Every year, NRK organizes its own Literature Prize, and now the six nominated novels are ready from the expert jury.
This year, the award has been given a new name. What used to be called the “P2 Listeners Fiction Award” is now called the “Listeners Fiction Award.”
A hand-picked jury of six regular readers will now read all the books. When they finish reading, the judging panel will go to the studio at NRK to discuss the open mic and fight for their favourites.
Only one novel can win the award, and the final vote will take place on NRK Radio in March 2023.
The nominated novels were selected by a specialized jury of the NRK Literature Editorial Board, and are presented here in alphabetical order.
‘Osxspiralen’ Leander Degen
In “Oskespiralen” it is about revenge, although forgiveness is also up for debate.
Two brothers are on their way home to the farm where they grew up. The father is still there, but what really happened to the mother?
Read the full letter:
“Hardanger beer a pitch black carved in stone.”
“The Princes of Ventgern” by Lars Elling
At the start of World War I, we follow two brothers on constant journeys to the Oslo countryside, where something happens that causes a permanent rift between them.
Lars Elling paints a picture of several generations and spans a large historical canvas with a movement that extends into our time.
Read the full letter:
An artistic photo of Oslo yesterday.
“The Surgeon” Ida Hegazy Hoyer
Henrik Wold is a surgeon who not only wields sharp knives but also has sharp elbows and is on his way up the hierarchy at the university hospital where he works. The higher alpha male has complete control at work and in his private life.
It can’t last. The question becomes what is dropping him, and how deep is the fall.
“Under pressure,” Marta Norheim wrote in her letter, “morale is torn like bad sewing.”
Read the full letter:
“The Ugly Fall in Beautiful Prose”
Their Own Children by Rod Marsten
The novel is set for a weekend of service on a farm in Sweden. The couple who bought the summer idyllic are divorced, but meet new girlfriends and several full and half siblings.
We are all the way to the point where biology hates social norms, Marta Norheim writes in a letter. Dugnadshelga becomes a pressure cooker where sentiment and replicas must be placed on the lid.
Read the full letter:
“A relentless and fascinating family drama”
“They Call Me Wolf” by Zeeshan Shakir
How did things go with the young people who came from Pakistan to work in Norway in the early 1970s?
In “They Call Me Wolf,” Zeeshan Shekar tells how it went with one of them. He married a Norwegian woman with roots from Northern Norway. As he nears the end of his life, he wants to go home to Lahore, and his son comes to visit him to help him mobilize.
Read the full letter:
Literary circumvention process
On Stone and Earth by Peter Strasseger
The author grew up with his grandfather, who enlisted as an SS soldier in 1942 and was there when German forces surrounded Leningrad. A 50-page “confession” written by the grandfather in his old age inspires the author to fight.
Anyway, the reading says in the novel where the narration of Peter follows the old man on the solicitation.
Marta Norheim wrote in the letter that “many of the quotes in the letter are forgivable. They become frightening when you think about what is not there.”
Read the full letter:
“A powerful novel about the frontline fighter who doesn’t want to be seen.”
The nomination criteria are that the novel must have been published in the current year, and that five years have passed since the author’s last nomination. The award is a graphic print, interview and celebration broadcast on P2.
“Infuriatingly humble web fan. Writer. Alcohol geek. Passionate explorer. Evil problem solver. Incurable zombie expert.”
