The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat and Other Stories from the North

by Sjón

  GUÐBERGUR BERGSSON (born in 1932 in Grindavik, Iceland) published his modernist novel Tómas Jónsson metsölubók in 1966 (“Tómas Jónsson Bestseller”), a cultural breakthrough in Icelandic literature. His novel Svanurinn (1991) (The Swan) secured his position as a major European novelist. Bergsson’s books have been translated into many languages. He is also a prolific translator of world literature and has enriched Icelandic literature and culture with timeless masterpieces by Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American writers, including Cervantes’s Don Quixote. He has been the recipient of several major prizes, including the Nordic Prize of the Swedish Academy in 2004. In 2010, he was awarded the Spanish Royal Cross (Orden de Merito civil).

  HASSAN BLASIM was born in Baghdad in 1973, where he studied at the city’s Academy of Cinematic Arts. In 1998, he was advised to leave Baghdad, as his documentary critiques of life under Saddam Hussein had put him at risk. He fled to Sulaymaniya (Iraqi Kurdistan), where he continued to make films, including the feature-length drama Wounded Camera, under the Kurdish pseudonym “Ouazad Osman”. In 2004, after years of travelling illegally through Europe as a refugee, he finally settled in Finland. His first story to appear in print was for Comma’s anthology Madinah (2008), edited by Joumana Haddad, which was followed by two commissioned collections, The Madman of Freedom Square (2009) and The Iraqi Christ (2013)—all translated into English by Jonathan Wright. The latter collection won the 2014 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and Hassan’s stories have now been published in over twenty languages.

  PER OLOV ENQUIST was born in 1934 in a small village in the northern part of Sweden. He is one of the most celebrated authors in Scandinavia, both as a novelist and a playwright. His novels have been translated into more than forty languages, and he is one of the most performed Scandinavian playwrights. Enquist is one of only two writers ever to have twice received the August Prize for fiction, the most prestigious Swedish literary prize: in 1999 with the novel The Visit of the Royal Physician, and in 2008 with his memoir novel The Wandering Pine.

  FRODE GRYTTEN (born in 1960) made his debut in 1984 with the poetry collection Start. Since then he has written novels, short stories, poems and children’s books. Songs of the Beehive won Norway’s national book award, the Brage Prize, and was shortlisted for the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize. His only thriller, Floating Bear (2005), won the prestigious Riverton Prize. Grytten’s latest book, the short-story collection Men No One Needs, was published in 2016.

  CARL JÓHAN JENSEN (born in Tórshavn in 1957) is one of the most original and provocative writers on the Faroese literary scene today. Poet and novelist Jensen is also a prominent figure in the public debate on culture and politics in the Faroe Islands. Since the early 1980s, he has produced seven volumes of poetry, four novels and a collection of essays, and he is a regular reviewer of the Faroese arts. He has twice been awarded the Faroese M.A. Jacobsen Literature Prize, and nominated five times for the prestigious Nordic Council’s Literature Prize. His work has appeared in literary journals and anthologies in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and the USA. Jensen’s celebrated novel Ó-: søgur um djevulskap (2005) (working title in English: “Un-: Tales of Devilry”) was published in Norwegian translation in 2010 and in Icelandic in 2013. He is currently completing his fifth novel, which is expected to be published in early 2018.

  LINDA BOS TRÖM KNAUSGAARD (born 1972) is a Swedish poet and author, as well as a producer of documentaries for Swedish radio. In 1998 she made her debut with a collection of poetry entitled Gör mig behaglig för såret, and in 2011 she returned with Grand Mal, a critically acclaimed collection of short stories. Her first novel, Helioskatastrofen, published in English by World Editions as The Helios Disaster (2013), proved to be her international breakthrough. Some of her awards and nominations include: winner of the Mare Kandre Prize 2013; nominated for Svenska Dagbladets Literary Prize in 2016, for the prestigious August Prize in 2016, and for the International Dublin Literary Award 2016 for Helioskatastrofen.

  NIVIAQ KORNELIUSSEN (born in 1990) grew up in Nanortalik, a small town in Southern Greenland. She went to California in 2007 as an exchange student, obtained Greenland’s equivalent of GCSEs in Nuuk and moved to Denmark to study psychology. Because of the great success of her debut novel HOMO sapienne in 2014, she is now back in Nuuk writing and working on different cultural projects.

  ROSA LIKSOM (born 1958 in Lapland, Finland) is a prize-winning writer and two-time candidate for the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize. Her books have been translated into eighteen languages. She is also a renowned painter and film-maker. She is an expert on people who live in unconventional circumstances, on the borders of cultures. With “Passing Things” (2014), Rosa Liksom returns to very short prose, a genre she pioneered and a medium in which she is still an undisputed master.

  ULLA-LENA LUNDBERG is an acclaimed and prize-winning Swedish-Finnish novelist and ethnologist. She was born in 1947 on Kökar in the autonomous Åland Islands, and drew on her upbringing there in Ice, her recent and most well-known novel. Ice won the prestigious Finlandia Prize in 2012 and was nominated for the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize. It is published in the UK by Sort of Books in a translation by Thomas Teal. Ulla-Lena Lundberg is the author of more than twenty works of fiction and non-fiction. She has travelled extensively, and has lived and worked in the USA, the UK, Japan, Africa and Siberia. She currently lives in Mariehamn, the only town in Åland. Her face has recently appeared on an Åland island stamp.

  SÓLRÚN MICHELSEN (born 1948) made her debut in 1994 with a short-story collection for children, Argjafrensar, and has since published several books for children as well as poetry and other short-story collections. She was awarded the Faroese Children’s Literature Award in 2002. In 2004 she published her first novel for adults, Tema við slankum, for which she was awarded the Faroese M.A. Jacobsen Literature Prize; it has been published in Denmark, Norway and Germany. Her latest novel, Hinumegin er mars, from 2013, is a gripping novel about a woman caring for her elderly mother who has dementia. The novel was nominated for the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize in 2015 and was published in Denmark in February 2017.

  MADAME NIELSEN is a Danish novelist, artist, performer, stage director and world history enactor; she is also a composer and chanteuse. She is the author of numerous literary works, including her novel trilogy, The Suicide Mission (2005), The Sovereign (2008), Fall of the Great Satan (2012), and most recently The Endless Summer (2014), the “Bildungsroman” The Invasion (2016) and The Supreme Being (2017). Her work has been translated into nine languages and has received several literary prizes. The autobiographical novel My Encounters with the Great Authors of Our Nation was published in 2013 under the name Claus Beck-Nielsen and was nominated for the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize in 2014.

  DORTHE NORS was born in 1970 and is one of the most original voices in contemporary Danish literature. She holds a degree in literature and art history from Aarhus University and has published four novels so far, in addition to a short-story collection, Karate Chop, and a novella, Minna Needs Rehearsal Space. Nors’ short stories have appeared in numerous publications, including Harper’s Magazine and the Boston Review, and she is the first Danish writer ever to have a story published in the New Yorker. In 2014, Karate Chop won the prestigious P.O. Enquist Literary Prize. Karate Chop and Minna Needs Rehearsal Space are both published by Pushkin Press.

  KRISTÍN ÓMARSDÓTTIR was born in Reykjavík in 1962. Her debut work in 1987 was a play; and in the same year her first book of poetry was published. She has written novels, poems, short stories and plays, and in 2009 she won the literary prize Fjöruverðlaunin for her book of poetry Sjáðu fegurð þína. She received the “Griman”, the Icelandic prize for best playwright of the year for her play Segðu mér allt in 2005. Three of her novels have been nominated for the Íslensku bókmenntaverðlaunin prize, and one, Elskan mín ég dey (1997), was nominated for the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize. Her work has been publish
ed in Denmark, Sweden, the USA, France and the UK. She lives in Reykjavík.

  SIGBJØRN SKÅDEN (born 1976) is a Saami-Norwegian writer from Skånland in North Norway. He writes in both Saami and Norwegian and made his debut in 2004 with the poetry collection Skuovvadeddjiid gonagas (The King of Shoemakers) which was nominated for the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize. He has since published a second collection of poetry, a children’s book and two novels, in addition to numerous works written for the stage or installation art projects. He was awarded the Young Artist of the Year Award at indigenous art festival Riddu Riđđu, has been the prologue writer for the Arctic Arts Festival and a keynote speaker at the indigenous forum of the Medellín Poetry Festival, Colombia. His latest book, the novel Våke over dem som sover (Watch over Those Who Sleep), was nominated for the Norwegian Broadaster’s Listeners’ Award and received the Havmann Award for best book by a North Norwegian writer.

  SØRINES TEENHOLDT was born in 1986 and grew up in Paamiut, Greenland. She had a rather difficult childhood, which continues to influence her writing today. In 2012 she won a short-story competition that made her want to keep writing, and in 2015 her short-story collection Zombieland was published. She now lives in Nuuk with her daughter; she is engaged in many cultural projects and continues to write.

  Copyright Acknowledgements

  “Sunday” by Naja Marie Aidt (translated by Denise Newman); first published in English in Baboon by Two Lines Press, San Francisco, California, 2014, © Naja Marie Aidt, 2014; English translation © Denise Newman, 2014

  “The Dogs of Thessaloniki” by Kjell Askildsen (translated by Seán Kinsella); first appeared as “Hundene i Tessaloniki” in the collection Hundene i Tessaloniki by Kjell Askildsen, © Forlaget Oktober/Kjell Askildsen, 1996; first published in English in Selected Stories by Kjell Askildsen by Dalkey Archive Press, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, 2014, © Forlaget Oktober, 2014; English translation copyright © Seán Kinsella, 2013. Published by agreement with Oslo Literary Agency

  “The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat” by Johan Bargum (translated by Sarah Pollard); first published in the Lampeter Translation series (no. 5) by St David’s University College, Lampeter, Wales, © Johan Bargum, 1992

  “Avocado” by Guðbergur Bergsson (translated by Brian FitzGibbon); English translation first published by Pushkin Press, 2017, © Brian FitzGibbon, 2017. Published by agreement with Guðbergur Bergsson

  “Don’t kill me, I beg you. This is my tree” by Hassan Blasim (translated by Jonathan Wright); first published in English in The Guardian in March 2013; published by Pushkin Press, 2017, © Hassan Blasim, 2013, 2017

  “The Man in the Boat” by Per Olov Enquist (translated by Deborah Bragan-Turner); originally published as Mannen i båten © Per Olov Enquist, Sweden, 1969. English translation first published by Pushkin Press, 2017, © Deborah Bragan-Turner, 2017. Published by agreement with Norstedts Agency

  “1974” by Frode Grytten (translated by Diane Oatley); first appeared in Menn som ingen treng (Men No One Needs) by Frode Grytten, published by Forlaget Oktober, 2016, © Forlaget Oktober, 2016; English translation © Diane Oatley, 2016. Published by agreement with Oslo Literary Agency

  “May Your Union Be Blessed” by Carl Jóhan Jensen (translated by Kate Sanderson); first appeared in the novel Ó-: søgur um djevulskap (“Un-: Tales of Devilry”) by Carl Jóhan Jensen, published by Sprotin, 2005, © Carl Jóhan Jensen, 2005; English translation © Kate Sanderson, 2017

  “The White-Bear King Valemon” by Linda Boström Knausgaard (translated by Martin Aitken); first published as “Vitbjörn Kung Valemon” in the short-story collection Grand Mal by Linda Boström Knausgaard, © Linda Boström Knausgaard, 2011; English translation first published by Pushkin Press, 2017, © Martin Aitken, 2017. Published by agreement with Copenhagen Literary Agency ApS

  “San Francisco” by Niviaq Korneliussen (translated by Charlotte Barslund); first appeared in the short-story collection Nunatsinni – nunarsuarmilu / Ung i Grønland – ung i Verden by Niviaq Korneliussen, Miiannguaq Olsvig et. al., published by Milik Publishing, 2013; English translation by Charlotte Barslund © Milik Publishing, 2013

  “A World Apart” by Rosa Liksom (translated by David Hackston); first appeared in Väliaikainen by Rosa Liksom, published by Like Kustannus Oy, 2014. Copyright © Rosa Liksom, 2014. English translation first published by Pushkin Press, 2017, © David Hackston, 2017. Published by agreement with Hedlund Agency

  Extract from Ice by Ulla-Lena Lundberg (translated by Thomas Teal); Ice by Ulla-Lena Lundberg first published in the UK by Sort of Books, 2016, © Ulla-Lena Lundberg, 2016; English translation © Thomas Teal/Sort of Books, 2016, reproduced here by permission of Sort of Books

  “Some People Run in Shorts” by Sólrún Michelsen (translated by Marita Thomsen); first published in English in Vencil magazine, special edition, 2011, © Sólrún Michelsen, 2011; English translation © Marita Thomsen, 2011

  “The Author Himself” by Madame Nielsen (translated by Martin Aitken); originally published in Danish as “Forfatteren selv” under the name Claus Beck-Nielsen as a chapter in the novel Mine møder med de danske forfattere (“My Encounters with the Great Authors of Our Nation”), 2013, copyright © Madame Nielsen, 2013; English translation © Martin Aitken, 2014. Published by agreement with Copenhagen Literary Agency ApS

  “In a Deer Stand” by Dorthe Nors (translated by Misha Hoekstra). Copyright © Dorthe Nors, 2017. English translation first published by Pushkin Press, 2017, © Misha Hoekstra, 2017. Published by agreement with Ahlander Agency.

  “Weekend in Reykjavik” by Kristín Ómarsdóttir (translated by Jane Appleton); first published in English in Boat magazine, 2014, © Kristín Ómarsdóttir, 2014; English translation © Jane Appleton, 2014

  “Mother is Just a Word”, “Zombie” and “Dust” by Sørine Steenholdt (translated by Jane Graham); first appeared in English in the short-story collection Zombieland, published by Milik Publishing, 2015; English translation by Jane Graham, © Milik Publishing, 2015

  “Notes from a Backwoods Saami Core” by Sigbjørn Skåden (translated by the author); first appeared in English on Indigenuity, 2012, © Sigbjørn Skåden, 2012

  About the Authors

  Born in Reykjavik in 1962, SJÓN is a celebrated Icelandic novelist and poet. He won the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize (the Nordic countries’ equivalent of the Man Booker Prize) for his novel The Blue Fox, and the novel From the Mouth of the Whale was shortlisted for both the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. His novel Moonstone – The Boy Who Never Was (2013) received every major literature prize in Iceland. Sjón’s biggest work to date, the trilogy CoDex 1962, was published in its final form in autumn 2016 to great acclaim and will be published in English by Sceptre. He has published nine poetry collections, written four opera librettos and song lyrics for various artists. In 2001 he was nominated for an Oscar for his lyrics in the film Dancer in the Dark. Sjón’s novels have been published in thirty-five languages.

  TED HODGKINSON is a broadcaster, editor, critic, writer and Senior Programmer for Literature and Spoken Word at Southbank Centre, Europe’s largest arts centre. Formerly online editor at Granta magazine of new writing, his essays, interviews and reviews have appeared across a range of publications and websites, including the Times Literary Supplement, the Literary Review, the New Statesman, the Spectator, the Literary Hub and the Independent. He is a former British Council literature programmer for the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. He currently sits on the judging panel of the Royal Society of Literature Encore Award for the best second novel and the selection panel for the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Fellowship. He has previously judged the BBC National Short Story Award, the British Book Awards and the Costa Book Awards.

  SCANDINAVIAN BOOKS

  FROM PUSHKIN PRESS

  MIRROR, SHOULDER, SIGNAL

  Dorthe Nors

  Translated by Misha Hoekstra

  ‘Sonja is a thoro
ughly modern heroine… nothing at all like Bridget Jones. Comical and clever, with a knife-twist of uneasiness’

  The Times

  KARATE CHOP

  Dorthe Nors

  Translated by Martin Aitken

  ‘Beautiful, faceted, haunting stories… Dorthe Nors is fantastic!’

  Junot Díaz

  MINNA NEEDS REHEARSAL SPACE

  Dorthe Nors

  Translated by Misha Hoekstra

  ‘Darkly funny and incisive’

  FT

  MY CAT YUGOSLAVIA

  Pajtim Statovci

  Translated by David Hackston

  ‘A strange, haunting, and utterly original exploration of displacement and desire… a marvel, a remarkable achievement’

  The New York Times Book Review

  THE STOCKHOLM TRILOGY

  1. CLINCH

  2. DOWN FOR THE COUNT

  3. SLUGGER

  Martin Holmén

  Translated by Henning Koch

  ‘Ferociously noir… If Chandler and Hammett had truly walked on the wild side, it would read like Clinch’

  Val McDermid

  A WORLD GONE MAD

  The Wartime Diaries of Astrid Lindgren, 1939-45

  Translated by Sarah Death

  ‘Lindgren recounts the commotions of the grand theatres of war alongside the domestic dramas playing out in her life. Her empathy for and insight into the horrors of war is striking’