Johan Harstad

Darlah - 172 Hours on the Moon

Darlah – 172 timer på månen

NASA holds a historic lottery for young people. The prize is a trip to the moon. All three winners experience unexplainable events. And in a nursing home in Miami there is a man who was once in the American military. He can barely remember his own name. But he is certain that a new expedition to the moon could mean the end of everything…

Darlah – 172 Hours on the Moon is Johan Harstad’s first novel for young adults. It earned him the prestigious Brage Prize 2008. In November 2014 an expert jury chose it as the best Norwegian book for young adults of all times.

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Photo: John Erik Riley

Johan Harstad (b. 1979) made his debut 21 years old, with a contribution to the anthology Postboks 6860 in 2000, releasing his first collection of prose works, From here on you just get older, in 2001. This was followed by a collection of short stories, Ambulance, in 2002 received with critical acclaim.
In 2005 he published his first novel, Buzz Aldrin, what happened to you in all the confusion?, which was later adapted into a TV-series. Another novel Hässelby, followed in 2007. In 2009 Johan Harstad was employed as the first house play write at Norway’s Nationaltheatret. He has published two volumes of plays, BSIDES, 2008 and Etc., 2010. Translation rights to his books have been sold to 22 countries.