'Tis the season for Scandinavian book awards

This time of year brings with it a slew of book award announcements from all over Scandinavia. Here's the latest news from the world of Nordic literature. (Note: English translations of the original titles are given in quotation marks where no official English title exists.)

Svenska Deckarakadmin, the Swedish crime writers' organization, announced on Monday that its award for the best Swedish mystery novel of 2009 goes to Anders Roslund and Björn Hellström for their fifth book, Tre sekunder ("Three seconds").
The award for best debut (crime) novel went to Olle Lönnaeus for Det som ska sonas ("That which shall be atoned for").

On November 23, Sweden's prestigious August Prize (named for the author August Strindberg), was awarded in a gala at Stockholm's Concert Hall, where the Nobel Prizes will be given out just over a week from now. This year's August Prize winners were:

• Best fiction book: De fattiga i Lódz ("The destitutes of Lódz") by Steve Sem-Sandberg
• Best nonfiction book: Att överleva dagen ("To live through the day") by Brutus Östling and Susanne Åkesson
• Best children's or young adult book: Skriva om och om igen ("Write over and over again") by Ylva Karlsson, Katarina Kuick, Sara Lundberg, and Lilian Bäckman

Earlier this fall, the Nordic Council Literature Prize for 2009 was presented to Norwegian author Per Pettersen for his novel Jeg forbanner tidens elv, which also won the Norwegian Brage Prize for 2008. Pettersen was previously nominated for the award in 1997 for his novel Til Siberien. His 2003 release, Ut å stjæle hester was a bestseller in English under the name Out Stealing Horses.

The Nordic Council also recently released the nominations for the 2010 Literature Prize. The winner will be selected in March, and the prize will be awarded in early November 2010.

This year's Brage Prize was awarded late last month to Karl Ove Knausgård, a Norwegian author living in Malmö, Sweden, for his third novel, the largely autobiographical Min kamp. Første bok ("My struggle, Book 1"). The book is the first of six volumes, all of which are scheduled for release within the next six months.

Also released recently are the finalists for Finland's top literary award, the Finlandia Prize. The award is given in three categories: fiction, children's books, and nonfiction.