Nightblind (22 page)

Icelandic crime writer Ragnar Jónasson was born in Reykjavik, and currently works as a lawyer, while teaching copyright law at the Reykjavik University Law School. In the past, he’s worked in TV and radio, including as a news reporter for the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service. Before embarking on a writing career, Ragnar translated fourteen Agatha Christie novels into Icelandic, and has had several short stories published in German, English and Icelandic literary magazines. Ragnar set up the first overseas chapter of the CWA (Crime Writers’ Association) in Reykjavik, and is co-founder of the international crime-writing festival Iceland Noir, selected by the
Guardian
as one of the ‘best crime-writing festivals around the world’. Ragnar Jónasson has written five novels in the Dark Iceland series, and he is currently working on his sixth. He lives in Reykjavik with his wife and two daughters. Ragnar’s debut thriller
Snowblind
became an almost instant bestseller when it was published in June 2015, and rights have since been sold worldwide.
Blackout
will be published by Orenda Books in 2016.

Visit him at
www.ragnarjonasson.com
or on Twitter @ragnarjo

Quentin Bates escaped English suburbia as a teenager, jumping at the chance of a gap year working in Iceland. For a variety of reasons, the gap year stretched to become a gap decade, during which time he went native in the north of Iceland, acquiring a new language, a new profession as a seaman and a family before decamping
en masse
for England. He worked as a truck driver, teacher, netmaker and trawlerman at various times before falling into journalism largely by accident. He is the author of a series of crime novels set in present-day Iceland (
Frozen Out, Cold Steal, Chilled to the Bone, Winterlude,
and
Cold Comfort
), which have been published worldwide. He’s currently working on translating the next title in Ragnar Jónasson’s Dark Iceland series:
Blackout
.

Visit him at
www.graskeggur.com
or on Twitter @graskeggur