Lilja Sigurðardóttir (born 1972 in the town of

Akranes Akranes () is a port town and municipality on the west coast of Iceland, around north of the capital Reykjavík. The area where Akranes is located was settled in the 9th century; however, it did not receive a municipal charter until 1942. His ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

) is an Icelandic writer of crime fiction, a playwright and a scriptwriter. She was raised in Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. She became a student at MH secondary school, trained as a secretary in England and later finished a BA degree in pedagogy and education at

Háskóli Íslands 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 com ...

, 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 ...

. She has worked as an expert in the field of education and written and edited professional material for preschools.

Books

Lilja has written nine crime novels that mostly take place 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 ...

. Seven of them have been translated into English. Her first book, the crime fiction story ''Steps'', was published in 2009 and well received; a year later came the next novel ''Forgiveness''. After a break of several years, she returned in 2015 with ''Snare'', the first in a new series, a trilogy called Reykjavik Noir. ''Snare'' introduced Sonja, a young mother who resorts to smuggling cocaine into Iceland, as she struggles to keep custody of her son, with devastating results. Sonja's relationship with her lover Agla adds to the difficulty of her situation. The setting was influenced by the

Icelandic financial crisis Icelandic refers to anything of, from, or related to Iceland and may refer to: *Icelandic people *Icelandic language *Icelandic orthography *Icelandic cuisine See also * Icelander (disambiguation) * Icelandic Airlines, a predecessor of Icelandai ...

. Lilja presented the book both in Iceland and abroad, and it was her English debut. The novel was shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger, a prestigious award from the British Crime Writers' Association, and was hitting bestseller lists worldwide. New York journal of books considered it to be ‘thriller of the year’. ''Trap'', book number two, follows Sonja as her son is kidnapped by her ruthless ex-husband, and she is thrust back into the world of cocaine smuggling. This time she has a plan of her own how to deal with the criminal underworld. ''Cage'' culminates in the financial and criminal worlds battles for Sonja and Agla. The final instalment in the trilogy was highly praised, was

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

's Book of the Year, and a winner of the ''

Blóðdropinn Blóðdropinn (''Drop of Blood'') is an annual Icelandic literary award for the best crime novel of the previous year, which has been awarded since 2007. The author of the winning novel becomes Iceland's candidate for the Glass Key award The Glass ...

'' (''Drop of Blood'') for the Best Icelandic Crime Novel of the Year 2018. Lilja's next book ''Betrayal'', a powerful, relevant, fast-paced standalone thriller, won ''

'' in 2019. It told a story of the aid worker Úrsula returning to Iceland for a new job in the government, and becoming drawn into the dangerous worlds of politics, corruption and misogyny. ''Cold as Hell'' is the latest translation in English and the first book in a new trilogy ''Áróra Investigation'', featuring financial investigator Áróra and police detective Daníel. Lilja's political and suspense thrillers are written in understated but punchy style, with short fast-paced chapters and intricate twisty plots. Often but not always they include LGBTQ themes, frequently looking at Icelandic society from the outsider's perspective. Lilja has deep empathy for her memorable characters, as she takes on various social issues, and classic Icelandic themes to combine them with modern outlook, in the society evolving post financial crisis 2008. The books were well received by readers and have now been translated and published in many countries. The rights to her books have been sold to France/ Switzerland/ Luxembourg/ Canada (Éditions Métailié); Norway (

Cappelen Damm Cappelen Damm AS is a Norwegian publisher established in 2007. The company is Norway's largest publishing company, publishing fiction and non-fiction works, including academic literature. It resulted from the merger of J.W. Cappelens Forlag, fou ...

); Czech Republic (LEDA); Denmark ( People´s Press), Poland (Wydawnictwo Kobiece); Armenia (Guitank); Macedonia (Bata Press); Sweden (Bigarrábok); Romania (Crime Scene Press); World Arabic (Al Arabi); Germany ( DuMont) and World English ( Orenda Books). Translators from Icelandic into the many languages include: Ursula Giger, Angela Schamberger, Anika Wolff, Tina Flecken (German), Quentin Bates (English), Jean-Christophe Salaün (French), Tone Myklebost (Norwegian), Lucie Korecká (Czech), Aya Ashraf (Arabic), Nanna Kalkar (Danish), Sara Lindberg Gombrii (Swedish), Jacek Godek (Polish) and Liviu Szoke (Romanian).

Other work

Lilja attends various international literary and crime fiction festivals, such as

Edinburgh International Book Festival The Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) is a book festival that takes place during two weeks in August every year in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. Described as ''The largest festival of its kind in the world'', the festival hosts ...

, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Bloody Scotland, CrimeFest, Quais du Polar, Krimimessen, Geneva Book Fair. For six years she was one of the organisers of IcelandNoir festival in Reykjavik.

Film rights Film rights are rights under copyright law to produce a film as a derivative work of a given item of intellectual property. In US law, these rights belong to the holder of the copyright, who may sell (or " option") them to someone in the film indus ...

to the ''Reykjavík Noir'' trilogy (''Snare'', ''Trap'' and ''Cage'') have been sold to 66 Degrees North / Palomar Pictures International, based in California, US. The production is scheduled for 2022. As a screenwriter Lilja worked with

Baltasar Kormákur Baltasar Kormákur Baltasarsson is an Icelandic actor, theatre and film director, and film producer. He is best known for directing the films '' 101 Reykjavík'', '' The Sea'', '' A Little Trip to Heaven'', ''Contraband'', '' 2 Guns'', ''Eve ...

on the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

science fiction / supernatural TV series Katla. She wrote episode 2, titled Ása, and has storyline credit for 5 episodes of the series. ''Katla'' had a worldwide premiere on 17 June 2021. Lilja lives by lake

Elliðavatn Elliðavatn (, "Elliði's lake") is a lake in Iceland. It is situated in the area of Reykjavík. Not far from it, there is the well known natural park Heiðmörk with its hiking and biking trails, small forests and lava formations. The eastern ...

with her partner and a dog on the outskirts of the Icelandic capital

but spends a considerable amount of time in Scotland.

Bibliography

* ''Steps'' (Spor) 2009 Bjartur Publishing * ''Forgiveness'' (Fyrirgefning) 2010 Bjartur Publishing * ''Big Babies'' (Stóru börnin), stage play 2013. Produced by Lab Loki theatre company 2013-2014 in Tjarnarbíó theatre * ''Snare'' (Gildran) 2015 Forlagid (Reykjavík Noir Trilogy 1) * ''Trap'' (Netið) 2016 Forlagid (Reykjavík Noir Trilogy 2) * ''Cage'' (Búrið) 2017 Forlagid (Reykjavík Noir Trilogy 3) * ''Betrayal'' (Svik) 2018 Forlagid * ''Cold as Hell'' (Helköld sól) 2019 Forlagid (Áróra Investigation 1) * ''Red as Blood'' (Blóðrauður sjór) 2020 Forlagid (Áróra Investigation 2) * ''White as Snow'' (Náhvít jörð) 2021 Forlagid (Áróra Investigation 3)

References

External links

* * *https://www.islit.is/en/authors/lilja-sigurdardottir *http://www.liljawriter.com/ *https://www.forlagid.is/hofundar/lilja-sigurdardottir/ *https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11049147/ at

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sigurdardottir, Lilja Living people

Lilja Sigurdardottir Lilja Sigurðardóttir (born 1972 in the town of Akranes, Iceland) is an Icelandic writer of crime fiction, a playwright and a scriptwriter. She was raised in Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. She became a student at MH secondary school, train ...

1972 births