Literary projects - Books at Haugesund

Literary projects at Books at Haugesund 2026

Photo: Grethe Nygaard

Books at Haugesund will be held on Wednesday 26th of august 2026. Here's a taste of the literary projects that will be presented for film producers, through exclusive one-to-one meetings at Haugesund Public Library. 

Festive Flames (Hittu mig í Hellisgerði) by Ása Marin - Reykjavík Literary Agency

Snjolaug, a single mother in Reykjavík, faces her first Christmas alone when her ex takes their seven-year-old daughter on a trip to Tenerife. Determined not to let loneliness win, she embarks on a quest for a holiday romance—diving into dating apps, speed dates, and hilariously awkward encounters, egged on by her best friend Kristin and spirited colleague Valeria. A dream man emerges, only to leave her heartbroken. An adventure trip into Iceland's stunning winter landscape offers reflection, friendship, and unexpected connections. When charming search and rescue volunteer Trausti keeps crossing her path, Snjolaug begins to wonder if fate has other plans. As cozy Icelandic holiday traditions unfold around her, she finds herself embracing the festive season in ways she never anticipated.

The Last to Walk the Earth (Þú sem ert á jörðu) by Nína Ólafsdóttir - Reykjavík Literary Agency

The Last to Walk the Earth follows Arnaq, a woman surviving alone with her dog in a near-future Arctic wasteland. After a polar bear attack forces her from her territory, she becomes stranded on drifting sea ice before an odyssey carries her across the ocean to ruined Europe. She travels south through a collapsed civilization — abandoned cities, climate devastation, silence — yet witnesses nature's quiet reclamation. Years pass. In a mountain valley she nearly connects with another survivor, only to find him dead, knowing him through his journals alone. His words reignite her hope and she sets out once more. The journey claims her beloved dog. Alone, she follows a river to the sea and sits at the water's edge. The last human. A tear falls, and she is gone.

Sirens (Sirene) by Cecilie Buhl - Bonner Rights 

Sirens is Cecilie Buhl’s debut novel and the first instalment in a crime series that has already been sold to a number of languages ahead of its Danish release.

When a woman is found murdered at the Sirene strip club in Copenhagen, Alvilda Olsen is called in to work. It is her first day in the Homicide Department, where she meets the seasoned detective, Bjørn Gregersen. The two quickly realise they disagree on most things, but they are forced to work together to solve the murder. Meanwhile, Sally Frost, a reckless nail technician, sets out to hunt down the killer herself. Events from Sally’s dark past are stirring, and she is driven by a strong desire for revenge. Soon, it is not just a question of who is behind it – but who will be the next victim.  

The Wolf Club (Vargens unge) by Johanna Holmström - Bonnier Rights

One day, a dirty, strange little boy stands in Seija's tulip bed. Seeing his wide-open eyes, her motherly heart overflows, but he refuses to say a word. Detective Minna and her sidekick Timo are notified, but no one has reported a missing child. Who is the boy and where does he come from?
When photographer Gloria moves into the commune in the forest, she feels she has found a home. She enjoys the freedom and camaraderie, blind to what is going on around her. When the truth is finally revealed, it is too late for her to leave.
This relentless thriller is set in Kuhmo in northern Finland, in a wilderness that is as wonderfully beautiful as it is frightening.  

The Crow's Crown (Kråketronen) by Eva Fretheim - Winje Agency 

A couple of eggs are smashed against a windowpane.

A teenage girl walks out onto a frozen pond.

The night the young woman falls through the ice changes everything. The pond where she drowns lies on the mayor’s property. And police investigator Vigdis Malmstrøm gradually discovers that this is not the first time a young person has lost their life in exactly this way — in exactly this place. What are the stories we cling to in order to survive? And how far back do we have to go to unravel all the lies that make up a life?
In The Crow's Crown, political power games are as transgressive as the all-consuming games of childhood. And with her masterful psychological insight, Eva Fretheim once again shows why she has taken Norwegian crime readers by storm.  

The Last Valkyrie (Den siste Valkyrie) by Hanne Eik - Cappelen Damm Agency

The Last Valkyrie is a pulse-pounding mix of enemies-to-lovers romance, Norse mythology and a deadly competition for wealth, fame, life and death. With the emotional depth of Twilight, the fierce survival energy of The Hunger Games and the secretive intrigue of The Da Vinci Code, The Last Valkyrie launches a new YA trilogy where epic love collides with Norse legend — blazing with mystery, passion, and power.

The Useless One – Einar’s book (Den oduglige) by Tomas Bannerhed - Norstedts Agency

A disappearance that was never solved – and a life that was never understood

From the August Prize-winning author of Korparna /The Ravens comes a haunting novel about disappearance, rural masculinity and the cost of being unseen. When a solitary man disappears from a small village in southern Sweden, the community is left with rumours, fragments and unanswered questions. Years later, the niece returns to try to uncover what really happened to her insignificant uncle.
In Den Oduglige /The Useless One – Einar’s book, Tomas Bannerhed combines documentary testimony, village chronicle and intimate psychological realism.   

Ultraviolence (Ultravåld) by Tone Schunnesson - Norstedts Agency

In the late 1990s, siblings Jarl and Eddie grow up in a decaying castle in the countryside. Jarl dreams of glamour — something he sorely lacks among the dirt, isolation, and inherited stagnation of rural life. His younger sister Eddie dreams only that her brother might want to spend time with her. When their father, the evasive aristocrat Carl-Jan, one day walks out and never returns, their mother Monica, whose grip on reality has always been fragile, loses her footing entirely.

You Alone (Du eneste) by Hilde Hagerup - Gyldendal Norsk forlag
Akershusstranda, Oslo, November 26, 1942: As the D/S Donau pulled away from the dock, Gunvor Hofmo stood alone. Just moments earlier, she had seen her beloved Ruth Maier for the last time. Ruth never returned to Gunvor. Only days later, she was killed in Auschwitz. What happened would shape Gunvor Hofmo’s life and poetry more than anything else.

You Alone is a deeply emotional and brutally beautiful novel that brings readers close to Hofmo and Maier in the time just before they met and during their relationship in wartime Norway.  

Doggerland by Agnes Ravatn - Northern Stories Agency

Succession from the Publishing world - the critics named this bestseller. One of the most sold books in Norway last year.
This is a sharp and compelling literary drama about family, power, and the future of publishing.  Et skarpt og fengslende litterært drama om familie, makt og fremtidens forlagsvirksomhet. For generations, the Høst family has built its legacy on publishing. Now change is unavoidable: matriarch Myrna Høst is nearing retirement, and her two children – Filip, the gifted writer, and Henny, the pragmatic strategist – are both vying to inherit the helm. Summoned to a remote island for a family strategy meeting, the stage is set for more than a leadership decision. At the heart of the struggle stands Edda – editor, Filip’s wife, and keeper of secrets that could shatter everything. When a manuscript emerges that threatens to expose the family’s hidden past, loyalties are tested and long-suppressed tensions erupt.

The Other Side of the River (Den andre siden av elva) by Therese Tungen - Northern Stories Agency

Karnanne’s life is unraveling. Nearly thirty years, after her sister Alicia drowned in the river, she fled her home in Tverrbygda. Now, a crisis in her marriage sends her back to that same small place between the mountains. It is midwinter when she arrives. The valley and its fierce river covered in ice and snow. She is met by Ænar, once a close childhood friend. He seems the same, the place seems the same – but is it? Tverrbygda is shaped by silence— a place where people endure rather than speak, and where the past is rarely talked about. Karnanne moves into her father’s old house, and begins unraveling a local legend – about young girls drawn into the mountain by ancient beings. But as she digs into the past, her own wounds are torn open. The locals insist Alicia's death was an accident, but memories and whispers suggest otherwise. As long-buried secrets surface, Karnanne begins to suspect that someone wanted her sister gone. And when secrets surface in a place like Tverrbygda, the people who buried them can become angry.