Welcome... - 2010-07-26 ... to Thomas Kanger\'s website! I am a writer, journalist, and internationally active journalist trainer. Some biographical data: I was born in 1951, raised in Uppsala, Sweden, then lived in Västerås (Sweden) and in the Stockholm area. I am now based in London, Stockholm and Hanoi (I alternate between the cities). Through the years I have also lived in Palo Alto and Berkeley, Calif. USA, as well as in New Delhi, India and in Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine. I am newly married to Hong Vu and have grown-up children from a previous marriage. My next novel, "the year of the Dragon" (Drakens år), will be published in Sweden in the spring of 2011. My latest novel, "The borderland", was short-listed in april 2010 as best crime novel published in France the previous year: "Le Prix du Polar Européen". Since 2001 I have written and published five crime novels and one thriller. The books are published in more than ten languages and keep coming out in new editions internationally at the rate of about ten books a year. In the summer of 2009 my crime novel "The Sunday Man" reached position 4 of all books sold by Amazon in Germany. Prior to the novels, I also wrote two investigative reports about major Swedish events (see the bibliography below). My five crime novels all have the same main character: the police sergeant Elina Wiik in the Swedish city of Västerås. She is in her 30\'s, bright and beautiful and head-strong - which often results in conflicts - and rather lonely since she believes ”it’s got to be perfect”. Methodical in her work, she often trusts her intuition which sometimes leads her on to succesful but also very troublesome paths. ”The Sunday Man” (Söndagsmannen, the 4th crime story, 2004) is the story about Elina Wiik trying to solve an old murder case. 24 years and eleven months ago, a young woman was found killed in the northern Swedish fjeld. The case is still unsolved, and now Elina has only one month left to find the murderer - the Swedish Statute of Limitations stipulates that you cannot be prosecuted for murder after 25 years have passed. She finds out that the woman gave birth to a girl child not long before she died and that the baby never was found. Elina believes that the unknown father also is the killer. At the same time, 25-year-old Kari Solbakken starts her journey to the north. She is an adopted child, but her adopted parents are now dead and she has no other relatives. She feels lost in this world and wants to find the truth about her background. Who are her biological parents? Why was she abandoned? Her neighbor, a young man in some trouble with the law, accompanies her on this trip way north, a trip back in time, to her unknown history. The clock ticks … both Kari and Elina search - without knowing of each other - for the same man. Somewhere along the line their paths will cross, and dangerously nearby is the killer. But things turns out much different than they all think. The fifth of these Crime novels, "The Boarderland", was published in Sweden in april 2007. It takes Elina to a crime scene between myth and reality. This is how my agent, Salomonsson agency, shortly presents it: "One morning, life suddenly seems unbearable to Elina Wiik. Without thinking twice, she gets in the car and begins the journey that will change her life. In Monte Angelo, Elina is struck by blind passion. But her lover has a past full of dark secrets, and when he is found murdered, Elina is drawn into a malstroem of strange events. Her furious quest for the truth leads her to the Borderland, where truth and myth are identical twins. Meanwhile, a mysterious Nemesis is taking what is rightfully hers. Pitched against the harsh realities of a beaten-up post-war Croatian society, Elina must solve the biggest riddle of her life so far…" Below, you can read an authorized English translation of The Boarderland chapter 6-16. The thriller, "the Occupiers" (2005), is an internationally set story about terrorists that capture ten armored tanks and occupy a small Danish town. Rights have just been bought by the German publisher Btb (Random House) who will make it on of their key books in their catalogue in the spring of 2011. Both "the Sunday Man" and "the Boarderland" were shortlisted for the Swedish Academy of Crime Writer\'s award for best Swedish Crime novel of the year. My novels are being published in Sweden by Norstedts, in Germany (BTB), in Norway (Pirat), in Finland (WSOY), in Denmark (Politiken), in The Netherlands (House of Books), in Spain (Ediciones B, world Spanish rights), in France (Presses de la Cité), in Poland (Czarne) and in Vietnam by Nha Nam. The book and film rights are handled by my agent, Salomonsson agency (Ms Szilvia Molnar, Szilvia@salomonssonagency.com) in Stockholm. Book rights in English are available. My journalistic career in brief: During the 80’s mainly as a news paper journalist, then as a TV-reporter. Newspaper reporter 1980-1990 (later half of this period mainly with Aftonbladet as a freelance). Then television: with ”Kalla fakta”, TV4, and TV4-Nyheterna; i.e. this national channels feature- and news programs. Stringer for TV4-Nyheterna in Israel during the troubled fall of 2000. Then: a number of one-hour documentaries for SvT (Swedish Television) from 2002. One of them, broadcasted in November 2005, told the tale of physical and mental abuse against children in so called children´s homes during the years 1955-1975. A week and a half later, the Swedish government decided to carry out a thorough national investigation on the matter, covering the years 1950-1980. Because of the large scale of victimized children, this investigation is still ongoing, and the final report is expected in 2011. The story made international headlines in many countries and was shortlisted for the year\'s best investigative TV-story. It was also sent by the major TV-channels in the other Nordic countries. In october 2009 a follow-up, called "Daughters of the child care homes", was broadcasted by SvT in Sweden. All in all, I have made around 100 feature stories for Swedish TV channels TV4 (commersial) and SvT (Public Service). Although I have reported from more than 30 countries, not much of my work is available in English – only ”Specimens unfit to live”, a story about how 200 mentally-retarded people were starved to death in the Swedish institution ”Vipeholm” during WWII (Kalla fakta, TV4, 1999). This story also made international headlines, especially in the United States. Another story in English can be read on my website – go from the first pages to ”artiklar” and then to ”the death of Raoul Wallenberg.” I have also been training professional journalists since 1997 for the Swedish Institute for Further Education of Journalists, Fojo, mainly in television production, but I also conduct courses in Investigative Journalism and in training of trainers. My TV-courses covers all journalistic aspects of feature and news work: ideas, research, interviewing, camera work, scriptwriting, video editing and publishing. Emphasis is put on effective work methods and the analysis behind them, so that participant\'s also get the theoretical background to these methods. I have held around thirty courses in Palestine (the West bank and the Gaza Strip), more than fifteen courses in Vietnam, from north to south, and two courses in Sri Lanka. Books: 1. ”Mordet på Olof Palme” (The Murder of Olof Palme), Ordfront 1987. (Wer erschoss Olof Palme, Neuer Malik, Germany). 2. ”Kommunistjägarna” (The Communist Hunters, with Jonas Gummesson), Ordfront 1990 - which was awarded the prestigous Wilhem Moberg Scholarship. - Both of these books are investigative reportage. 3. ”Pengar pengar” (Money Money), Brevskolan 1993. - Used by Utbildningsradion and SvT (National Educational Radio and Television) as a study book in national economy. 4. Första stenen (the First Stone), Norstedts 2001. Der werfe den Ersten Stein, Ullstein, Germany 2003, 2004 and 2010. Nordlicht, Germany 2007. Den første stein, Damm & Sønn, Norway 2002. La Prima Pietra, Robin Edizioni, Italy 2007. 5. Sjung som en fågel (Sing like a Bird), Norstedts 2002. Sing wie ein Vogel, Ullstein, Germany 2004 and 2006, Laula kuin lintu, WSOY, Finland 2004, Sangfuglen, Damm & Sønn, Norway 2003. 6. Den döda vinkeln (the dead angle), Norstedts 2003. Koulleessa kulmassa, WSOY, Finland 2008. Der tote Winkel, Btb, Germany 2008 and 2010. 7. Söndagsmannen (the Sunday Man), Norstedts 2004. Söndagsmannen, Pirat, Norway 2006. Der Sonntagsmann, Btb, Germany 2007 (new editions 2008 and 2010). Söndagsmanden, Politiken, Danmark 2008. Vi khach chu nhat, Nha Nam, Vietnam 2008. El Hombre de los Domingos, Ediciones B, Spain (Spanish world rights) 2008. Mezcyzna, Ktory przychodzil w niedziele, Czarne, Poland 2009 and 2010. Le temps du loup, Presses de la cité, France 2009 and 2010. - These four books are Crime novels. 8. Ockupanterna (the Occupiers), Norstedts August 2005 - a thriller. Terror uden ansigt, Politiken, Denmark 2006. Der Geheimnisträger, Btb, Germany 2011. 9. Gränslandet (The boarderland), Norstedts and Norstedts Audio April 2007- an Elina Wiik crime novel. Grenselandet, Pirat, Norge, 2007. Englebjerget, Politiken, Danmark 2008. Grensgebied, House of Books, The Netherlands, 2008. Tierras de Frontera, Ediciones B, Spain 2009. Der blinde Fleck, Btb, Germany 2009. Pogranice, Czarne, Poland 2010 and 2011. Les disparus de Monte Angelo, Presses de la Cité, France 2010 and 2011. One booklet: The War in Bosnia (Räddningsverket 1993). Contact: info@kanger.se