UCL SCANDINAVIAN STUDIES

Join the UCL Nordic Noir Book Club and meet fellow readers and fans of Scandinavian crime fiction in London. Meet the authors, their translators, publishers and specialists in Scandinavian languages, literature, history and culture. If you are not in London, join our blog discussion about Nordic Crime Fiction.

• Visit the Nordic Noir blog for full information about the events and take part in our discussion of Scandinavian crime fiction
• Email! If you would like to be included on the Nordic Noir email list please contact Nordic Noir.
• 'Like' us on Facebook
• Follow us @NordicNoir

Join our Book Club

Scandinavian crime fiction has had an unrivaled success in the UK over the past ten years. Authors such as the Dane Peter Høeg and the Swede Stieg Larsson are best-selling authors worldwide, and BBC has recently been running the original Swedish miniseries and a remake with Kenneth Branagh based on Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander books. Book stores such as Waterstones feature sections with “Scandinavian Chillers” testifying to the popularity and breadth of Nordic crime fiction translated for a British audience. Today, crime writers from all the Nordic countries are in translation, which is a rare occurrence in a British publishing market, where less than 5 percent of available books are translations.

The planned events will bring crime fiction lovers, UCL researchers and students in Scandinavian literature, language, film, history, mythology, politics and sociology, UK translators, publishers, authors, film makers and producers together to share their knowledge of and interest in crime fiction and Nordic cultures. We will investigate the seemingly paradoxical popularity of violent crime fiction in countries well-known for their safe and peaceful welfare states, where people, according to research, are amongst the happiest and most satisfied with their lives in the world. We shall explore what Scandinavian crime fiction has learned from the British tradition, and what makes crime fiction from the Nordic countries particularly Nordic.

Please return to this page to read about the book club we are planning for Spring 2011. More information about how to join, the programme and the books we will read will soon be available from this page.

If you would like to be included on the Nordic Noir email list please contact Nordic Noir.

NEWS

• Please email us to be added to the mailing list, to be informed of updates and other Nordic Noir news.

• Event: CABIN FEVER. As any Norwegian crime aficionado knows, all those forests, mountains and cabins make a spine-chilling backdrop to the thriller tradition. For this Nordic Noir event, Visiting Professor Ellen Rees (University of Oslo) leads us into the Norwegian woods and back to the early days of crime and horror fiction. Ellen will screen the classic Norwegian thriller The Lake of the Dead (De dødes tjern, 1958, 75 mins) and explain how the forest cabin has become a classic location for crime and horror fiction and film. We'll also hear about annual Easter crimewave in Norway. And all of this takes place over a glass or two of wine in the spookily atmospheric surroundings of the UCL Grant Museum of Zoology. Shiver. This event is free but places are limited: please register here.

• Event: BORGEN BRIEFING. Featuring Annette K. Olesen, Director of Borgen episodes 9 and 10. When the Danish drama Borgen hit British television screens last month, we asked our Twitter followers what kind of cultural background information would help them make sense of this political drama. They told us they wanted to know about Danish language, the Danish television industry, Danish coalition politics, and Danish pastries. So our Borgen Briefing will include short, fun presentations by UCL experts on Danish language and culture, and a Q&A with our very special guest from Denmark Annette K. Olsen, who directed episodes 9 and 10. We couldn’t find an expert on the cultural history of Danish pastries, so we decided we’d just serve up lots of coffee and wienerbrød on the day. Tickets are £8: please book here.

Previous events:

Read about previous events and download podcasts at the Nordic Noir Book Club on our blog

The Nordic Noir Book Club is made possible with support from a UCL Public Engagement Beacon Bursary