Fanny and the Mystery in the Grieving Forest

Rune Christiansen became an important figure in the Norwegian literary landscape already with the publication of his first book, the poetry collection Where the Train Leaves the Sea, in 1986. Though he was initially known as a groundbreaking poet, Christiansen has increasingly turned his attention to prose, having published a string of acclaimed novels since 2003: Intimacy (2003), The Absence of Music (2007), Chrysantemum (2009) and The Loneliness in Lydia Erneman’s Life (2014). Hailed by many critics as his best work so far, the latter won the national book award, the Brage, and was shortlisted for both the Critics’ Prize for fiction, the Young Readers’ Critics’ Prize and the P2 Listeners’ Novel Prize.
Christiansen has also translated poets such as Frank Kuppner, Alain Bosquet and Edmond Jabés, and edits a select series of contemporary poetry in translation for his publisher, Forlaget Oktober.