Icelandic authors Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Ragnar Jónasson have founded a new Icelandic crime fiction award, RÚV reports. The award is called Svartfuglinn (en. The Auk or The Black Bird) has been created in collaboration with Icelandic publisher Veröld. Svartfuglinn will be awarded yearly to an unpublished Iceland crime fiction manuscript. This year some two dozen manuscripts were submitted for consideration.
The winning author will receive an ISK 500,000 (USD 4,800/EUR 4,000) cash prize, in addition to a publishing offer and other perks.
The founding authors stated in a press release their intention in creating the award was to encourage authors to try their hand at the genre, facilitate the publishing process, and encourage more individuals to write in Icelandic. At the same time, they hope the award will help authors connect with foreign publishers.
The winning manuscript will be announced in April.
