Snowblind (26 page)

Icelandic crime writer Ragnar Jónasson was born in Reykjavik in 1976, 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.

Snowblind
is the first book in the Dark Iceland series. The second,
Nightblind
, will be published by Orenda Books in 2016.

Quentin Bates escaped English suburbia as a teenager, jumping at the chance of a gap year working in Iceland. That year stretched to a decade, during which time he went native in the north of Iceland, acquiring a new language, profession and a family, before returning to England. 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
) and translates into English from Icelandic. As well as
Snowblind
, he has translated Gudlaugur Arason’s
Bowline
into English. He’s currently working on translating the second title in Ragnar Jónasson’s Dark Iceland series:
Nightblind
.