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SCANDINAVIAN DEATH TRIP
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Program 10-07-18-A |
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Sales clerks at Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon, reportedly call the best-selling "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo", "the girl who pays our paychecks". The award-winning Swedish crime thriller has sold so many copies, publishers are racing to find the next Scandinavian best-seller. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge as we meet the superstars of Scandinavian crime fiction... and, talk with the director of "Valhalla Rising"-- the "bone crushingly brutal" Viking epic that film critics love.
SEGMENT 1:
Nordic Noir is taking America by storm, especially the three novels by Stieg Larsson that feature Lisbeth Salander. She's so popular that writer Nora Ephron wrote a parody for the New Yorker called "The Girl Who Fixed the Umlaut," which is read by Jim Fleming. Sadly the author of this hugely popular trilogy died of a heart attack at age 50, before the books were published. New York Times writer Charles McGrath recently went to Stockholm to track down the back story of the books and the author. He tells Anne Strainchamps what he found. Perhaps the other best known Scandinavian detective fiction is by Henning Mankell and features his detective Kurt Wallander. In Germany the Wallander books have outsold Harry Potter. Steve Paulson taks with Mankell about his creation.
SEGMENT 2:
It's not all men who've made waves in Nordic Noir. In Oslo Karin Fossum has earned the sobriquet "The Queen of Norwegian Crime" with a series of internationally best-selling stories of psychological suspense feature detective Konrad Sejer. She reads a little from one of the novels and talks to Steve Paulson. In Iceland the literary star is Arnaldur Indridason, reading from his novel "Jar City." In fact recently 6 of the top 10 best-sellers in Iceland were his. He tells Jim Fleming about his gloomy Inspector Erlandur.
SEGMENT 3:
Nordic Noir crime novels are not alone in being dark and brooding. Scandinavian films are equally so. Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn's latest movie, set in the Middle Ages, isominous and violent. It's called "Valhalla Rising" and tells the story of a mute slave warrior named One-Eye who joins a group of Christian Vikings on a sea voyage who end up in the New World. Anne Strainchamps talks with Refn about his movie.
CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 10-07-18-A.
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| Henning Mankell, The Man from
Beijing (Knopf) |
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Arnaldur Indridason, Arctic Chill (Minotaur) |
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| Arnaldur Indridason, Hypothermia (due out in September) (Minotaur) | |
| Karin Fossum, The Water's Edge (HMH) |  |
| Karin Fossum, Broken (due out in August) (HMH) | |
- Nora Ephron parody at The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2010/07/05/100705sh_shouts_ephron - Stieg Larsson website
http://www.stieglarsson.com/ - Karin Fossum at Scandinavian
Books
http://www.scandinavianbooks.com/crime-book/norwegian/karin-fossum.html - Henning Mankell website
http://www.henningmankell.com/ - Arnaldur Indridason website
http://www.bokmenntir.is/rithofundur.asp?cat_id=674&author_id=7&lang=8 - Nicolas Winding Refn - "Valhalla Rising"
at IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0862467/
- Show Open: “Sure Thing,”
by the Danish jazz group, St. Germain, off their CD “tourist”
(Blue Note)
- Under Nora Ephron, “Girl Who Fixed the Umlaut”
: “Moving” from the soundtrack for “The Girl with the
Dragon Tattoo” film.
- After Charles McGrath: “Tribute” by Krust,
off the CD “:Coded Language” (1999 Mercury Records/The Island
Def Jam 314 546 687-2)
- Under Henning Mankell’s readings: “Donnie
Darko” – music from the motion picture score, written and
performed by Michael Andrews (Elgonix Labs) and music from David Lynch’s
“Mulholland Dr.” soundtrack. (Studio/Canal)
- After Henning Mankell interview: “Guns and Dogs,”
by Portugal, on the CD “The Man”.
http://portugaltheman.com/
- First break – same
- Under Karin Fossum and Arnaldur Indritasun readings:
“Carpathian Ridge” off the soundtrack for “Donnie Darko”,
music composed and performed by Michael Andrews.
- After Karin Fossum interview: “Dragon” by
Bjork and The Sugar Cubes, off the CD “Life’s Too Good”
(Elektra)
- After Arnaldur Indritason: Sigur Ros, Track 14 off
the CD “Agoelis Byrjun” (FatCat Records)
http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/band/disco/agaetis.php
- Second Break: same
- Show Close: “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” by Elliott Fisher, off the CD “The Crime Scene: Spies , Thighs and Private Eyes” (EMI)
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Distribution dates: week of 07/18/2010
- hour 1 |
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