2026 Petrona Award Shortlist

 

Outstanding crime fiction from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden shortlisted for the 2026 Petrona Award

Seven impressive crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have been shortlisted for the 2026 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. The shortlist is announced today, Thursday 24 September and is as follows:

Snæbjörn Arngrímsson - One True Word tr. Larissa Kyzer (Pushkin Vertigo, Iceland)

Stella Blómkvist - Murder Tide tr. Quentin Bates (Corylus Books, Iceland)

Jón Atli Jónasson - Broken tr. Quentin Bates (Corylus Books, Iceland)

Ørjan N Karlsson - Into Thin Air tr. Ian Giles (Orenda Books, Norway)

John Ajvide Lindqvist - The Writing in the Water tr. Michael Meigs (Amazon Crossing, Sweden)

Satu Rämö - The Grave in the Ice tr. Kristian London (Zaffre, Finland)

Antti Tuomainen - The Winter Job tr. David Hackston (Orenda Books, Finland)

The winning title will be announced on 22 October 2026.

The Petrona Award is open to crime fiction in translation, either written by a Scandinavian author or set in Scandinavia, and published in the UK in the previous calendar year.

The judges’ comments on the shortlist:

There were 28 entries for the 2026 Petrona Award from six countries (Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). This year’s shortlist sees Iceland represented with three novels, Finland with two, and Norway and Sweden with one novel each. The judges selected the shortlist from a strong pool of candidates with the seven shortlisted authors including two previous Petrona Award winners: Satu Rämö and Antti Tuomainen.

Independent publishers Corylus Books and Orenda Books both have two entries on the shortlist with Corylus’s both being translated by Quentin Bates. Amazon Crossing, Pushkin Vertigo and Zaffre have one entry apiece.

For Snæbjörn Arngrímsso, Jón Atli Jónasson and Ørjan N Karlsson, this is their first novel in English translation and for John Ajvide Lindqvist this is his first crime novel in translation.

The sub-genres of the shortlisted novels range from comedy to noir with the police procedural being particularly well represented this year.

As ever, we are extremely grateful to the translators whose expertise and skill have allowed readers to access these outstanding examples of Scandinavian crime fiction, and to the publishers who continue to champion and support translated fiction.

Further information can be found on the Petrona Award website: http://www.petronaaward.co.uk.

Petrona Award 2026 - Longlist

 

Outstanding crime fiction from Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden longlisted for the 2026 petrona award

Twelve crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have made the longlist for the 2026 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.

They are:

One True Word by Snæbjörn Arngrímsson - tr. Larissa Kyzer (Pushkin Vertigo, Iceland)

Murder Tide by Stella Blómkvist tr. Quentin Bates (Corylus Books, Iceland)

Broken by Jón Atli Jónasson - tr. Quentin Bates (Corylus Books, Iceland)

Into Thin Air by Ørjan N Karlsson - tr. Ian Giles (Orenda Books, Norway)

The Writing in the Water by John Ajvide Lindqvist - tr. Michael Meigs (Amazon Crossing, Sweden)

Wolf Hour by Jo Nesbø - tr. Robert Ferguson (Harvill Secker, Norway)

The Heirs of the Arctic by Aslak Nore - tr. Sean Kinsella (MacLehose Press, Norway)

The Grave in the Ice by Satu Rämö - tr. Kristian London (Zaffre, Finland)

Black as Death by Lilja Sigurðardóttir - tr. Lorenza Garcia (Orenda Books, Iceland)

The Wake by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir - tr. Victoria Cribb (Hodder & Stoughton, Iceland)

The Girl with Ice in her Veins by Karin Smirnoff - tr. Sarah Death (MacLehose Press , Sweden)

The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen - tr. David Hackston (Orenda Books, Finland)

The longlist contains a mix of newer and more established authors including previous Petrona Award winners Satu Rämö, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Antti Tuomainen.

Both large and small publishers are represented on the longlist, with Orenda Books having three entries and Corylus Books and MacLehose Press having two apiece. Both longlisted entries by Corylus Books have been translated by Quentin Bates.

The breakdown by country is Iceland (5), Norway (3), Finland (2) and Sweden (2).

The shortlist will be announced on 24 September 2026.

The Petrona Award 2026 judging panel comprises Jackie Farrant, the creator of RAVEN CRIME READS and a bookseller for a major book chain in the UK, Ewa Sherman, translator and writer, and blogger at NORDIC LIGHTHOUSE, and Sonja van der Westhuizen, a book critic for print and online publications in the UK and South Africa, as well as a blogger at WEST WORDS REVIEWS. 

The Award administrator is Karen Meek, owner of the EURO CRIME blog and website.

Forthcoming Books from Pushkin Press

January 2025

A Japanese mystery horror bestseller, revolving around a series of creepy drawings, in which the reader is the detective - from the Youtube sensation Uketsu. A series of drawings by a pregnant woman conceal a chilling warning. A child's picture of his home contains within it a dark secret message. A sketch made by a murder victim in his final moments leads an amateur sleuth into a terrifying investigation. Can you find the hidden clues in these strange pictures and discover what connects them all? When you do, a sinister truth will be revealed.

February 2025

One True Word is by Snæbjörn Arngrímsson. Why did she do it? After a day of simmering tension on a trip to an uninhabited island, Júlia snaps and leaves her husband Gíó marooned in the middle of a freezing fjord in the depths of the Icelandic winter, with night drawing in. When she regrets her decision and returns, he is nowhere to be found. The police launch a manhunt, but soon their suspicion falls on his wife. She spins them a story to hide her involvement, but she can feel the net closing in. Is Gíó alive or dead? In hiding or hunting her down? And can Júlia get to the truth before it destroys her?

Everyone is talking about it: a serial killer is on the loose. Women are being slain across the countryside surrounding the isolated Warren mansion where Helen has taken up a domestic position. And each murder is closer to the house than the last... When the body of a local girl is discovered in the nearby village, Professor Warren orders the mansion be locked up overnight for the residents' safety. But as a storm rages outside and tensions mount within the home. Helen begins to wonder whether the murderer isn't already inside, stalking his next victim... The Spiral Staircase is by Ethel Lina White.

March 2025

DCI Alison McCoist is back: newly promoted and even less popular. Chuck Gardner is the proud owner of both a confidential paper-shredding business and a serious betting habit. When Chuck finds some scandalous paperwork and McCoist investigates a rat-nibbled corpse under a flyover, they are both sucked into a deadly stramash of gangland wars and police corruption. Can Chuck solve his gambling and gangster problems before some heed-banger feeds him into his own shredder? And can McCoist claw herself out of this latest shitemire without her own shady dealings coming to light? It might depend on how far she's prepared to go.. Paperboy is by Calum McSorley

May 2025

Murder in the House of Omari is by Taku Ashibe. Osaka, 1943: as the Second World War rages and American bombers rain death down upon the city, the once prosperous Omari family is already in decline, financially ruined by the terrible conflict. Then the household is struck by a series of gruesome murders. Can anyone solve the mystery of these baffling slayings before the Omari line is extinguished entirely? To do so, and unravel the killer's fiendish plot, they will have to delve into the family's past, where a dark and deadly secret has been festering for decades.