We are very happy to say that Arnfinn Kolerud has won The Norwegian Cultural Ministry Literature Prize for his novel The Million Kroner Kindness Competition (Snillionen).
This is what the jury had to say:
The Norwegian Literature Prize (NOK 50,000) is to be awarded to Arnfinn Kolerud for The Million Kroner Kindness Competition (Cappelen Damm). Mom and Frank’s lottery numbers come up, and they win a lot of money. Mom wants them to live as they did before, and keep a tight budget, while Frank dreams of having both a swimming pool with clear blue water and a ski slope on the hill. Frank has to wait until he’s eighteen before he can get his share of the winnings, something he’s not particularly happy about. It gets worse when Mom promises one million kroner, to the person who is the kindest to the others in the village. But when the villagers start competing to be kind, it brings out the best and the worst in them. Frank and Mom run away on holiday to escape from everything the kindness competition has led to at home, but even there, various conflicts pop up. People and events are depicted here in a detailed, lively and humorous way – and with a serious undertone. Values ??and morals are discussed without moralising. Kolerud gets the reader to reflect over everyday language with surprising twists and turns. An amusing story about the difficulties of being incredibly rich and, at the same time, a good person.
Arnfinn Kolerud (born 1968) is from Isfjorden, in Romsdal. He debuted with Hope the Snowplough Doesn't Come in 1996, which won him the Ministry of Culture’s Debut Prize for children and young-adult’s literature. Coming Ready or Not (2004) has been compared with the Tarjei Vesaas’ childhood stories, and won him the Critics Prize, The New Norwegian Children's Literature Prize, Guro Sandsdalen's Literature Prize – and was nominated for the Brage Prize. Kolerud lives in Flatraket, in Nordfjord. He writes for both children and adults and likes to play chess.