Winner of the Riksmål Prize 2017

A Peculiar Tool consists of fifty stories with an astonishing stylistic and thematic diversity. Some are set in the mundanity of Norwegian daily life, some in Eastern European landscapes or American cities, others again take place in dreamlike or transient places. Many of the stories describe lives both trivial and brutal, familiar and strange, and with stubborn – almost reluctant – traces of violence and war, or idyllic situations that are strangely terrifying.

Burkey’s unusual, urgent stories ask fundamental questions, leading us to unexpected places, both in the world and in the mind, where the fantastic and the realistic is connected in surprising ways.

Praise for A Peculiar Tool:

“Burkey is an inventive, knowledgeable, hyper-perceptive writer with a striking originality, both in content and form. Not only is she an obvious winner of the Riksmål Prize, she is an author on Nobel Prize level”
From the Riksmål Prize jury statement

“Written with devil-may-care, joyful prose … the writing glows … The descriptions of seemingly trapped conditions, like poverty, depression or a meaningless war, are so original and precise that they really make me believe in language. Reading these stories can feel energizing, sometimes downright inspiring. Why is language so important, isn’t the state of the world more important? The point must be that Burkey is not affected by contradictions of this kind. Instead she reminds us that it’s not the world that depends on language, it’s us – in order to be able to understand the world. When you add that the world today looks ever more chaotic and polarized, this is a reminder we shouldn’t shrug off”
Morgenbladet

“Fascinating display of imagination. Ambitious texts that spread out, uncontrolled and in all directions through space and time … Bright, probing, not at all crooner-like… A Peculiar Tool is definitely more original and less fawning than traditional bestseller literature … whirling leaps of prose, grinning puns, religious and philosophical musings, sudden time jumps, constantly changing perspectives, plenty of allusions and a five page long text in English show that Ingvild Burkey wants to be something more than an acclaimed poet. The vital prose of this year’s book testifies to a highly sensitive and conscious writer who doesn’t aim to please everyone.
5/6 Stavanger Aftenblad

“Shows the power of literature … Brilliant prose … The book demands a lot of the reader, but the reward is great. The writing is rich and precise, searching, impelling and hypnotic. I am tempted to quote a lot … a deeply serious and very gifted writer, who has a lot to say … Burkey shows the power of literature, and she does it on a micro-level, with brilliant prose”
5/6 stars Dagbladet