We’re immensely proud and happy to share the news that Niels Fredrik Dahl’s novel Walking Man (original title: Fars rygg) has won the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2024, in strong competition with, among others, outstanding works by Maria Navarro Skaranger, Helle Helle, Theis Ørntoft and Kristin Eiriksdottir. Dahl is the first Norwegian winner of this prize since Jon Fosse in 2015.

Walking Man came out in Norway last autumn to rave reviews in Norwegian press. The novel is published in Denmark today, and the first reviews are very good. Rights are so far sold in Denmark (Gyldendal) and Sweden (Natur & Kultur).

“This year’s winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize has written a powerful yet subdued novel about approaching the blind spots in one’s own origins, and thus also the formation of one’s own identity. It’s a both tender and unsettling attempt to shed light on and understand the fabric of our own, singular, and fragile experiences, and the shared, almost overwhelming events in the world we all relate to. With this year’s winner, Fars rygg [Walking Man], Niels Fredrik Dahl, has delivered a deeply probing and highly unique novel about lost time and the conditions of longing.”
– From the Nordic Council Prize jury statement

See here for more information on Walking Man.

See the Nordic Council’s web site for full jury statement.

Author’s photo: Fartein Rudjord