Arnaldur Indriðason

Arnaldur Indriðason (pronounced [ˈartnaltʏr ˈɪntrɪðasɔn]; born 1961) is an Icelandic writer of crime fiction; most of his books feature the protagonist Detective Erlendur.

Biography

Arnaldur was born in Reykjavík on 28 January 1961, the son of writer Indriði G. Þorsteinsson. He graduated with a degree in history from the University of Iceland (Háskóli Íslands) in 1996. He worked as a journalist for the newspaper Morgunblaðið from 1981 to 1982, and later as a freelance writer. From 1986 to 2001, he was a film critic for Morgunblaðið.

His first book, Sons of Dust (Synir duftsins) came out in 1997, the first in the series with Detective Erlendur. The first two novels in the series have not yet been translated into English.^[1] As of 2013, the series included 14 novels. Arnaldur is considered one of the most popular writers in Iceland in recent years — topping bestseller lists time and again. In 2004, his books were 7 of the 10 most popular titles borrowed in Reykjavík City Library. In 2006, his Erlendur novel Mýrin was made into a film, known internationally as Jar City, by Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur.^[2]

Arnaldur's books have been published in 26 countries and translated into at least 24 languages, including Russian, Polish, German, Greek, Danish, Catalan, English, Portuguese, Italian, Czech, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Finnish, Spanish, Hungarian, Chinese, Croatian, Romanian, Bulgarian, French, Serbian, Slovenian, Turkish and Arabic.

Awards

Arnaldur received the Glass Key award, a literature prize for the best Nordic crime novel, in 2002 and 2003. He won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award in 2005 for his novel Silence of the Grave. He won the world's most lucrative crime fiction award, the RBA International Prize for Crime Writing worth €125,000, in 2013 for Shadow Alley (Skuggasund).^{[3][note 1]}

Bibliography

Detective Erlendur series

• Synir duftsins (Sons of Dust), 1997^{[note 2]}
• Dauðarósir (Roses of Death), 1998^{[note 3]}
• Mýrin (Jar City), 2000
• Grafarþögn (Silence of the Grave), 2001
• Röddin (Voices), 2003
• Kleifarvatn (The Draining Lake), 2004^[4]
• Vetrarborgin (Arctic Chill), 2005^[5]
• Harðskafi (Hypothermia), 2007
• Myrká (Outrage), 2008
• Svörtuloft (Black Skies), 2009
• Furðustrandir (Strange Shores), 2010
• Einvígið (The Duel), 2011
• Reykjavíkurnætur, (Reykjavik Nights), 2012
• Kamp Knox (Oblivion; published in the U.S. as Into Oblivion), 2014

Other novels

• Napóleonsskjölin (Operation Napoleon, 1999)
• Bettý (2003)
• Konungsbók (The King's Book, 2006)
• Skuggasund (The Shadow District), 2013
• Þýska húsið, 2015

Other writings

• Leyndardómar Reykjavíkur 2000 (one chapter; 2000)
• Reykjavík-Rotterdam (screenplay co-writer, 2008)

References

Notes