If you're one of the millions of readers who breathed a small sigh of regret after finishing the final Stieg Larsson novel, fear not: The American Swedish Institute is looking out for you.
Swedish Institute embraces Nordic thrillers
Rise in popularity of crime novels prompts increase of literary offerings.
April 4, 2011 at 11:14PM
There's been a great surge in the popularity of Nordic thrillers since "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" swept our shores, and the institute has expanded its gift shop specifically to keep up.
In recent weeks it established a separate bookstore in a room adjacent to the gift shop. Outfitted with a soft couch, a coffee table and one of the institute's 11 beautiful (but non-functioning) Swedish tile stoves, the book nook also carries cookbooks, travel books, fiction and children's books.
But the impetus was those thrillers. "Nordic fiction has become so popular recently; we really saw a demand there," said spokeswoman Jenn Stromberg. "We have added a lot of new titles -- and not just Swedish. We have Norwegian and Finnish and Icelandic books, as well."
Titles such as Kjell Eriksson's "The Demon of Dakar." "Voices: A Reykjavik Thriller," by Arnaldur Indridason. And, of course, "The Ice Princess," by Camille Läckberg, more popular than Larsson, even, in Sweden.
Läckberg will be in the Twin Cities on April 7, signing books at Once Upon a Crime Bookstore, and she'll stop by the institute for a tour and signing books for its bookstore.
The American Swedish Institute is at 2600 Park Av. S., Mpls. It's open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday noon to 5 p.m.; Wednesday noon to 8 p.m., and Sundays 1 to 5 p.m.
