Karin Fossum (born 6 November 1954) is a Norwegian author of

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

, often referred to as the "Norwegian queen of crime".

Early life

Karin Mathisen was born on 6 November 1954 in

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Sandefjord ...

, in

Vestfold Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

county, Norway. She currently lives in

Sylling Sylling is a village in Lier municipality, in the county of Buskerud, Norway. Sylling is located 27 kilometres west of Oslo. The settlement has 707 inhabitants as of 1 January 2016. Location Sylling is located on Holsfjorden, the southeastern ...

, near

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. Fossum debuted as a

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

with ''Kanskje i morgen'', her first collection published in 1974 when she was just 20. It won

Tarjei Vesaas' debutantpris Tarjei Vesaas's debutantpris is a prize awarded annually for the best first literary work in Norwegian language, Norwegian. It is awarded by the Norwegian Authors' Union, and the organisation's 9-member Literary Caucus constitutes the jury for t ...

. For a time she worked in hospitals, and nursing homes and assisted with the rehabilitation of drug addicts.

Writing career

Fossum began her literary career as a

. She is the author of the internationally successful Inspector Konrad Sejer series of crime novels, which have been translated into 25 languages and honoured with several awards.''Karin Fossum'' (Couch Medien GmbH & Co. KG.)
/ref> She won the

Glass Key award The Glass Key award (, , , , ) is a literature award given annually to a crime novel by an author from the Nordic countries. The award, named after the novel The Glass Key by American crime writer Dashiell Hammett, is a real glass key given every ...

for her novel ''Don't Look Back'', which also won the

Riverton Prize The Riverton Prize () is a literature award given annually to the best work of Norwegian crime fiction (novel, short story, play, original screenplay). The prize is named after the Norwegian journalist and author Sven Elvestad (1884-1934) who pub ...

, and she was shortlisted for the

Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors' organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its "Dagger" awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. ...

Gold Dagger The CWA Gold Dagger is an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association of the United Kingdom since 1960 for the best crime novel of the year. From 1955 to 1959, the organization named their top honor as the Crossed Red Herring Award. ...

in 2005 for ''Calling Out For You''. La ragazza del lago, internationally released as

The Girl by the Lake ''La ragazza del lago'', internationally released as ''The Girl by the Lake'', is a 2007 Italian thriller film directed by Andrea Molaioli, in his directorial debut. It is based on a novel written by Karin Fossum. Plot A young girl called Mart ...

, is a 2007 Italian thriller-drama film directed by Andrea Molaioli, in his directorial debut. It is based on the 1996 novel '' Don't Look Back'' (''Se deg ikke tilbake!'').

Bibliography

Inspector Sejer Series

(also featuring Inspector Jakob Skarre): # 1995 - ''Eva's Eye'' / ''In the Darkness'' (''Evas øye''); English translation 2012 # 1996 - '' Don't Look Back'' (''Se deg ikke tilbake!''); English translation 2002 # 1997 - '' He Who Fears the Wolf'' (''Den som frykter ulven''); English translation 2003 # 1998 - '' When the Devil Holds the Candle'' (''Djevelen holder lyset''); English translation 2004 # 2000 - '' Calling Out For You'' (''Elskede Poona''); English translation: 2005; American translation: '' The Indian Bride'', 2007 # 2002 - '' Black Seconds'' (''Svarte sekunder''); English translation 2007 # 2004 - '' The Murder of Harriet Krohn'' (''Drapet på Harriet Krohn''); English translation 2014 # 2007 - '' The Water's Edge'' (''Den som elsker noe annet''); English translation 2009 # 2008 - ''Bad Intentions'' (''Den onde viljen''); English translation 2010 # 2009 - '' The Caller'' (''Varsleren''); English translation 2011 # 2013 - ''The Drowned Boy (Carmen Zita og døden)''; English translation 2015 # 2014 - ''Hell Fire'' (''Helvetesilden''); English translation 2016 # 2016 - ''The Whisperer'' (''Hviskeren''); English translation The character of Sejer appeared in a series of Norwegian TV adaptations starring

Bjørn Sundquist Bjørn Richard Sundquist (born 16 June 1948) is a Norwegian actor, famous for TV, theatre, and movie roles. For many years he worked at Det Norske Teatret and Nationaltheateret in Oslo. Sundquist is especially famous for the roles as Merlin ...

in the role, with Christian Skolmen as Sejer's partner Jacob Skarre.

Other writings

*1974 - ''Kanskje i morgen'' – poetry *1978 - ''Med ansiktet i skyggen'' – poetry *1992 - ''I et annet lys'' - short stories *1994 - ''Søylen'' - short stories *1999 - ''De gales hus'' - novel *2002 - ''Jonas Eckel'' - novel *2003 - ''The Night of November 4th'' (''Natt til fjerde november''); *2006 - '' Broken'' (''Brudd''); English translation 2008 *2011 - ''Jeg kan se i mørket'' (English translation 2013 ''I Can See in the Dark'') *2012 - ''Natten er et annet land'' - poetry (''The Night is Another Land'')

Awards

1974, for ''Kanskje i morgen'' * Rivertonprisen 1996, for ''Se deg ikke tilbake'' *

1997, for ''Se deg ikke tilbake'' * Bokhandlerprisen 1997, for ''Den som frykter ulven'' *

Brage Prize The Brage Prize (Norwegian: ''Brageprisen'') is a Norwegian literature prize that is awarded annually by the Norwegian Book Prize foundation (''Den norske bokprisen''). The prize recognizes recently published Norwegian literature. The Brage Pr ...

2000, for ''Elskede Poona'' *

Martin Beck Award The Best Crime Novel in Swedish Translation is an award given by the Swedish Crime Writers' Academy (''Svenska Deckarakademin'') for the best crime novel in translation . It is one of the most prestigious international crime-writing awards. It was ...

2002, for ''Svarte sekunder'' *

Cappelen Prize The Cappelen Prize () is a Norwegian literary award that was established in 1979 by J.W. Cappelens Forlag, one of the oldest publishing houses of Norway, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the publishing house. It has not been awarded aft ...

2003 * The Gumshoe Awards for best European crime novel 2007, for ''Når djevelen holder lyset'' (translated as: When the Devil Holds the Candle") *

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize currently has nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), his ...

in the category Mystery/Thriller for 2007 published in 2008, for ''Elskede Poona'' (translated as: "The Indian Bride")

References

External links

NRK: Karin Fossum Cappelen Damm: Karin Fossum

Harcourt Books: Karin Fossum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fossum, Karin 1954 births Living people Norwegian crime fiction writers People from Sandefjord People from Lier, Norway Nordic detective fiction writers Nordic Noir writers Norwegian women novelists Norwegian women poets Women mystery writers 20th-century Norwegian poets 21st-century Norwegian poets 20th-century Norwegian women writers 21st-century Norwegian women writers