SHORTLISTED FOR THE TARJEI VESAAS FIRST BOOK AWARD 2015

The walks home from school, they’re stuck to my brain like could it have been yesterday. Every day it was the same thing. Mom said he would get me and my other brother protested, always, but still he came to my school, said hello to the grown-ups and took me home. I walked behind him, him in front, and before us Røverkollen lay there like the most peaceful housing co-op, with a blue sky and still with Christmas decorations blinking like a disco globe in the tallest building because the chinks hadn’t taken down yet. Once my other brother pointed at the windows on the third floor outside Julia’s building and was like: look, all the foreigners have their curtains closed.

Everyone who lives in Romsås, is really from somewhere else. Mariana attends lower secondary school and is in love with Mu2. Her big brother is in jail, her little brother sits behind the curtains. Their father takes out a green Bible and prays when he thinks nobody can see him.

All the Foreigners Have Their Curtains Closed is direct, funny and genuine – a powerful literary debut. The book won the newly established Debut Prize 2015

PRAISE FOR ALL THE FOREIGNERS HAVE THEIR CURTAINS CLOSED:

‘A new, important voice. She is only 20, but you should take first-time author Maria Navarro Skaranger seriously. All the Foreigners Have Their Curtains Closed is a debut that bears witness to a talent with something important on her mind… Skaranger’s debut novel also has the potential to attract attention and not least to captivate young readers. This is well deserved. Her debut is fearless, original and a feast to read… Skaranger’s debut may be an important foot in the door for more books with a multicultural protagonist.’
VG

‘It is with humour and precision that Maria Navarro Skaranger explores how language and culture is being shaken up… stretching the limits of what has become known as “kebab Norwegian”. The book is harsh, loving and merciless in its portrayal of how Mariana perceives the world… The main characters are unusually complex considering that this is a short debut novel. The novel explores Mariana’s world using a language that seems strange and unique… The effect of this is a rare experience of authenticity… On reaching the final pages, I didn’t want it to end. I want to know more about pretty much everything that Maria Navarro Skaranger touches upon in her debut novel.’
KLASSEKAMPEN

‘This heart-wrenchingly funny novel set in Groruddalen looks the present day right in the eye… Young people in literature often represent a new era. Sometimes this also happens using a new language. Maria Navarro Skaranger (20) from Romsås may give post-war authors such as Roy Jacobsen (Årvoll), Per Petterson (Veitvet) and Jan Kjærstad (Grorud) a run for their money… describes today’s melting pot using funny and up-to-date borough dialect… yet what is most striking is how familiar these teenage years are. The energy reminds me of innovative, international coming-of-age novels such as Monika Fagerholm’s Diva (1998) and Justin Torres’ We the Animals (2013)… Hats off for an author full of go.’
DAGENS NÆRINGSLIV

‘A coming-of-age novel unlike any other… Maria Navarro Skaranger’s debut is a novel about a reality that we never really hear about in contemporary Norwegian literature… after a while you are captivated by the choppy rhythm, the distinctive style and humour that quite often lies in wait… Contemporary Norwegian literature is full of stories about the academic middle class, who make up a tiny proportion of real Norwegian society. Anyone who wants to know more about the society we live in should take a look at this novel.’
AFTENPOSTEN

‘In her debut novel, 20-year-old Skaranger manages to take “kebab Norwegian” from a spoken phenomenon to a form of expression that deserves to be taken seriously… This makes her an author worth keeping an eye on.’
NATT & DAG

‘Man, what language!… a fresh and charming report from a lower secondary school environment in Romsås, a borough that is far from dominating in coming-of-age literature… Romsås doesn’t seem half as impenetrable after this. Maria Navarro Skaranger has written a wonderful debut novel, and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.’
NRK P2

‘As a depiction of multiculturalism among young people, this has the potential to become a classic […] Not least from a language point of view, this is a good and fun literary approach to the subject of growing up in a Norwegian suburb […] highlights of the novel include how the young people are portrayed as a far from homogenous group; they all have their own assumptions and expectations of a chaos or melting pot for which the foremost common expression is perhaps this blended language. As a whole, this is a book that is liable to attract attention’
HAMAR ARBEIDERBLAD

‘A stylistic jewel that uses its own unique language […] The language is what makes the book special. As shown by the quote, it is grammatically impossible. It creates an orality that seems vivid, real and naïve yet mature when somewhat harrowing episodes are communicated as a matter of course. It is so elegantly done, with a rhythm and musicality that is impressive. So impressive that Maria Navarro Skaranger ought to be raised up as a literary genius’
DAGBLADET

‘The depiction of the youth environment in Romsås is packaged in an audacious sociolect that makes Maria Navarro Skaranger’s novel fizzle […] This is innovative; I have never read anything like it, and it is also exciting to obtain an insight into the Romsås environment and see how young people navigate effortlessly between different cultures’
VÅRT LAND

‘One of the funniest stories you’ll read for a long time […] All the Foreigners Have Their Curtains Closed is an insanely strong debut. It’s entertaining, it’s funny and it’s good. If I were pressed to say something negative, it would be that it is too short’
UNIVERSITAS

‘The language is more or less entirely coloured by her means of expressing herself. This grammatical, syntactic and vocabulary-related revolt (from a literary perspective) strikes the reader from the very first page and becomes the overall style of the novel. It is charming and makes the novel unique […] Navarro Skaranger has surprised us once, and it wouldn’t surprise me if she did it again’
NY TID