Arnaldur Indridason wins the 7th RBA Crime Novel Award for the forthcoming ‘Shadow Channel’

Barcelona (ACN).- This Thursday, Barcelona-based publisher RBA announced that Icelandic crime author Arnaldur Indridason has won the 7^th edition of the RBA’s Crime Novel Prize for his forthcoming book ‘Shadow Channel’ (‘Skuggasund’ in Icelandic). The head of the panel that awarded the distinguished writer the prize, Lorenzo Silva, stated how the book “perfectly represents” the distinctive style of the author. “He has a great capacity for constructing precise details of the plot” he continued. Indridason already has six books published with the RBA, the most famous of which is ‘Jar City’, which was later made into a film. ‘Shadow Channel’ begins with the mysterious murder of an old man in the Icelandic capital, and then goes back in time to a series of crimes committed in 1944. The reader follows the progress of two alternate investigations which become increasingly linked. The Icelandic writer is one of the most prominent authors of crime fiction his novels have been translated into 21 languages with the majority featuring main protagonist Detective Erlendur Sveinsson. Indridason joins a list of high-profile authors who have also won the Crime Novel RBA Prize including: Michael Connelly, Patricia Cornwell, Harlan Coben, Philip Kerr and Andrea Camilleri. The author receives €125,000 in prize money for winning the award.

Indridason expressed his gratitude to the jury and said how he values the prize considering the novel is written in Icelandic, of which there are “only 300,000 speakers” in the world. He noted how the award proves that writers from small countries may have plenty to say to readers from “countries with millions of people” and that him winning the prize is an example of the “open minded Spanish culture”.

Asked about the recent worldwide success of Scandinavian crime fiction, the writer explained how Nordic novels tend to be “stories of ordinary people who are in unusual circumstances”. It is also because of the “social realism” that exists within the genre, “the stories take place in a given society and with real life situations of where they occur”, Indridason revealed.

The head of the panel that decided the winner, Lorenzo Silva, stated how the novel shows an “interesting reflection” for Icelandic society. It also explores how all cultures unique cultures are affected by the “strangeness that is the global phenomenon of globalisation”.

The author has achieved extraordinary sales figures in Europe – particularly France – and the Unites States. He is not only devoted to literature but also a journalist, historian and film critic. He was born in Reykjavik and for 20 years worked in Iceland’s largest newspaper, Morganbladid. His popularity has been thanks to the series of books involving Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson and his assistant, Sigurdur Oli.