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

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

; his most popular series features the protagonist Detective Erlendur.

Biography

Arnaldur was born in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

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, Háskóli Íslands ) 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' s ...

(Háskóli Íslands) in 1996. He worked as a journalist for the newspaper '' Morgunblaðið'' 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''. 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 ''Jar City'', also known as ''Tainted Blood'' ('' Icelandic: Mýrin'', "The Bog") (), is a crime novel by Icelandic author Arnaldur Indriðason, first published in Iceland in 2000. It was the first in the Detective Erlendur series to be transla ...

'', by Icelandic director

Baltasar Kormákur Baltasar Kormákur Baltasarsson (born 27 February 1966) is an Icelandic actor, theater and film director, and film producer. He is best known for directing the films '' 101 Reykjavík'', '' The Sea'', '' A Little Trip to Heaven'', '' Contraband ...

. Arnaldur's novels have sold over 14 million copies worldwide, in 40 languages, including

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

, Catalan,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

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

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' Places * Czech, ...

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, Hungarian,

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

, Croatian,

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

, Bulgarian, French, Serbian, Slovenian and Turkish .

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 The 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. From ...

Award in 2005 for his novel ''

Silence of the Grave ''Silence of the Grave'' (''Icelandic: Grafarþögn'') is a crime novel by Icelandic writer Arnaldur Indriðason. Set in Reykjavík, the novel forms part of the author's regionally popular Murder Mystery Series, which star . Originally published i ...

''. He won the world's most lucrative crime fiction award, the

RBA Prize for Crime Writing RBA Prize for Crime Writing (Spanish: ''Premio RBA de Novela Policiaca'') was a Spanish literary award said to be the world's most lucrative crime fiction prize at €125,000. It is funded by Barcelona-based multimedia publishing company . Winners ...

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 *''Tregasteinn'' (The Quiet Mother), 2019 *''Þagnarmúr'' (Wall of Silence), 2020 *''Kyrrþey'', 2022

Other novels

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

Other writings

* ''

Leyndardómar Reykjavíkur 2000 ''Leyndardómar Reykjavíkur 2000'' (''The Reykjavík Mysteries 2000'') is a crime novel which was written by multiple Icelandic authors, each author writing one chapter. The novel received negative reviews. The first chapter was written by Vikto ...

'' (one chapter; 2000) * ''

Reykjavík-Rotterdam ''Reykjavík-Rotterdam'' is a 2008 Icelandic film directed by Óskar Jónasson and starring Baltasar Kormákur. A Hollywood remake titled '' Contraband'' starring Mark Wahlberg was released in 2012. Plot synopsis Kristofer is working as a secur ...

'' (screenplay co-writer, 2008)

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Indridason, Arnaldur 1961 births Living people Arnaldur Indridason Arnaldur Indridason Arnaldur Indridason Barry Award winners Mystery writers Arnaldur Indridason Arnaldur Indridason