely read on the islands and skerries of Norway over the hot summer weeks of June and July was actually Zeshan Shakar’s critically acclaimed coming-of-age novel set in Oslo’s Stovner district in the 2000s, Tante Ulrikkes vei (Our Street, Gyldendal Agency).

High summer sales marked yet another in a series of remarkable successes for Shakar and Our Street. He has already won Norway’s most prestigious prize for first-time writers (the Tarjei Vesaas Debutant Prize), and his book has had highly positive reviews and was heralded as one of the best books of the year in Norway’s six largest newspapers.

“A powerful, important and artistically successful novel about growing up as a second-generation immigrant in Oslo’s suburbia,” VG’s reviewer said of the book.

Shakar has made his mark as a profoundly literary and authentic voice, describing the position of second-generation immigrants as both insiders and outsiders in Norwegian society.

The novel is set in northeastern Oslo in the 2000s. Two boys grow up on Tante Ulrikke’s street in Stovner, north-eastern Oslo. Their parents had hope. But they themselves are stuck between the suburbs and wider society, between car wash and student canteen, between exam grades and keef.

Tiril Broch Aakre

‘She is sharp and fearless, yet raw and absolutely vulnerable.’

Tiril Broch Aakre (born 1976) is described as one of Norway’s strongest and clearest new prose voices.

‘Tiril Broch Aakre is what we like to call a fully-formed literary talent, meaning that she’s utterly herself, right from her first book, Redd barna (Save the Children), which came out in 2015 and enjoyed a brilliant reception, as well as winning the Youth Critics’ Literary Prize. Her second novel followed the next year, Fjällräven gul (Fjällräven Yellow, Flamme/Cappelen Damm Agency) and was also very well received. Like so many other powerful authors, Broch Aakre possesses seemingly contradictory literary qualities. She is sharp and fearless, yet at the same time raw and absolutely vulnerable. If she had been a man in the 1920s, she and Hemingway would have gone out drinking together all the time. And he would have stolen her manuscripts. Perhaps we can put it like this: in the same way that blood sustains life in all the body’s organs, large and small, Broch Aakre’s prose sustains the life in all her characters, large and small – displaying a particularly beautiful care and love for those among them who are somewhat exposed; the ones who came into the world slightly lopsided and face a very long journey home. Broch Aakre gladly accompanies them on their way,’ says Nils-Øivind Haagensen, editor at Flamme.

Lars Petter Sveen

Lars Petter Sveen follows young people as they flee.

When Jo Nesbø won the Norwegian Book Club Prize in 2008, he awarded an extra prize of 50,000 kroner – intended for a ‘promising Norwegian author’ – to Lars Petter Sveen (born in 1981). Sveen also earned glowing reviews for his second book, a novel called Eg kjem tilbake (I’ll Come Back, 2011). Guds barn (Children of God, 2014) was his third book and literary breakthrough. It has been sold to Denmark, Sweden, France, the USA, and China.

His next two books, Fem stjerner (Five Stars) from 2017 and this year’s Fem skuggar (Five Shadows, Aschehoug/ Oslo Literary Agency), are about five young people fleeing Somalia for Europe and Norway.

‘The critically successful Children of God, which earned Sveen the Per Olov Enquist Prize among others, will be published in English in October by America’s Graywolf Press. I’m really looking forward to seeing what American critics think of it,’ says Annette Orre at Oslo Literary Agency.

Gine Cornelia Pedersen

‘Energetic, tender and intimate’. This is how Gine Cornelia Pedersen’s literature has been described.

Gine Cornelia Pedersen (born 1986) won the Tarjei Vesaas Debutant Prize in 2013 for her critically acclaimed novel Null (Zero), which is being published in the English market this autumn. A second novel, Kjærlighetshistorie (Love Story) followed in 2015. Vår i det hinsidige (Spring and Beyond, Cappelen Damm Agency) is Pedersen’s third novel. Pedersen is also well known as an actor in Norway.

Kari Joynt, senior editor at Cappelen Damm, describes her as follows: ‘Gine Cornelia Pedersen has a unique literary power – energetic, tender and intimate. Right from her debut novel, Zero, there’s a nerve and density that has struck a chord with many young readers in particular. She won the Tarjei Vesaas Prize for this book. Pedersen asks the fundamental question: what is a human being? – portraying the vulnerable, the hopeful, the enquiring, the desperate, the enamoured and the lost. '

Roskva Koritzinsky

A bright future is predicted for this year’s youngest Nordic Council Prize nominee.

Roskva Koritzinsky (born in 1989) published her first book in 2013, a short-story collection called Her inne et sted (Somewhere in here). Koritzinsky’s book was nominated for the Tarjei Vesaas Debutant Prize and won Aschehoug’s Debutant Prize. It was followed by two further critically acclaimed books, Flammen og mørket (The Flame and the Darkness) in 2015 and her second short story collection Jeg har ennå ikke sett verden (I still Haven’t Seen the World) in 2017 (Aschehoug/Oslo Literary Agency). Koritzinsky was also selected by NORLA to form part of the first group of young authors chosen to represent Norway and new Norwegian literature at international book fairs and seminars.

‘An extremely powerful writing talent, and we have only seen the start of it’ says Annette Orre of Oslo Literary Agency.

Susanne Skogstad

It is a bold move for a young debut author to choose the inner world of an older woman as her focal point.

‘The world rarely stands still when you read a manuscript. The first time we read Svartstilla (The Colour of Grief) was one of those moments. This young author writes powerfully and beautifully about big questions in a language that is so precise and gripping that it’s almost difficult to believe that this is Skogstad’s first novel,’ says Anne Gaathaug, director of Gloria Forlag publishers.

Susanne Skogstad (born 1992) has attracted considerable attention for her debut novel Svartstilla (The Color of Grief, Gloria/Hedlund Agency) .

The book’s protagonist and narrator is an elderly woman whose husband recently passed away. Her grief is so profound that is has virtually paralysed her: ‘I cannot move forward, I can only sit here and look back, for in the future there is no you.’

Norwegian reviewers were extremely enthusiastic: ‘The book is just bursting with literary talent. It is easy to identify influences from Jon Fosse in both subject choice and writing style,’ wrote May Grethe Lerum at BOK365.no.

Gunnhild Øyehaug

Presens Maskin (Present Tense Machine) is a novel about life’s irreparable loneliness. And about love.

‘Since the short story collection Knutar (Knots) was published in the USA to outstanding reviews, the world has started to become aware of this author’s original work. Knots has now been sold to the Netherlands and Denmark, and there is also considerable interest in other countries,’ says Anne Cathrine Eng of Gyldendal Agency.

‘Øyehaug’s newly translated collection charts entanglements of all kinds, from difficult families and first loves to more metaphysical experiments that combine a crisp minimalism with endearingly offbeat conceits . . . Øyehaug’s stories are as original as they are joyously delicate and tranquil,’ Publishers Weekly said about Knots.

This autumn, Gunnhild Øyehaug (born 1975) publishes her novel Presens Maskin (Present Tense Machine, Kolon/ Gyldendal Agency): Present Tense Machine is about Anna and Laura, who are mother and daughter. When the world splits into parallel universes in one astonishing second some time in the 1990s, each woman is trapped in her own part. A quarter of a century later, life has carried on as if nothing had happened but in each of the women’s lives there’s something that doesn’t add up.

Lotta Elstad

Lotta Elstads books are full of sharp, clever humour.

As well as writing several critically acclaimed non-fiction books and novels, Lotta Elstad (born in 1982) has written for several of Norway’s larger newspapers.

‘Since her debut, En såkalt drittjobb (A So-Called Crappy Job, 2008), Lotta Elstad has switched between non-fiction and fiction with considerable success, with the three novels she has published to date reaching an ever-growing readership. Her novel Jeg nekter å tenke (I Refuse to Think, Flamme, 2017/Cappelen Damm Agency) remains the high point for now. Elstad’s novels are characterized by her considerable knowledge of the society and times we are living in, communicated with energy and wit in a stylistically consistent tone. One typical trait of Elstad’s writing is her black and sometimes cheeky and unpretentious humour. And yet there is no doubt that Elstad’s intent is first and foremost serious, and that she will remain a visible public presence in the future, both in public debate and as an author. Her feminist project continues; it is necessary,’ says Geir Nummedal, managing editor at Flamme.

Eivind Hofstad Evjemo

When people are asked to pick out Norway’s most promising authors, there’s one name that always comes up: Eivind Hofstad Evjemo.

Eivind Hofstad Evjemo (born in 1983) distinguished himself early on. He won the Tarjei Vesaas Debutant Prize for his first novel Vekk meg hvis jeg sovner (Wake me if I Fall Asleep) in 2009. VG’s Mari Nymoen Nilsen wrote of his second novel, Det siste du skal se er et ansikt av kjærlighet (The Last Thing you Will See Is a Loving Face) in 2012 (both with Cappelen Damm Agency): ‘Evjemo takes us with him into an entire community, creating the rhythm of life and the everyday down to the tiniest detail, and the whole thing is taken seriously, in extremely delicate language. I can’t ever remember having read a novel like this by a Norwegian author.’

‘It is next to impossible to describe the reach and depth of Eivind Hofstad Evjemo’s work, but if I had to sum up his work in one word, it would be ‘empathy’. He writes about people who are trying to make their way in our often confusing world with a sense of dread, but also hope. His work is both personal and political. Or, rather, the personal is political in his work, and the political moves closer to us, seems somehow easier to understand. Along the way, as we read, we find ourselves immersed, moved, entertained and surprised. And we leave the books behind somehow changed, and find that even the most mundane things seem alive. They gleam and shimmer with meaning,’ says John Erik Riley, managing editor at Cappelen Damm.

Helga Flatland

Helga Flatland finally made her breakthrough last autumn with A Modern Family, which earned her the Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize.

Helga Flatland (born 1984) is hardly a new name for Norwegian readers. She established herself back in 2010 with her debut novel, Bli hvis du kan. Reis hvis du må (Stay if you Can, Leave if you Must), which was showered with prizes and effusive reviews. But her real breakthrough came last year with A Modern Family (Aschehoug/Oslo Literary Agency), which also looks set to win her new readers in the wider world.

‘The novel has struck a chord with Norwegian and Scandinavian readers, and in 2019 it will be published in German and English by some extremely enthusiastic publishers. And this autumn Helga will appear on stage at both Copenhagen Book Forum and Göteborg Book Fair,’ says Annette Orre of Oslo Literary Agency.

Flatland has been widely praised for the way she describes human processes such as grief, attachment, and break-ups. Similar themes also appear in A Modern Family, in which Toril and Sverre decide to divorce – after a forty-year marriage. They are seventy years old, newly retired and feel that they are finished with the family project. But their three adult children don’t feel the same way.