Noir Hear This

Stieg Larsson was one of the biggest selling Nordic Noir writers with his Millennium series  -The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest. So what happened when Larson died?

Bordertown is one the most successful Finnish crime TV series to date. It’s set on the sensitive border between Finland and Russia. We meet its creator Miikko Oikkonen. Antti Tuomainen is part of the new wave of Finnish Nordic Noir writers. His dexterity with  language and  unusual subject matters have brought him an international cult following. Kati Hiekkapelto is a singer in  the Finnish punk band  Parrakas nainen (The Bearded Woman). She lives on an isolated island in the Baltic Sea. From there she writes about Detective Fekete, an immigrant from the former Yugoslavia. 

Returning to Sweden with Hans Rosenfeldt, the writer and creator of the Nordic Noir classic TV series The Bridge.  And best selling author, Christoffer Carlsson discusses how his work as a criminologist has influenced his writing.

Bestselling Danish novelist, Jussi Adler-Olsen reveals his formula for creating a book impossible to put down. His unusual childhood, growing up with his psychiatrist father in various mental institutions, gave him fodder for his books. 

We take the temperature on Finland and Iceland. Why does Scandinavia’s smallest country, Iceland, contain the most crime writers per capita in the world? And why does Finland have more murders than any other Nordic country?

We travel beyong the fjords and ice capped mountains to meet Gunnar Staalesen, part of the first wave of Norwegian crime writers; Jermund Eriksen, writer of the Norwegian hit TV program Mammon and Frode Sander Øien (aka writer Samuel Bjork ) who explains the dark forces beneath the picture perfect Norwegian landscape. 

We travel to Denmark and investigate the success behind Danish Nordic Noir Television. We meet Jeppe Gjervig Gram, co-creator of Borgen. Sara Blaedel, considered  the queen of Danish crime writing, shares her love for Agatha Christie. We also talk with Professor Anne Marit Waade about the history and aesthetics of Nordic Noir.

We begin in Sweden with the writers Sjöwall Wahloo, the duo considered to be the inventors of the Nordic Noir genre.We meet crime writer, criminologist and expert on Sjöwall Wahloo, Christoffer Carlsson; top selling Swedish author, Jens Lapidus, on the gang wars of Stockholm and Professor Beverley Allen dissects the differences in Nordic Noir style between the Scandinavian countries

Noir Hear This is a new eight part podcast about Nordic Noir.  Johan Gabrielsson talks to Scandinavian writers, critics and thinkers about the psyche and craft behind this successful crime fiction genre.  Episode 1 drops March 28th