Multiple chances to see Jo Nesbo in New Zealand next March

Earlier this month I shared the terrific news that Norwegian crime writing superstar Jo Nesbo would one of the authors appearing in Wellington in March next year as part of the the 2012 New Zealand Arts Festival's "Writers and Readers Week". That should be a fantastic festival, filled with terrific event showcasing several other crime writers (including Denise Mina, and some yet-to-be-announced New Zealand authors) and other interesting authors. Nesbo is visiting New Zealand to promote his new Harry Hole thriller, PHANTOM, as well as the release of the film adaptation of his standalone thriller HEADHUNTERS.

Now, I'm very pleased to reveal that Nesbo not just be visiting Wellington, but in fact will be doing multiple events around New Zealand in March 2012, allowing many keen crime readers an opportunity to meet this talented storyteller. According to his publisher, Random House, who are "delighted" about his visit, there will be a Nesbo event and movie premiere held on the same evening in each of the following locations:

• Tuesday, 6 March - AUCKLAND
• Wednesday, 7 March - CHRISTCHURCH
• Thursday, 8 March - WANAKA
• Saturday, 10 March – WELLINGTON (presented as part of the New Zealand International Arts Festival)

Further details about each event will be announced in due course. But for now, it's just great to see that plenty of people will get a chance to meet Nesbo. It's really good to see international crime writers of his and Mina's calibre coming all the way down here to New Zealand, promoting the genre, and supporting our burgeoning crime fiction scene.

THE PHANTOM will be released in New Zealand on 3 February, and marks the return of Nesbo's popular detective Harry Hole. Here's the publisher's blurb:

Summer. A boy is lying on the floor of an Oslo apartment. He is bleeding and will soon die. In order to place his life and death in some kind of context he begins to tell his story. Outside, the church bells toll.

Autumn. Former police inspector Harry Hole returns to Oslo after three years abroad. He seeks out his old boss at Police Headquarters to request permission to investigate a homicide.

But the case is already closed: the young junkie was in all likelihood shot dead by a fellow addict. Yet, Harry is granted permission to visit the boy’s alleged killer in jail. There, he meets himself and his own history. What follows is the solitary investigation of what appears to be the first impossible case in Harry Hole’s career. And while Harry is searching, the murdered boy continues his story.

A man walks the dark streets of Oslo. The streets are his and he has always been there. He is a phantom.
 
Have you read any of Jo Nesbo's thrillers? What do you think of Harry Hole as a 'hero'? Are you looking forward to the film adaptation of HEADHUNTERS?

Nesbo in New Zealand: crime writing's rising Norwegian star heading our way in 2012

Last year there were a few rumours that Norway's Jo Nesbø, the crime writer who seems to be most picking up the Scandinavian crime writing baton and really running with it, was heading to Australia and New Zealand for the Christchurch Writers' Festival and other events. Unfortunately this did not happen - however in some excellent news, Nesbø's publisher has announced that he will "more than likely" be touring in a few months time, in early 2012. Nesbø's popularity and profile continues to grow and grow, so it would be terrific for keen crime readers to see him down this way.

Here's the official press release:

Detective Harry Hole fans will be delighted to hear his creator, Jo Nesbø, (photo above - Hakon Eikesdal), will more than likely be touring to New Zealand in late February 2012.


Nesbø will visit Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch to do events and store-signings in each centre. A keen mountaineer, he’s sure to also squeeze in some serious climbing while he’s here.

The Norwegian economist, journalist, chart-topping pop musician and now hugely successful and critically acclaimed crime writer Jo Nesbø will be promoting ‘Phantom’ ― the follow-up to ‘The Leopard’, his heart-stopping thriller in which Harry Hole reluctantly returns to Oslo and becomes embroiled in a particularly disturbing case involving another serial killer who will stop at nothing to escape justice.

Nesbø’s new, stand-alone thriller about an art theft which goes wrong, ‘Headhunters’, is being published here on 19 August. All proceeds from this book, in all editions and formats including the movie adaptation, go directly to the ‘Harry Hole Foundation’: a charity set up to reduce illiteracy among children in the Third World.

HEADHUNTERS the movie is a top-notch crime thriller with bright, brilliant camera work and a twist-a-minute plot. HEADHUNTERS will be released in February 2012.

Nesbø and his complex Harry Hole (pronounced Hurler) detective hero are pretty much household names for crime fiction buffs.

It was on a long-haul fight to Sydney taking a break from his job as a stockbroker that Jo Nesbø famously penned the start of his first Harry Hole novel.

Harry Hole was an instant hit with Norwegians, with the first book in the series winning the ‘Glass Key Award’ for best Nordic crime novel ― an accolade shared with Peter Høeg, Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson. Nesbø has won numerous other awards across Europe, and his books have been shortlisted for the CWA and for the prestigious Edgar Awards. Six chilling international bestsellers later, totalling an estimated 3.5 million copies worldwide, the series is now published in 40 countries.

‘The Snowman’ has been optioned by Working Title Films, makers of ‘Fargo’, ‘Notting Hill’ and ‘Atonement’.

ENDS