Eva Elisabeth "Liza" Marklund (born 9 September 1962) is a Swedish journalist and crime writer.
Her novels, of which most feature the fictional newspaper journalist Annika Bengtzon, have been published in forty languages. Marklund is the co-owner of Sweden's third largest publishing house, Piratförlaget, and has worked as a journalist as well as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.
Contents
Life
She was born in Pålmark near Piteå, Norrbotten.
Marklund lives in Spain with her husband Mikael.
Career
Since her debut in 1995, Liza Marklund has written eleven crime novels in her Annika Bengtzon series, the stand-alone novel The Black Pearl Farm as well as the first novel in her new series, The Polar Circle Trilogy. In addition, she has co-authored two documentary novels with Maria Eriksson and one non-fiction book about female leadership with Lotta Snickare. Marklund's crime novels featuring crime reporter Annika Bengtzon have become international bestsellers. She won the "Poloni Prize" (Polonipriset) 1998 for "Best Swedish Crime Novel by a Female Writer" and "The Debutant Prize", (Debutantpriset) 1998 for "Best First Novel of the Year" with the crime novel Sprängaren (The Bomber), published in 1998. Marklund was named Author of the Year in Sweden 1999 by the Swedish trade union SKTF, won the radio network RixFM's Swedish Literary Prize in 2007, and was selected the fifteenth most popular woman in Sweden of 2003 and the fourth most popular woman in Sweden of 2004 in a yearly survey with 1,000 participants, conducted by ICA-kuriren, a publication published by a Swedish supermarket chain.
Her books have been number one bestsellers in all five Nordic countries. In 2002 and 2003, two of Liza Marklund's crime novels were listed on the international bestseller lists by the online magazine Publishing Trends, Prime Time ranking #13 and The Red Wolf ranking #12. In Scandinavia and Germany, her non-fiction novels have become the center of a heated controversy.
The Postcard Killers, a crime thriller written in collaboration with American bestselling author James Patterson, was published on January 27, 2010, in Sweden and became number one on the Swedish bestseller list in February 2010.
It was published on 16 August 2010 in the United States.
At the end of August, it reached number one in the New York Times Best Seller list, making Liza Marklund the second Swedish author (the first one being Stieg Larsson with the Millennium Trilogy) to reach the number one spot.
Buried Alive: A True Story is the 1995 literary debut of Swedish author Liza Marklund. It is the first novel in the Maria Eriksson series. The novel is based on a true story and deals with a woman who is abused by her boyfriend and forced into hiding. Swedish journalist Monica Antonsson released a book in 2008 criticising the factual background of Buried Alive leading to a public debate about the book and the public libraries of Sweden reclassifying all editions from non-fiction to fiction.
UNICEF ambassador
In 2004 Liza Marklund was appointed ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF. The reason was her long interest in issues related to human rights. She travels regularly on behalf of the UNICEF and has, among other things, especially covered questions related to child slavery and children with HIV and AIDS in the third world.
Works
Novels
Maria Eriksson series:
Buried Alive: A True Story (Gömda: en sann historia) (1995; updated edition 2000), with Maria Eriksson
Asylum Granted: A True Story (Asyl: den sanna fortsättningen på Gömda (2004), with Maria Eriksson
Annika Bengtzon series, by chronological order:
Studio 69, or Exposed (Studio sex) (1999), English translation Studio 69, trans. Kajsa von Hofsten, 2002; Exposed, trans. Neil Smith, 2011
Paradise, or Vanished (Paradiset) (2000), English translation Paradise, trans. Ingrid Eng-Rundlow, 2004; Vanished, trans. Neil Smith, 2012
Prime Time (2001), English translation Prime Time, trans. Ingrid Eng-Rundlow, 2006
The Bomber (Sprängaren) (1998), English translation The Bomber, trans. Kajsa von Hofsten, 2000; The Bomber, trans. Neil Smith, 2011
The Red Wolf (Den röda vargen) (2003), English translation The Red Wolf, trans. Neil Smith, 2010
Last Will (Nobels testamente) (2006), English translation Last Will, trans. Neil Smith, 2012
Lifetime (Livstid) (2007), English translation Lifetime, trans. Neil Smith, 2013
The Long Shadow (En plats i solen) (2008), English translation The Long Shadow, trans. Neil Smith, 2013
Borderline (Du gamla, du fria) (2011), English translation Borderline, trans. Neil Smith, 2014
Short stories
"Vedtjuven" (1999), Annika Bengtzon series
Non-fiction
Härifrån till jämställdheten (1998), with Lotta Snickare, feminism
Det finns en särskild plats i helvetet för kvinnor som inte hjälper varandra (2005), with Lotta Snickare, feminism
Literary awards
1998 – Winner of The Swedish Academy of Crime Writers' Award for Best Debut (for The Bomber)
1998 – Shortlisted for the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers' Award for Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year (for The Bomber)
1998 – Winner of The Poloni Prize for Best Swedish Crime Novel by a Female Writer (for The Bomber)
1999 – Swedish Union's Award for Author of the Year (for Studio 69)
1999 – Shortlisted for the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers' Award for Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year (for Studio 69)
1999 – Shortlisted for the Glass Key for Best Nordic Crime Novel of the Year (for The Bomber)
2000 – Winner of Paperback of the Year (for The Bomber)
2000 – Book of the Year Award (for Vanished)
2001 – Winner of QX's Book of the Year Award (for Vanished)
2002 – Awarded with the St. Erik's Medal
2002 – Winner of the Scanorama Awards (for Scandinavian of the Year in the Literature category)
2007 – Winner of The Swedish Literary Award for Best Novel of the Year (for Lifetime)
2010 – Winner of The Platinum Paperback Award for Outstanding Paperback Sales (for The Long Shadow)
2012 – Awarded with The Reading Relay Gold Medal Scotland (for The Bomber)
Adaptations
Deadline (2001), film directed by Colin Nutley, based on novel The Bomber
Paradise (2003), film directed by Colin Nutley, based on novel Paradise
Nobel's Last Will (2012), film directed by Peter Flinth, based on novel Last Will
Prime Time (2012), film directed by Agneta Fagerström-Olsson, based on novel Prime Time
Studio Sex (2012), film directed by Agneta Fagerström-Olsson, based on novel Studio 69
The Red Wolf (2012), film directed by Agneta Fagerström-Olsson, based on novel The Red Wolf
Lifetime (2012), film directed by Ulf Kvensler, based on novel Lifetime
A Place in the Sun (2012), film directed by Peter Flinth, based on novel The Long Shadow
The Postcard Killings (2020), film directed by Danis Tanović, based on novel The Postcard Killers