Arnaldur Indriðason (pronounced ; born 28 January 1961) is an Icelandic writer 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 ...

; his most popular series features the protagonist Detective Erlendur.

Early life

Arnaldur was born in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

on 28 January 1961, the son of writer Indriði G. Þorsteinsson. He graduated with a degree in history from the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern co ...

(Háskóli Íslands) in 1996. He worked as a journalist for the newspaper ''

Morgunblaðið ''Morgunblaðið'' (, ''The Morning Paper'') is an Icelandic daily newspaper. ''Morgunblaðið''s website, mbl.is, is the most popular website in Iceland. It is currently the country's only daily printed newspaper and the newspaper of record. Hi ...

'' from 1981 to 1982, and later as a

freelance writer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

. From 1986 to 2001, he was a film critic for ''Morgunblaðið''.

Publications

His first book, ''Sons of Earth'' (''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. , 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. Arnaldur's novels have sold over 14 million copies worldwide, in 40 languages, including

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, Russian, Polish, German,

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, Danish, Catalan, English, Portuguese,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Finnish, Spanish, Hungarian, Chinese, Croatian, Romanian, Bulgarian, French, Serbian, Slovenian and Turkish . The 2023 film '' Operation Napoleon'' is based on Indriðason's novel of the same name.

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 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. ...

Award in 2005 for his novel '' Silence of the Grave''. He won the world's most lucrative crime fiction award, the RBA Prize for Crime Writing worth €125,000, in 2013 for ''Shadow Alley'' (''Skuggasund'').Incorrectly translated as Shadow Channel by Catalan News Agency in reference.

Bibliography

Detective Erlendur series

*''Synir duftsins'' (''Sons of The Dust''), 1997Not yet translated into English *''Dauðarósir'' (''Silent Kill''), 1998 *'' Mýrin (''Jar City'')'', 2000. Trans. 2004 * ''Grafarþögn'' (''Silence of the Grave''), 2001. Trans. 2006 * ''Röddin'' (''Voices''), 2003. Trans. 2007 * ''Kleifarvatn'' (''The Draining Lake''), 2004. Trans. 2008 * ''Vetrarborgin'' (''Arctic Chill''), 2005. Trans. 2009 *''Harðskafi'' (''Hypothermia''), 2007. Trans. 2010 *''Myrká'' (''Outrage''), 2008. Trans. 2012 *''Svörtuloft'' (''Black Skies''), 2009. Trans. 2013 *''Furðustrandir'' (''Strange Shores''), 2010. Trans. 2014

Young Erlendur

*''Einvígið'' (''The Duel''), 2011 *''Reykjavíkurnætur'' (''Reykjavik Nights''), 2012. Trans. 2015 * ''Kamp Knox'' (''Oblivion''), 2014. Published in the U.S. as ''Into Oblivion'', 2016

Reykjavik Wartime Mystery series (Flovent and Thorson)

*''Skuggasund'' (''The Shadow District''), 2013. Trans. 2017 *''Þýska húsið'' (''The Shadow Killer''), 2015. Trans. 2018 *''Petsamo'', 2016.

Konráð series

*''Myrkrið veit'' (The Darkness Knows), 2017. Trans. 2021 *''Stúlkan hjá brúnni'' (The Girl by the Bridge), 2018. Trans. 2023 *''Tregasteinn'' (The Quiet Mother), 2019 *''Þagnarmúr'' (Wall of Silence), 2020 *''Kyrrþey'' (Peace), 2022 *''Sæluríkið'' (The Kingdom of Bliss), 2023

Other novels

*''Napóleonsskjölin'' (''Operation Napoleon''), 1999. Trans. 2011 *''Bettý'', 2003 *''Konungsbók'', 2006 *''Sigurverkið'', 2021

Other writings

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

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Indridason, Arnaldur 1961 births Living people Arnaldur Indridason Arnaldur Indridason Barry Award winners Icelandic mystery writers Arnaldur Indridason Arnaldur Indridason Nordic detective fiction writers Nordic Noir writers