KULTURA / CULTURE
SUPERSTAR WRITER In Belgrade with Nesbø
time waiting for their favourite author to scribble his name on the first blank page exuding the irresistible scent of a newly printed book. That’s something that will never be discovered by fans of reading on electronic devices. I somehow barely made it onto the bal- cony, sat on the floor and readied my- self to hear whatever would be revealed about anything by this man, who I’ve come to love through his books. The truth, however, is that the whole thing wasn’t particularly thrilling. There wasn’t an inkling of the tension of his plots, ex- citing characters stumbling drunken- ly through the streets of a snow-cov- ered Oslo... Okay, I’m aware that those are books and not reality, but I still didn’t particularly enjoy the astute questions of the translators of Nesbø’s books, who created the kind of atmosphere that caused the writer himself to slow down and shift to second gear. He nonethe- less spoke openly and candidly. “Ask me whatever you want, I will answer ab- solutely every question,” he said at the start. Shame nobody asked him about anything really awkward.
One of the world’s most famous contemporary thriller authors has discussed what’s hidden behind the cover of his new book and why he always returns to Belgrade with love, as well as announcing the return of Harry Hole T he huge number of peo- ple who packed the hall of Belgrade’s Dom Omladine (Youth Centre) on a rainy day in May for the inaugu-
his new book to us. Entitled Minneso- ta in Serbian or Wolf Hour in English, the new novel was released in mid-May and could be bought on the spot, with the author promising to patiently sign everyone’s copy after speaking. “I hope you won’t be angry if I don't write your complicated surnames in the dedica- tion, rather only my name, otherwise we’ll be here for three days,” said Nes- bø, who was wondrously relaxed ahead of the challenging task of signing sever- al thousand copies of his book. I don’t personally consider autographs as being very important and never re- ally saw the point, but the majority of those in attendance stood patiently in a huge queue, ready to spend some serious
ral ThrillerFest didn’t seem to have an- ything in common. Old ladies dressed for the opera, lads in tracksuits, girls with purple curls, middle-aged men who appeared as though they should be at home watching some sport on TV, rather than pushing their way through this crowd... Nevertheless, all of us – because I was also there – had one thing connecting us: our love for the books of Norwe- gian detective crime author Jo Nesbø, who had arrived in Belgrade to present
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