By: Linnéa Mitchell | Photo: Alan Strutt

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From secretary to weather girl, TV host, Big Brother winner and now author, Ulrika Jonsson has certainly led a colourful life, and the never-satisfied media have tirelessly fed our appetite for more gossip.

Whether it is good or bad, we all have a strong opinion about the beautiful blonde television personality. The latest addition to her multifaceted career is her first novel The Importance of Being Myrtle. Scan Magazine caught up with Britain’s most famous Swede and discovered a whole new side of her.

Finding the right words

I bet I am not the only reader who set down The Importance of Being Myrtle feeling a bit quizzical. How did this story about Myrtle, a 58-year-old grey, flat and, frankly, boring woman, who suddenly loses her husband to a heart attack, come about from a woman whose life is quite the opposite of boring? Jonsson giggles at the question and goes on to explain that about six years ago she spoke to a lady who had just lost her husband. “I remember walking away thinking: gosh, what do you do if you are at that age having to start all over again somehow, when you have expected life to be pretty much what it is until the end,” says Jonsson. This turned out to be the seed that grew (after some spicy seasoning) into the story of Myrtle, who lives in a loveless marriage dictated by her psychologically oppressive husband Austin, and who suddenly has to take charge of her life for the very first time. But I am still puzzled as to how she can relate to a woman like Myrtle when her own life has been far from quiet and suppressed. “I think a lot of women can identify with Myrtle. I feel I can somehow identify with her in the way that I’ve been in relationships, although not as extreme, where the man finds it hard to accept a woman who thinks for herself, decides for herself, who has her own ideas and thoughts and who is colourful,” says Jonsson. Writing has always been part of Jonsson’s life. Ulrika started when her father brought a typewriter home from work and has since used it as her outlet and her method of escapism. “I love writing, and I love the English language. So it felt right. It wasn’t part of a plan to expand the brand Ulrika Jonsson. It came from the heart.”

From “teaterapa” to TV host

Born in Sweden in 1967, Jonsson lived alone with her father until she joined her mother in England when she was 12. As a child she was described by her aunt as a “teaterapa” (theatre monkey, person who wants to perform) and had some aspirations of becoming an actress after finishing school. Her mother was less enthusiastic and sent Jonsson to secretarial school in her gap year before she intended to take up a place at Goldsmith’s College, University of London. Having started off as a secretary, she shortly landed her first job in TV, presenting the weather on TV-am as well as on Swedish TV3. Jonsson never had time to even consider university. Her natural charisma and energy led to several jobs in front of the camera, hosting one prime-time TV show after another, including Gladiator, The National Lottery, Eurovision Song Contest, Miss World and Shooting Stars. Adding reality shows such as Come Dine with Me and Dancing on Ice to the list, before winning Celebrity Big Brother in 2009, she has pretty much covered the entire spectrum of what you can achieve in an entertainment television career.

The private life

But what has spiced up her celebrity status that little bit extra is her private life, whether it is for dating fellow Swede and England’s football captain at the time, Sven-Göran Eriksson, or for marrying the bachelor Lance Gerrard-Wright from the dating show Mr Right that she hosted. And it is mainly due to her “Mr Rights” – three of them now if you count her marriages – that she has been the target of many media-moans. “The attention is something I’ve never really understood. The press feels that if you are famous you must be an egotist and therefore we shall punish you by criticising you and following you everywhere,” says Jonsson. A journalist once dressed up as a doctor to get hold of her medical journals whilst she was in hospital after her daughter was born with a heart defect. She is also involved in the phone-hacking scandal inquiry with News of the World. It does not take a genius to work out it must have been pretty frustrating, yet 23 years later, she is still here.

“You have to be able to find a way to go on,” says Jonsson. “I’ve felt very helpless, and I don’t think that I’m a strong or brave person at all… but if you have two, four or even six little eyes that are looking up at you and asking ‘ok mummy, what’s next?’ then you really have to dig deep and have, according to my favourite Swedish expression, ‘is i magen’ (ice in the stomach). I think it’s a calm and quiet strength that I’ve got that comes forward when it’s needed most.” For example when writing, I’m guessing, as she had to write half of the novel standing up or lying down due to a chronic back condition she has battled with during the last four years.

The future

So does she want to work as an author full time or will we see more of her on telly? “I’d love to write more, and I’ve already started thinking about the next book,” says Jonsson and explains further that she enjoyed taking a step back from TV, but that she has no plans to give it up completely. “After all I have four children to feed,” she laughs. “During these 23 years, I haven’t always known what’s going to happen next. I’ve never had a grand plan. My career has given me so many opportunities to do so many different things, and every job has been to improve myself or stretch myself. Either I’m brave or stupid, but I’ve always wanted to do things that are a bit different. I’m not scared of that. I don’t live for my critics. I don’t think ‘oh I shouldn’t write a book because then I might get criticised’, but because I want to. Then, afterwards, I have to say, I might go ‘ouch’. But I think it’s so important that… well, we only live once, and we have one chance to take care of the opportunities we get.”

Despite living most of her life in England, Jonsson is still close to her roots. “I feel one hundred per cent Swedish. There’s no question about that. I have never wanted to change my passport, nationality or anything. So I’m very Swedish. Apart from my terrible grammar,” she says, in perfect Swedish.

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After Marklund, Mankell, Larsson, Nesbø and The Killing comes Jussi Adler-Olsen. With the UK release of Mercy, his first novel in the Department Q series, Danish Adler-Olsen takes on the thriller genre, with a good dose of dark and bitter characters, a twisted crime case and a pinch of humour.

With Scandinavian crime stories, both on paper and on the screen, still attracting the world’s attention, Jussi Adler-Olsen’s first novel published in English could not come at a more opportune time. However, it is not just sheer luck or a savvy publisher that has opened these doors for him, as his books have already been immense hits in Denmark and Germany. He also took home the Glass Key award in 2010 (among other accolades), which has previously been awarded to the aforementioned Jo Nesbø, Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell.

Adler-Olsen tells us how he did not intentionally seek out a popular genre or a way to gain fame, nor did he set out to write crime stories either. “When I started writing, I was more or less financially independent, so instead of writing for the money, I started writing for the reader.”

Jussi Adler-Olsen has indeed already dabbled in many a career line, including as a comic book shop owner, magazine editor and publisher, so life experiences and funds are not necessarily in short supply. And his current occupation certainly suits his lifestyle: “What other job can you do in your pyjamas from your own home?” he laughs. “It’s a free form of living that suits me. After working extremely hard in my job as a publisher, I’m happy to stay home and see my son grow up. My father told me that I have so many talents, and I should make use of them all on my own terms. He was so right.”

Lessons in human nature

Born in 1950, as the youngest of four children, Jussi Adler-Olsen was introduced to the many sides of the human psyche from a very young age on, as he grew up on the grounds of different Danish mental institutions, where his father worked as a psychiatrist. He was in direct contact with some of the patients and witnessed both the good and evil in them, grasping that every human is capable of both.

Even as a young boy, Adler-Olsen showed an avid skill for storytelling. “As a boy scout, a friend and I once spent a week in a lookout tower, and to pass the time we would tell each other stories. While he told me stories by Edgar Allan Poe, I made up my own. I knew how to make him scared as well as feel empathy by telling stories that could happen in real life,” he says.

He went on to study medicine, sociology, politics and film. “While studying film at university, I learnt a lot about point of view, suspense and all the elements of an exciting story.”  Even though Adler-Olsen did not return to the “storytelling” until later in his life, he was still conscious of the fact that he could write. At 30 years-old, he spent some time in the Netherlands with his wife and wrote his first novel, which was, however, never published. But Adler-Olsen had found out what he needed to: whenever he was ready, he would be able to settle down as a writer.

Taking on the thriller

Although now listed among famous Scandinavian crime writers, it was not Jussi Adler-Olsen’s intention to become one. “Thriller stories and movies interest me a lot, as well as classical stories like The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I think the thriller has a lot in common with the classical, international, political, big and exciting stories. It doesn’t necessarily have to be crime,” he explains. His first novels were in fact more straight-forward thrillers, whereas the Department Q series, which currently consists of four novels, has taken him more into the crime territory.

In the first book in the series, Mercy, Adler-Olsen introduces us to his anti-hero Carl Mørck, a defeated, disillusioned and unstable homicide detective, who is struggling to cope with a shooting incident that left one of his colleagues dead and the other one paralysed. He is relegated to the basement to take care of Department Q, which is supposed to handle “cases of special focus”. Together with his enthusiastic assistant Assad, Mørck stumbles upon the case of missing politician Merete Lynggaard, which puts them on the track of a twisted criminal with a gruesome plan.

Although the premise is dark with an air of despair, Adler-Olsen has still managed to infuse humour into his story, for example, through Mørck’s “sidekick” Assad. “Without humour, there is no story for me,” Adler-Olsen asserts. Assad also acts as a catalyst for Mørck’s character, who needs someone to keep him going, as he has almost given up on life. As the series continues, Mørck gains a second assistant in Rose, who will in turn help move along the relationship between Mørck and Assad.

With four books already out, Adler-Olsen still has many a story to tell about Department Q. “I have to finish Carl, Assad and Rose’s stories, maybe in 9, 10 or 11 books. Perhaps 10.5,” he laughs. “But I could fill 20 books with all the cases I have for Department Q.” So it remains to see how many stories readers can actually still await.

And for those interested in seeing Carl Mørck on the big or small screen, Adler-Olsen says there are three different treatments in talks: firstly, one movie for each book similar to the Swedish adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s novels; secondly, a local German version; and thirdly, an American TV series.

Department Q series in English:
Mercy by Jussi Adler-Olsen – 12 May 2011, Michael Joseph
Disgrace by Jussi Adler-Olsen – 21 June 2012, Michael Joseph

For more information, please visit: www.jussiadlerolsen.dk

By Nia Kajastie | Photo: Morten Jerichau

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Nordic design is known for its clean, strong lines as well as its simplicity and functionality. It is often based on forms, colour combinations and patterns found in Scandinavian nature, which is in parts lush and peaceful while at times also wild and rough. Working along the same lines, but bringing their own recognisable organic touch and powerful prints to the table, is Danish design brand by nord. Spearheaded by co-founder and designer Hanne Berzant, the company was established in 2008 and is spreading its presence to continental Europe and the UK, as well as the US. Scan Magazine was able to get to know Berzant and her brand a bit better.

Hanne Berzant and her husband, who is a business development consultant with experience in the fashion industry, wanted to create a distinctive design company for home accessories sharing a close link with Nordic design heritage and nature. They also wanted to establish a strong brand identity, which would give all their products a uniquely “by nord” look and feel.

Berzant, a formally educated graphic designer, had already garnered many years of experience working as an art director for lifestyle magazines. “So you could say, I have always been in design,” she says. “The format then was paper, but my focus on creating strong images and aesthetic products has always been there. That said, it was a very tough decision after ten years to leave a comfortable position at the publishing house and start my own company with all the insecurity involved.”

Danish success

Berzant was, however, able to make the successful jump from securely employed to self-employed and is now on a mission to make by nord into an internationally recognised design brand. Following in the footsteps of another Danish success story, namely the ‘world’s best restaurant’ Noma, by nord is fully inspired by the inexhaustible beauty and rawness of Nordic nature, hence their slogan ‘where design meets nature’.

“We must be able to tell the inspirational stories behind each one of our products,” explains Berzant. “The overall aim is, of course, to create products which are so uniquely by nord that they are instantly recognised as such. I believe our bed linen and cushions with digital prints are good examples of such products.”

In addition to influences found everywhere in nature, from forests to the back garden, Berzant is also inspired by the Scandinavian design heritage, which emphasises strong lines, soft colour combinations and user friendliness in products. It is a large and useful pool of knowledge and creativity to tap into, as Nordic design classics are plentiful and renowned worldwide. A lot of people already trust and admire the handicraft of many Scandinavians, so a new, strong design force on the field is indeed welcomed gladly.

Organic materials and bold prints

With a strong connection to nature, by nord also believes in sustainable design and accountability in production, combining style, functionality and organic materials. Their collection is not based on trends or seasons either, so all extensions and additions are carefully planned as a part of the organic design process.

“We also work very closely with our customers, agents and end-users, listening to their ideas as to which by nord designs and products we should concentrate on, as well as how the brand should evolve,” says Berzant. “So it’s very important for us to stay empathetic and in touch with external opinions.”

Their collection started off with their Northern Light candleholders and bed linen with digital prints of Nordic animals, but today it also comprises other home accessories, such as cushions, handmade pottery, bags, and t-shirts with powerful images of Inuit on them.
“The source of inspiration from Nordic nature is vast, so we might be making unique Nordic furniture and lighting one day,” Berzant muses.

The brand is already making waves in the Nordic region among major upscale retailers, as well as garnering interest in continental Europe, the UK and the US. Berzant ultimately wishes for by nord to become a global brand, however, without losing any integral parts of its identity and vision.

UK Agent & stockist for by nord Copenhagen: www.nordicelements.com. For more information, please visit: www.bynord.com

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Michael Nyqvist, it is a name that will make most Scandinavians, or at least those with a TV, nod in recognition, and when adding the name of his renowned alias Mikael Blomqvist, heads all over the world will confirm the actor’s great talent by joining in. Since the BAFTA-winning Millennium movies, Nyqvist’s talent has been in high demand; most recently the Swedish actor has been jetting between Dubai, Prague and Vancouver to film the new Mission Impossible. Still, back on a break in his hometown of Stockholm, the charismatic 50-year-old found time to catch up with Scan Magazine.

When Nyqvist comes through the door at Stockholm’s historic Opera Bar, it is quickly evident that a reflective artist, and not just a performer, has entered the room. Before we have even sat down at our table, the Millennium star has commenced a humorous anecdote about British society, which he experienced while filming London Voodoo in 2004. “I think that’s very British,” he ends his story about a fancy doorman dressed in, on closer inspection, a rather shabby uniform and looks smilingly out the window, where a beautiful but cold day is sweeping through Stockholm. Dressed unassumingly in a dark suit jacket and blue jeans, it is the actor’s charisma and renowned, intense gaze that catch your attention.

Life or death

Even though Nyqvist stumbled into acting rather coincidentally (he applied for drama school on the advice of an ex-girlfriend), he has always felt intensely about his art. “I came to this school, and I knew in a second that this was very interesting. It was the questions that you have to ask yourself as an actor with your character: where do I come from, where do I go? Hard questions, especially for me, because I did not know where I came from; I came from an orphanage, so I hid behind my character in life,” Nyqvist candidly recalls. “When I started, people, like my teachers, would say, ‘Great Micke, but could you calm it down a bit; it’s not life or death’. But it was, and I still have that kind of feeling; it’s for real, and I don’t know if it’s psychotic or if it’s talent.”

Even though Nyqvist felt an immediate connection with his art, he was not always convinced acting would be his path in life. “No, it was such an unanswered love. Everyone said, ‘Michael you are too tall, too small’, and all these things, but I did not care about it. I just wanted to answer these questions.”

After his years at the Swedish Academic School of Drama in Malmö, Nyqvist did, however, prove his critics wrong and appeared in countless roles in plays, TV series and films. In 2000, he had his major breakthrough with his portrait of the drunken and abusive husband Rolf in the award-winning Swedish film Together. In 2004, his star rose even further when he became internationally known as the lost conductor Daniel Daréus in Oscar-nominated As It Is in Heaven.

A struggle for identity

When Nyqvist’s lunch arrives, I ask him what he is having. “Well, it’s a traditional dish I suppose. It’s very good; it’s like something my mom would make. My mom was an awful cook though,” he answers rather confusingly, while shovelling down his cutlets and potato stew with an impressive appetite.

Nyqvist’s parents adopted him from an orphanage at the age of one, and in 2009, the actor published his critically acclaimed book När barnet lagt sig (Just After Dreaming). In it the author describes the moment when he realises he is adopted and his following struggle to find his right place in the world. “I am very proud of that book, writing it was very scary,” he says. When I ask if he thinks the book changed the way people perceive him, he answers without hesitation: “Yeah, it did, and that was sort of a part of it. I think sometimes people treat actors like small children who don’t know how to tie their own shoelaces or like big baboons walking around without emotions, and I am not like that; I always read a lot, wrote a lot… felt a lot.”

After having his first child, Nyqvist went on an exhaustive search to find his real parents, and today he has regular contact with his Italian father. His adoptive father passed away some years ago, and his death was an eye-opener for the actor, who never received any recognition from him when he was alive. “When he died, I had to go through his apartment and empty it… I opened this cupboard, and it was filled with pictures of me, reviews of every part that I had ever played and films, and not just papers from Stockholm – from all over Sweden,” says Nyqvist. “He supported me in a shy, silent way; you could say a Swedish way.”

Poking the stars

While ordering his second cup of coffee, Nyqvist rejects being tired, although he has been, as he says, “working nonstop for the last 11 months”. The last half year he has been on the set of MI4, which he travelled to just one day after wrapping up filming John Singleton’s Abduction, in which he co-stars with the likes of Sigourney Weaver and Taylor Lautner.

“It’s fun when you work with big movie stars like Sigourney Weaver; you want to go and like [he pokes at my shoulder] to see if she is real, and then when Tom and I were fighting… I mean Jesus! That’s the way it is.” But even though he did find the experience a bit surreal, working with Hollywood legend Tom Cruise did not make the actor nervous. “No, not at all, I liked him very much. I loved his energy.”

When asked why he was picked for the role, the actor’s answer is characteristically self-deprecating. “Because I was handsome, intelligent and talented, that’s why,” he smiles and quickly adds, “No, I don’t know, I never asked. They probably had five better ones!”

Coming back as a ghost

After an intensive year during which Nyqvist, his wife and their 16-year-old son had their base in Paris, Nyqvist is now back in his hometown for a well deserved break. “I have to give myself some time; I know that I opened a couple of doors in myself that I really have to look into, and I had a lot of new experiences. I felt very happy about that, but I don’t want to just run around chasing; I want to wait for the good, fun things to do,” the actor reflects.

But when I ask him if he would ever consider doing something else than acting, maybe something less exhausting, the response is firm: “Acting is not something you turn on and off. If you turn it on, you can’t really turn it off again. If I have a brain that still works, I would love to stand on a stage when I am 102 years old playing a ghost – maybe Hamlet’s father.”

Well, in case he is still standing at 102, we would not mind a couple of the front row seats – he is sure to make an unusually intense ghost.

The last movie in the Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, is now out on DVD in the UK.

By Linnéa Mitchell | Photo: Tine Harden

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She hardly needs an introduction anymore: the lead actress of Danish TV crime series The Killing, Sofie Gråbøl, has captivated the British BBC audience on Saturday nights this entire spring in her role as the murder investigator Sarah Lund. With a second series promised this autumn, Scan Magazine thought the time was right to get to know the woman with the sweater a little better.

Knowing the murderer of The Killing was like keeping a national secret for Gråbøl, as the nation became completely obsessed with finding out who the killer was. Not knowing herself until the very end (the writer refused to give out anything in advance throughout the filming), she enjoyed wild conversations with strangers in Copenhagen cafés and supermarkets.

The first series screened in Denmark in 2007. It has since been shown in other European countries, but nowhere has the success been as big as in Britain. Not that it had record viewing figures, but the audience that did follow the 20-episode murder investigation was religiously attached. “I don’t know what it hit with the British people but it’s such a joy,” says Gråbøl, as Scan Magazine catches her for a conversation during a busy theatre commitment. “Maybe we are related more than we know.”

The fluke beginning

Gråbøl’s character Sarah Lund is the latest heroine of the ongoing Scandinavian crime wave: an emotionally closed police investigator, unable to communicate, who puts her family second due to an obsession with finding the murderer. In Denmark, Gråbøl has been a national icon for 25 years, since her breakthrough role in Barndommens Ga­de (Early Spring) in 1986. She has never been to theatre school and nobody in her family works in the film industry. Since 1986, it has pretty much been non-stop. Gråbøl never sat down and decided that this was what she wanted to do. “I’ve always been very, very privileged and have been able to move freely between stage work, film and TV series, and also in so many different genres. I’ve done everything from comedy to Shakespeare,” she says.

It started very coincidentally when her mother suggested that she should go to an audition for the French/British/Danish production Gauguin (after worryingly noticing her daughter’s lack of interest in doing anything but sleeping until midday and working in a hotel since finishing school). She got a small part and it took off from there.

The creation of a heroine

The scriptwriter Søren Sveistrup had a very clear idea about The Killing: one murder, 20 episodes and a female detective. But it did not stop him from listening to other ideas. Knowing Gråbøl well from their last collaboration Nikolaj og Julie (another success on Danish television, which won an Emmy), he invited her to brainstorm with him at an early stage. Gråbøl, like all creative people looking for a challenge, remembers saying that she wanted to play a character who was isolated, but at peace with that. “He knows what he wants, but he’s always interested in having a dialogue,” says Gråbøl. The character Sarah Lund took shape (with the famous woollen jumper, symbolising softness and avoiding the typical woman-in-suit in a man’s world), although, once settled, it was not easy to get into at first. “I think it’s because it was so much in my bones to put emotions in every line, and I actually found it very hard not to.” All the people she could think of who acted that way were men so she decided to try to act like a man. “And that worked for me,” she says with a smile. But she does not necessarily think of Lund as a masculine character. “To me she’s a very feminine character; she’s just focused,” says Gråbøl. What was new to her this time was to work from the outside in. “I normally work from the inside out. You can catch the character by adding external things and work your way in, or you can go from the inside out, and I think I normally do that,” she says.

Once at ease with the role, she found that she had a lot more in common with Sarah Lund than she thought. “With work there definitely are similarities between me and her because I’m also very engaged in my work. If I get involved in projects, I like to get married to them,” she says.

The clichés

One of the things The Killing has been credited with by almost every critic (almost touchingly, since it is the British press, after all) is its realism and absence of clichés, which Gråbøl does not completely agree with. “What I think is interesting is what the writer does with the genre,” she says. “Because when you are dealing with the crime genre, then you are dealing with clichés. But I think that what he (Sveistrup) does with the genre is showing that it can be used for so much more.”

Consistently describing Sveistrup as a ‘very brave man’ she says: “There is this notion among TV workers that you are always only a click on the remote away from the audience disappearing, and the danger of that is that this fear of boring the audience can make TV… I mean you throw in so many car chases, love stories, shootings out of fear of boring the audience, and I think that the success of The Killing proves that people want to go deeper, and they want to be challenged. They (the audience) want some more solid food. And I think that… yeah, we should give them that,” says Gråbøl.

But, in all fairness, it is not exactly the first realistic and high-quality production by the Danish broadcast industry. From a Scandinavian perspective there seems to be this notion of surprise as to why there has been so much attention paid to Scandinavian crime stories, from Stieg Larsson to Jo Nesbø. The Scandinavian ‘noir’ genre is not new either, so what is it? “I don’t know… But it might be something about the Scandinavian soul. We have Ibsen, Strindberg and Bergman, and a fine tradition of drama that explores the darkness of the human mind. We feel at home with that.”

The future

It is hard to understand how a person who gets ‘married’ to every project she works on can fit it all in (especially since her ex-husband is working in the Ukraine, and she takes care of their two children alone – forget about nannies!). Even so, she is currently working in the theatre doing Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny og Alexander, and come autumn, it is time to film season three of The Killing. Plans for the long-term future do not really seem to have crossed her mind. “I’m a happy person in the sense that the character that I’m currently working on is always my biggest love,” she says. Reflecting on the past, however, she says: “The older I get, I find that I’m much more fascinated by the questions than the answers. When I was a young actor, I would always try to find all the answers for a character, but the older I get, and I think that goes for every human being, the more complex life seems in a way, and the more I actually allow it to be complex. There’s a beauty in that.”

Will we see her in Britain sometime soon? “I just didn’t have the time this time around. Maybe this autumn it would be possible… I really should put on my sweater and walk down the street!” she laughs. Something tells me she would be very welcome.

By Nia Kajastie | Photo: Håkon Eikesdal

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In his newest novel The Leopard, Norwegian crime (and, believe it or not, children’s book) author Jo Nesbø pushes his anti-hero Harry Hole further into dark despair, as another string of murders unsettles Norway. With his seventh novel in the Hole series, The Snowman, having created a lot of fuss and somewhat inevitable, yet superfluous, Stieg Larsson comparisons, Nesbø is the Scandi crime author of the moment.

Already a household name back in Norway, the UK did not seem to clock on to his take of a darker Oslo and Norway, with its twisted underbelly of crime and murder, as well as his tormented sleuth, Harry Hole, until The Snowman hit the bookshelves back in August 2010. The seventh book in the series, but only the fifth to be published in the UK so far, The Snowman throws you right in the middle of Harry Hole’s life and troubles, but all books in the series can easily be read as standalone novels (as can be deduced from how big a splash the book made). However, now the back catalogue of the series has also been given a new lease of life, as readers want to discover firsthand the evolution of the complex man that is Harry Hole.

The Leopard, published in January, is another nail-biting experience, with a seemingly sadistic killer on the loose, and Harry Hole still traumatised by his last case. The deaths are gruesome, the mood is often bleak and tense (especially for our ever-suffering protagonist), but at the forefront is the engaging story. “What I found out after writing my first novel was that the crime novel is a great vehicle for storytelling,” says Nesbø, when I enquire about his choice of genre and the impetus behind it. With a smile in his eyes, he continues: “You do need a format for telling stories; even people who write ‘proper’ literature have a format.”

For Nesbø, first and foremost comes the story. He is interested in storytelling, not so much crime writing specifically. Accordingly, this good story can come in the shape of a series of crime novels, a children’s book, a collection of short stories, or even his standalone thriller Headhunters.

Early success

Journalist, economist and musician: these are some of the different guises that Nesbø has previously taken upon himself – and now a crime writer. He was not inspired by any iconic crime authors to go down this route; instead he has been influenced more by films and the graphic novels of Frank Miller.

“The reason I chose to write crime fiction was kind of a coincidence. I’d been asked to write a novel by a girl I knew, who worked at a publishing house. Probably because I was writing lyrics for my band, she had the idea that I could write a novel,” says Nesbø. “I’d probably been thinking about writing a novel for some time before she asked me. At the time I was taking a break from the band, and I was going to Australia, so I decided to take a laptop with me. I had limited time, only about five weeks, so I realised I’d have to write something simple, something that had a head and a tail. My experience was that most of my friends who started writing were never able to finish their work, because they started out writing this big European novel that was to be their masterwork at the first attempt. So my idea was to just to take a simple plot and write an entertaining story.”

This was to become the first book in the line of the Hole series, The Bat Man, which went on the win the Glass Key Award for best Nordic crime novel (previous winners include Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson).

The Scandinavian frightener

The dark themes and imagery in the Harry Hole series are often almost nightmare-inducing: the thought of ingenious serial killers and gruesome torture devices might indeed keep you up at night. “When I was a kid, I was easily scared, and I think I can still revisit that fear that you outgrow at some age,” says Nesbø. “I don’t have any fear of the dark any longer, but I can recall it. And if I’m lucky, I can be scared of something. But I think fear is the fuel that you need to write a (crime) novel. So the ideas come from my own fears.”

The current success of Scandinavian crime fiction might not be directly linked to this dark subject matter, but perhaps there is something a bit more spine-chilling about murders in the cold north. “Hopefully it has got something to do with the quality of the writing,” adds Nesbø. “It is difficult for us Scandinavian writers to see exactly what it is that attracts all the attention. It may be the atmosphere, and they might find the Scandinavian landscape exotic. But it may also have to do with crime being more shocking in these well organised societies.”

From hardback to big screen

Following the path of popular adaptations of Scandinavian crime writing, from Wallander to the Millennium trilogy, there has been a lot of interest in continuing the trend with Harry Hole. “For many years I turned down the offers for TV series and movies, simply because I was still writing on the series and didn’t want anything to interfere with the process. But now I’m probably coming closer to the end of the series, so I accepted an offer from Working Title to do The Snowman. I don’t know what the progress is, but hopefully it’ll take a long time before I see the first Harry Hole movie,” Nesbø says with a smile.

Already on the way to the big screen is Nesbø’s Headhunters, which has been produced by Swedish company Yellow Bird. It has already been sold for distribution in the US, the UK, Australia and many European countries. The film is expected to premiere in August 2011.

For more information, please visit: www.jonesbo.co.uk

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Danish designer Louise Campbell fronts a new wave of young and talented Scandinavian designers, who challenge the tradition of ‘Scandinavian Modern’ and offer new visual experiences and perspectives on design. You might know her from her collaborations with Royal Copenhagen and Louis Poulsen, you might have seen her designs at MoMA, or read about her in Wallpaper. Starting up her own studio in the mid-90s, she has since become a critically-acclaimed designer with a strong, idealistic approach to her work.

Campbell is one of Scandinavia’s most progressive current designers, making furniture and lighting for a long list of renowned international design companies from Zanotta to Stelton. Campbell’s designs are always experimental, with an edge and a special charm to them. She loves playing around with the function and form of everyday objects, and challenges conventional materials and the manufacturing process.

The journey

Having a Danish father and a British mother, Campbell grew up and studied partly in Denmark, partly in England. Despite her dual nationality, the Dane in Campbell is her dominant half. “I’m more blunt and less patient than my gentler, more reflecting, far better mannered English counterpart. The two halves live in a constant battle with one another,” she explains. It seems that this relationship is also transferred to her aesthetic vision. We are definitely dealing with a designer who is not your average Scandinavian minimalist.

Campbell describes her journey to become a designer as very confused. She switched between art college and design school four times before finally settling on design. After achieving a degree from The London College of Furniture, she returned to Denmark to study at The Danish Design School, where everything suddenly fell into place, and she went from bewildered to very passionate. This gave her an incredible drive by which she still feels fuelled. In 1996, shortly after graduating from The Danish Design School, Campbell set up her own studio in Copenhagen, and her career as an independent designer gradually started to take form.  Today, she can list major design brands like Royal Copenhagen, Holmegaard, Zanotta, Stelton, Muuto and HAY as her clients. Setting up her own business does not mean that she has become any sort of businesswoman though: “I am, and my work is, 100% emotion driven,” she makes clear.

Inspiration and form

There is a saying that a cobbler does not necessarily have good shoes. This somewhat holds true for Campbell when it comes to her own home. While Campbell dreams of simple and large open spaces, she cannot live with them in reality. She finds comfort in having her things, her memorabilia and interests, close to her, and describes this as the English side in her. Again the battle between “the English herbaceous border and the Scandinavian minimalist” is in play. Maybe this is part of the reason why she is so good at creating a characteristic Scandinavian aesthetic that still surprises.

To Campbell peace of mind is the primary dynamic when searching for inspiration. It is less about the things we surround ourselves with, and more about keeping an open mind. She adds that all change can inspire, such as travelling and meeting new people, but only if our minds are open to finding the potential in these encounters. The in-depth studying of a subject, whether it is of functional or existential nature will also open up to new experiences, she believes.

As a designer Campbell sees herself as someone who provides form. According to her, this can be very functional form and at other times close to completely useless form. Her job as a designer is all about sculpting her way through various challenges in three dimensions. Each object that Campbell designs has its own purpose. While her commercial works speak for themselves, her one-offs are more complex. This is where she gets the chance to experiment, because they do not necessarily have to have a purpose. When I ask Louise to describe her brand, she replies: “My brand is me. There is no difference. It means that it cannot be defined in a few words. It is as moody and unpredictable as I am. And as vulnerable.”

Being true to yourself

When building up her career, Campbell had to take on an array of projects for survival. Now being an established and recognized designer, she has the privilege of being far more selective when choosing her projects. Essentially what Campbell would like to achieve is to only make things that she finds it important to bring to life. When looking at her impressive portfolio of work, it is also those products that have been compromised least by commercial limitations which are her favourites. Campbell is working towards being able to design objects that are as close as possible to her own intentions. She is and wants to be true to herself.

For more information, please visit: www.louisecampbell.com

By Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, Minister for Culture, Sweden

Moderna Museet (The Museum of Modern Art) situated at Skeppsholmen in Stockholm. The above exhibition includes, from the left: Alfred Leslie NY 10 NY, 1961; Andy Warhol, Mao 1973; (on the wall, partly hidden) Claes Oldenburg Model Medicin Cabinet, 1966; John Chamberlain MAAB, 1969. Photo: www.imagebank.sweden.se © Nicho Södling

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Sweden is a country with high cultural intensity – and density! A country widely known for its natural beauty and vast landscape scenery, Sweden is also prominent in cutting-edge urban culture.

In our heritage, we are often connected to the adventurous Vikings (who were also great shipbuilders and original craftsmen). But it is far richer than that. Today, we are the home of globally active entrepreneurs in furniture and fashion, computer games and popular music. People in our cultural industries receive their inspiration and skills from an early introduction to the arts in school. And this continues: from a national perspective, Sweden has one of the highest levels of citizen participation in cultural activities in the world.

Why is this? Maybe it has something to do with our strong democratic culture, where  civil society for more than a century has played an active role in engaging people in the arts. Or is it because of the openness to all things new, the curiosity that has built so many fertile relationships across cultural and geographic borders?

We travel a lot, and our society has historically been both a nation of emigrants and of immigrants, crossbreeding and developing our cultural life. Today, almost all citizens have access to the Internet and are known as early adapters in the world of fashion, design and communication. Contemporary art prospers, and our artists participate on the international arena, as does theatre and dance, classical music, opera, crafts and architecture.

Tourists never miss a visit to the famous Vasa Museum, the amazing recovered warship from the 17th century that sank at the very beginning of its maiden voyage. And you should not miss the regional or international music festivals, like the Baltic Sea festival with initiators and classical superstars like Valery Gergiev and Esa-Pekka Salonen; or Bingsjöstämman, a meeting-place for traditional music in a wonderful Dalecarlia setting – not far from the unique Dalhalla stage for concerts and opera.

You can also experience the Moderna Museet, with its exceptional collection of modern art, or the Cullberg ballet, often performing at the International Scene of Contemporary Dance. One of the most famous Swedes throughout history is undoubtedly Carl von Linné, the Father of Botany. You can visit his rural home outside Uppsala – not far away from the great medieval cathedral in the centre of the town. Well, there is so much more – who could grasp it all in such a short space? We just hope to see you!

P.S. You shouldn’t miss the white nights of midsummer either, far out in the archipelago… but that’s only pure nature.

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Swedish supergroup Ace of Base are back! After an eight year hiatus, they have come back with their fifth studio album, The Golden Ratio. They will be returning to UK shores in 2011, but Scan Magazine met up with the group in Stockholm at the end of 2010. We wanted to talk about the new album, but also about the fact that the line-up is now a little different, too. The band’s famous front women, sisters Jenny and Linn Berggren, are controversially no longer present, amid rumours of a rift. In their place are two new vocalists, Julia and Clara, joining original founding members Ulf and Jonas.

It has been eight years since your last album. What on earth have you been doing since then?

Jonas: Ha! Raising kids!
Ulf: And that’s taken up some time of course. But also, we needed to have a break from the music industry to try to focus on different things. I think in the early part of the 2000s we kind of lost the spirit of it all, and it wasn’t fun anymore.
Jonas: There was too much politics there. With my sisters Jenny and Linn, and then companies who would say, “Oh you have to do it like this, and you have to do it like that.” All kinds of things, it becomes too heavy. In the end, we were only really happy with some songs on each album. But on the first album we did exactly what we wanted. And with this album we have been able to do that again. It’s very nice. Without compromising, with me and Ulf working, it’s all very positive. We have the energy back!
Ulf: With the first album, we locked ourselves away in the studio for almost three years. There were no record companies involved, no producers, nothing. The second album – we’d been number 1 all over the world, so suddenly we had record company executives from all over the world, from every single country, who had an opinion.
Jonas: Everybody wanted to put their thumb on it. And it doesn’t help the music production one bit.

Ok, so The Golden Ratio is of course the new album. But for those who know and love the old Ace of Base sound, how would you describe this new album in comparison?

Jonas: I would say it’s a mixture of 1994 and 2010. You take the best parts of each and put them together. We wanted to do the music that we love, which is around 1994 music-wise. And we wanted to add some 2010 spice to it.
Ulf: But it’s also really inspired by most of the inspirational sources from the first album, which are from the early eighties. It has a very typical Ace of Base sound on some songs, the reggae beats and so forth. And then it has a really heavy dance influence to it as well. And we’ve been working a lot to enforce the girls’ vocals, to really show the girls’ vocals as naked as possible, because they sing so amazingly.

So, the new album is the return of Ace of Base, but it is also the introduction of Julia and Clara as the group’s new vocalists. But girls, it must have been quite daunting to front an album for a band, whose fans have been used to two different vocalists for the last 15 years. So how did you deal with that?

Clara: Well we’re not here to take someone’s place or anything like that. Julia and I have just tried to do a good job, and do what we love, and just sing.
Julia: They were also Ace of Base but in another form, and we are a new form of Ace of Base. It’s not like we are the new Jenny and Linn. They were wonderful, and now we are something new, something else. We’re just trying to be ourselves.

And how did the new Ace of Base come about and the old Ace of Base cease to exist? There were rumours that the record label didn’t want Jenny fronting the band on her own after Linn had finally left.

Jonas: Yes, they wanted a new girl, a new lead vocalist.
Ulf: When we write songs, we write songs for two girls. That’s the dynamic we always want to have in the songs, the harmonies.
Jonas: They missed Linn’s voice very much, the record label. Jenny can’t sing like that, so they wanted us to get a lead vocalist in. And it’s hard to tell your own sister that. They didn’t say it to her, they said it to us.
Ulf: We wanted to continue working, but the record label demanded that we have two girls singing. They were not interested in releasing anything otherwise. So it’s not like we had a choice either. And Jenny wasn’t interested in doing that. So the only way for us to continue was to get two new girls.
Jonas: It’s sad. At first Jenny said, “Yes, I can do that.” But then it was always no. You say yes, but then you have so many terms, and it has to be this and this and this and this, that you actually really mean no.

So did she ever actually officially leave?

Ulf: Now she has left, yeah.

And how are relations between yourselves and Jenny and Linn now?
Jonas: I meet Linn as she also lives in Gothenburg. So we meet often, and she likes my kids, and we hang out. But as for Jenny, I would say… if it were just me, Ulf and Jenny playing together in the band, all would be fine. But there were so many factors from outside, some that we’ve just mentioned, but a lot of other ones too.
Ulf: We tried. We tried everything in our power to make this happen, but it didn’t work out. But now she can do what she loves to do, to work and do her solo career, which is great. And we can do what we love.
Jonas: We wish her all the luck in the world. There’s no problem on that side, from our side.

For more information, please visit: www.aceofbase-music.de

By Nia Kajastie | Photos: Cathrine Wessel

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Sivert Høyem, the former frontman of Norway’s most successful rock band Madrugada, released his third solo album called Moon Landing in 2009 and embarked on a European tour in 2010. This included four gigs in the UK at the beginning of October, which gave Høyem the chance to reacquaint himself with the old fans of the band as well as attract a new audience for the next chapter in his music career. Scan Magazine caught up with him during his busy tour schedule.

“I was a little concerned about how the gigs would go in the UK,” Høyem admits. “But I loved it, and London was probably one of the best shows I’ve done.” And, of course, touring in the UK is not a new thing for Høyem as such, but after the break-up of Madrugada it is still a bit of a step into the unknown, like landing on the moon. The audience for his music already exists in Europe as well as the UK, but he may still need to find his footing as a solo artist. “People have a lot of respect for the UK. A lot of great music is made there, and it seems like there’s a lot of competition. But I’m going to try anyway. So much of the music I love comes from there, and I want to feel like I’ve made it,” Høyem asserts.

The story so far

Høyem and his bandmates had definitely “made it” as Madrugada, undeniably one of the biggest rock bands to come out of Norway. It all started out pretty much the same way as a lot of bands do: bored teenagers in a small town united in their love of music. “When I was a kid I listened to The Beatles, and as a teenager it was The Doors. I started getting into heavy and expressive rock music, and when I started playing with friends it became a powerful means of expressing myself,” says Høyem. “Then I met these others, who were writing their own music, and listening to things like the Pixies, Jesus and Mary Chain, and Happy Mondays. Together we eventually created Madrugada.” Subsequently, the band moved to Oslo and started playing some gigs to become more noticed. After a few years they were able to get a record deal, and in 1998 they signed with EMI.

A new beginning

­­After five records and massive success in Norway and mainland Europe, the band split up, following the untimely death of their guitarist Robert Burås in July 2007. After these tragic events, Høyem and his bandmates went onto finish their fifth and final album and embarked on a last tour in 2008. “And so I became a solo artist against my will,” Høyem remarks. Even with two solo albums under his belt already, this was the first time that all his energy would be channelled into his own music.

“Moon Landing was created out of a vacuum. After breaking up the band, I didn’t know what to do. It was an entirely new situation for me. I did some thinking and played with some other brilliant musicians. And eventually I started arranging some tunes I was working on and creating new music again,” Høyem explains. “Once I had enough songs written, we (guitarist Cato Salsa and drummer Børge Fjordheim) travelled to a cabin up in the mountains to record and arrange the songs.”

In this isolated setting, the new album took its form, in stark contrast to the band albums that were recorded in studios in LA, New York and Berlin. For Høyem it was a new beginning, in new surroundings. “It was a good way of doing things for me. I’d wanted to do it like that for a long time already,” says Høyem. “Compared to my two first solo albums, which were quite harmonic and more folky, Moon Landing is more of a rock album; it’s more European. I’d like to continue in that direction, keeping it more angular and harder.” Høyem is currently writing new music and hoping to release a new record next year as well as doing another tour in the UK very soon. “And I’m just going to keep on doing that,” he concludes.

For more information, please visit: www.siverthoyem.com