Arne Dahl

Arne Dahl is the literary pseudonym of Swedish author, academic, and journalist Jan Arnald (b. 1963), which he used to sign his crime fiction books—successfully keeping his identity hidden until the sixth book in the series featuring the "A Gruppen" or "Alpha Group" of the Swedish Police. A literary critic, academic, and regular contributor to the newspaper "Dagens Nyheter," he debuted with a novel inspired by the Chios Massacre during the Greek Revolution ("Chiosmassakern," 1990). This was followed by the poetry collection "Nalkanden" (1992), his doctoral thesis on poet Artur Lundkvist, "Genrernas tyranni" (1995), the prose books "3 Variationer" (1996) and "Kla i ord" (1997), and the novels "Barbarer" (2001), "Maria och Artur" (2006), and "Intimus" (2010). However, with the crime novels "Ont blod" ("Bad Blood," 1998, Greek edition "Hatred and Blood") and "Misterioso" (1999), signed as Arne Dahl, he established himself as one of the innovators of the European noir novel, choosing a collective of police officers as protagonists instead of a cynical detective, and politically highlighting the silenced wounds of Swedish and European society. The book series featuring the "Alpha Group" also included eight other novels: "Upp till toppen av berget" (2000, Greek edition "Random Victim"), "Europa Blues" (2001, Greek edition "The Blues of Europe"), "De storsta vatten" (2002, Greek edition "Prelude to Death"), "En midsommarnattsdrom" (2003, Greek edition "A Midsummer Night's Dream"), "Dodsmassa" ("Requiem," 2004), "Morkertal" ("Hidden Numbers," 2005), "Efterskalv" ("Aftershock," 2006), "Himmelsoga" ("Eye in the Sky," 2007). Their sales reached millions of copies worldwide, earning Dahl recognition and awards (such as the Deutscher Krimi Preis, twice, in Germany, the Palle Rosenkrantz Prisen in Denmark, the Swedish Crime Writing Award, among others). They were adapted into Swedish television between 2011-12 and 2014-15, in 10 TV movies each lasting 180 minutes, which were also broadcast on the BBC. In 2011, Arne Dahl created a second series of novels featuring a new Europol unit, the "Opcop Group," which includes a Greek member: "Viskleken" (2011, Greek edition "Chinese Whispers," Best Swedish Crime Novel Award 2011), "Hela havet stormar" (2012, Greek edition "Musical Chairs"), "Blindbock" ("Blind Man's Buff," 2013), "Sista paret ut" ("Last Pair Out," 2014). In 2017, he introduced the leading duo of characters, Inspector Sam Berger and secret police officer Molly Bloom, with a rich, robust, and ambitious writing style that seems to strive to shed the mantle of crime fiction. The first book in the series, "Utmarker" (Greek edition "Seven Minus One," 2018), remained at the top of the "Spiegel" magazine's bestseller list for many weeks. His books are published in Greek by Metaichmio Editions. Jan Arnald/Arne Dahl has visited Greece several times to discuss his books, as part of the Athens World Book Capital event, the Thessaloniki International Book Fair 2018, among others.