Хьелль Аскильдсен - The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat and Other Stories from the North

SØRINES TEENHOLDT was born in 1986 and grew up in Paamiut, Greenland. She had a rather difficult childhood, which continues to influence her writing today. In 2012 she won a short-story competition that made her want to keep writing, and in 2015 her short-story collection Zombieland was published. She now lives in Nuuk with her daughter; she is engaged in many cultural projects and continues to write.

“Sunday” by Naja Marie Aidt (translated by Denise Newman); first published in English in Baboon by Two Lines Press, San Francisco, California, 2014, © Naja Marie Aidt, 2014; English translation © Denise Newman, 2014

“The Dogs of Thessaloniki” by Kjell Askildsen (translated by Seán Kinsella); first appeared as “ Hundene i Tessaloniki ” in the collection Hundene i Tessaloniki by Kjell Askildsen, © Forlaget Oktober/Kjell Askildsen, 1996; first published in English in Selected Stories by Kjell Askildsen by Dalkey Archive Press, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, 2014, © Forlaget Oktober, 2014; English translation copyright © Seán Kinsella, 2013. Published by agreement with Oslo Literary Agency

“The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat” by Johan Bargum (translated by Sarah Pollard); first published in the Lampeter Translation series (no. 5) by St David’s University College, Lampeter, Wales, © Johan Bargum, 1992

“Avocado” by Guðbergur Bergsson (translated by Brian FitzGibbon); English translation first published by Pushkin Press, 2017, © Brian FitzGibbon, 2017. Published by agreement with Guðbergur Bergsson

“Don’t kill me, I beg you. This is my tree” by Hassan Blasim (translated by Jonathan Wright); first published in English in The Guardian in March 2013; published by Pushkin Press, 2017, © Hassan Blasim, 2013, 2017

“The Man in the Boat” by Per Olov Enquist (translated by Deborah Bragan-Turner); originally published as Mannen i båten © Per Olov Enquist, Sweden, 1969. English translation first published by Pushkin Press, 2017, © Deborah Bragan-Turner, 2017. Published by agreement with Norstedts Agency

“1974” by Frode Grytten (translated by Diane Oatley); first appeared in Menn som ingen treng (Men No One Needs) by Frode Grytten, published by Forlaget Oktober, 2016, © Forlaget Oktober, 2016; English translation © Diane Oatley, 2016. Published by agreement with Oslo Literary Agency

“May Your Union Be Blessed” by Carl Jóhan Jensen (translated by Kate Sanderson); first appeared in the novel Ó- : søgur um djevulskap (“Un-: Tales of Devilry”) by Carl Jóhan Jensen, published by Sprotin, 2005, © Carl Jóhan Jensen, 2005; English translation © Kate Sanderson, 2017

“The White-Bear King Valemon” by Linda Boström Knausgaard (translated by Martin Aitken); first published as “Vitbjörn Kung Valemon” in the short-story collection Grand Mal by Linda Boström Knausgaard, © Linda Boström Knausgaard, 2011; English translation first published by Pushkin Press, 2017, © Martin Aitken, 2017. Published by agreement with Copenhagen Literary Agency ApS

“San Francisco” by Niviaq Korneliussen (translated by Charlotte Barslund); first appeared in the short-story collection Nunatsinni – nunarsuarmilu / Ung i Grønland – ung i Verden by Niviaq Korneliussen, Miiannguaq Olsvig et. al., published by Milik Publishing, 2013; English translation by Charlotte Barslund © Milik Publishing, 2013

“A World Apart” by Rosa Liksom (translated by David Hackston); first appeared in Väliaikainen by Rosa Liksom, published by Like Kustannus Oy, 2014. Copyright © Rosa Liksom, 2014. English translation first published by Pushkin Press, 2017, © David Hackston, 2017. Published by agreement with Hedlund Agency

Extract from Ice by Ulla-Lena Lundberg (translated by Thomas Teal); Ice by Ulla-Lena Lundberg first published in the UK by Sort of Books, 2016, © Ulla-Lena Lundberg, 2016; English translation © Thomas Teal/Sort of Books, 2016, reproduced here by permission of Sort of Books

“Some People Run in Shorts” by Sólrún Michelsen (translated by Marita Thomsen); first published in English in Vencil magazine, special edition, 2011, © Sólrún Michelsen, 2011; English translation © Marita Thomsen, 2011

“The Author Himself” by Madame Nielsen (translated by Martin Aitken); originally published in Danish as “ Forfatteren selv ” under the name Claus Beck-Nielsen as a chapter in the novel Mine møder med de danske forfattere (“My Encounters with the Great Authors of Our Nation”), 2013, copyright © Madame Nielsen, 2013; English translation © Martin Aitken, 2014. Published by agreement with Copenhagen Literary Agency ApS

“In a Deer Stand” by Dorthe Nors (translated by Misha Hoekstra). Copyright © Dorthe Nors, 2017. English translation first published by Pushkin Press, 2017, © Misha Hoekstra, 2017. Published by agreement with Ahlander Agency.

“Weekend in Reykjavik” by Kristín Ómarsdóttir (translated by Jane Appleton); first published in English in Boat magazine, 2014, © Kristín Ómarsdóttir, 2014; English translation © Jane Appleton, 2014

“Mother is Just a Word”, “Zombie” and “Dust” by Sørine Steenholdt (translated by Jane Graham); first appeared in English in the short-story collection Zombieland , published by Milik Publishing, 2015; English translation by Jane Graham, © Milik Publishing, 2015

“Notes from a Backwoods Saami Core” by Sigbjørn Skåden (translated by the author); first appeared in English on Indigenuity, 2012, © Sigbjørn Skåden, 2012

Born in Reykjavik in 1962, SJÓN is a celebrated Icelandic novelist and poet. He won the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize (the Nordic countries’ equivalent of the Man Booker Prize) for his novel The Blue Fox , and the novel From the Mouth of the Whale was shortlisted for both the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. His novel Moonstone – The Boy Who Never Was (2013) received every major literature prize in Iceland. Sjón’s biggest work to date, the trilogy CoDex 1962 , was published in its final form in autumn 2016 to great acclaim and will be published in English by Sceptre. He has published nine poetry collections, written four opera librettos and song lyrics for various artists. In 2001 he was nominated for an Oscar for his lyrics in the film Dancer in the Dark. Sjón’s novels have been published in thirty-five languages.

TED HODGKINSON is a broadcaster, editor, critic, writer and Senior Programmer for Literature and Spoken Word at Southbank Centre, Europe’s largest arts centre. Formerly online editor at Granta magazine of new writing, his essays, interviews and reviews have appeared across a range of publications and websites, including the Times Literary Supplement , the Literary Review , the New Statesman , the Spectator , the Literary Hub and the Independent . He is a former British Council literature programmer for the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. He currently sits on the judging panel of the Royal Society of Literature Encore Award for the best second novel and the selection panel for the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Fellowship. He has previously judged the BBC National Short Story Award, the British Book Awards and the Costa Book Awards.

‘Sonja is a thoroughly modern heroine… nothing at all like Bridget Jones. Comical and clever, with a knife-twist of uneasiness’