The 2024 OUT OF SCANDINAVIA artist in residence at Gustavus Adolphus College is Antti Tuomainen, an acclaimed crime fiction writer from Finland known for the dark humor that pervades his novels, which have been translated into 25 languages.
European critics have dubbed him “the king of Helsinki noir” and “the funniest writer in Europe,” and American reviewers describe his style as a cross between the Coen brothers and Carl Hiaasen. He spins stories of hapless protagonists caught in preposterous circumstances, echoing the precarity of a small Nordic country finding its way in a globalizing world.
All of his recent novels have been shortlisted for major prizes. The Healer (2011) won the Clue Award for Best Finnish Crime Fiction Novel, and Little Siberia (2020) won the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel. Amazon Studios and Mandeville Films are adapting his novel The Rabbit Factor (2022), about an insurance mathematician who gets in the crosshairs of criminals when he inherits an amusement park, into a streaming series starring U.S. comedian Steve Carell.