Icelandic crime-writer Lilja Sigurdardottir was born in the town of Akranes in 1972 and raised in Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. An award-winning playwright and screenwriter, Lilja has written eleven crime novels, many of which have been translated into multiple languages and hitting bestseller lists worldwide. She lives in Reykjavík, Iceland, with her partner but also spends considerable time in Scotland.
Books:
Steps (Spor), 2009
Forgiveness (Fyrirgefning), 2010
Snare (Gildran) 2015 (Reykjavík Noir 1)
Trap (Netið) 2016 (Reykjavík Noir 2)
Cage (Búrið) 2017 (Reykjavík Noir 3)
Betrayal (Svik) 2018
Cold as Hell (Helköld sól) 2019
Red as Blood (Blóðrauður sjór) 2020
White as Snow (Náhvít jörð) 2021
Dark as Night (Drepsvart hraun) 2022
Black as Death (Dauðadjúp sprunga) 2023
ⱯLFA - 2025
Lilja´s latest book, Black as Death (Dauðadjúp sprunga) is the fifth and last in a series of thrillers featuring financial investigator Áróra and police detective Daníel, published in Iceland in October 2023 by Forlagid publishing.
Awards and nominations:
2014 Icelandic Theatre Prize Gríman for "Best play of the year" for Big Babies (Stóru Börnin)
2016 Nomination for the Icelandic Crime Fiction Award for Trap
2018 Longlisted for a CWA International Dagger for Snare
2018 Longlisted for Prix du Meilleur Polar at Points for Snare (Piégée)
2018 Longlisted for Edinburgh International Book Festival´s First Book Awards
2018 Icelandic Crime Fiction Award, the Drop of Blood, for Cage (Iceland´s contribution to the Glass Key, Nordic Crime Fiction Awards)
2019 Icelandic Crime Fiction Award, the Drop of Blood, for Betrayal (Iceland´s contribution to the Glass Key, Nordic Crime Fiction Awards)
2022 Nomination for the Icelandic Crime Fiction Awards for White as Snow
2023 Nomination to the Icelandic Crime Fiction Awards for Dark as Night
2023 The Storytel Awards for best audio series for One hundred Mishaps of Hemingway
2023 - 2024 Kópavogur City Artist
2024 Longlisted for the Petrona Award for White as Snow
Languages and rights:
The rights to Lilja´s books have been sold to: World French (Éditions Métailié), World English (Orenda Books), World Arabic (Al Arabi), Finland (Docendo), Norway (Font), Czech Republic (Leda), Denmark (People´s Press), Poland (Kobiece), Armenia (Guitank), Macedonia (Bata Press), Russia (Gorodets), Sweden (Bigarrábok and Modernista), Romania (Crime Scene Press), Germany (DuMont), Hungary (Oe Kiado), Estonia (Eesti Raamat), Netherlands (Volt).
Film rights to the Reykjavík Noir Trilogy (Snare, Trap and Cage) have been sold to Glassriver Productions and the tv rights to the Áróra series to Studio Zentral in Germany.
Appearances and Festivals in spring 2026:
Granite Noir - Scotland - February
Helsinki Noir - Finland - February
Gustavus Adolphus College Artist in Residence- Minnesota, USA - March
Motive Toronto - Canada - June
Contact
Please contact publishers in respective countries for appearances and literary events.
Inquiries on literary rights and film rights, as well as requests for interviews and media,
should be directed to Stella Soffía Jóhannesdóttir at Reykjavík Literary Agency:
- stella@rla.is
Tel: +354 575 5600