Siri Pettersen's Blog, page 5

Silver Throat was Outland’s #1 bestseller in 2023

Silver Throat was the most sold book at Outland Oslo in 2023… Unbelievable, it feels like only yesterday I wore my shoes down in their stores, hoping to one day have a book on their shelves, among all the heroes I loved to read. And now we even do special limited editions for them, with great pleasure and success! Thank you, dear Outland, and everyone who bought from them.

Most loved fanart of 2023!

🔥Heeeere we are! The fanart you loved the most in 2023, a glorious collection that warms my heart more than I can ever say! Never doubt that I’m deeply grateful and intensely aware how lucky I am for all the work you put into this. I am awestruck, every year, as I browse through #fanartfriday. Thank you! No really, thank you, for being here, and for everything you do for me and my books 🥰 Here are your favourites (in random order) from the top left: (Tags are for Insta accounts)

❤️ Unstoppable Hirka, by @h.l.phoenix from Norway. This incredible picture was framed as a gift for me on his latest book launch, there have been rumours that I cried.

❤️ Crochet Hirka, by @kniha_na_hacku from Czech, can you even believe it how cute this is?!

❤️ Happy Hirka, by @izdewiaart from Poland, with such tender and personal lines.

❤️ Stunning Raven Rings tattoo, by @silberweide66 from Germany and @sarikova.tattoo, I can’t even …

❤️ 10 years of Hirka, by @lilliumboi from Norway, who’s been drawing Hirka ever since the beginning!

❤️ Grif, the devil indeed, by @carraert from Czech who truly captures the dark and mysterious mood of Vardari.

❤️ Doing his hair, also by @lilliumboi, you really love her work, and no wonder!

❤️ Naughty Hirka, by @pennyvonpumkin from gods know where, she seems like a globetrotter, and this turned everyone on!

❤️ And saved for last: Hirka and Kuro, by the unforgettable @dinanorlund from Norway, who tragically died of cancer in february, far too young to fathom. Heartbreaking. But her astonishing stories and art will continue to bring hope and comfort for generations.

Thank you! ❤️

Iron Wolf one of the 10 best Fantasy books of 2023!

Kirkus has picked the best books of the year and dear Lord what a wonderful list to be on! Iron Wolf is one of just ten selected YA fantasy books, and as far as I cal tell the ONLY translated title, I can’t even… I’m so proud and truly honoured. This is the best Christmas gift I can imagine. Honestly, my husband can just print their page, wrap it and shove it under the tree and he’ll be all set!

My deepest thanks to Kirkus, Grand Agency, Arctis Verlag US and translator Tara Chace.

Please visit Kirkus and check out all the selected titles of 2023.

Winner of The Raven Rings Prize: Catharina Natalie Wandrup!

Dear everyone! We have a winner! It’s with immense joy and conviction I award The Raven Rings Prize to Catharina Natalie Wandrup, author of «The Lumière Sisters - The stars above Tivoli», a glittering and creative fairytale for middle grade readers. The story is original, solid and heartbreakingly beautiful.

Fearless fantasy

«The Lumière Sisters» is a modern fairytale, brimming with shimmering fairy lights, youthful dreams and classical charm, cleverly tailored for new generations. The contrasts are striking: From castles with canopy beds and rose gardens, to child labour in filthy camps. The story has the best of two worlds in a fascinating and fresh union. The result is fearless fantasy, spanning subgenres from folklore to dystopian steampunk. This is the Grimm brothers meets Carnival Row, for kids! Gorgeous and brutal. The story is distinctive and original, completely free from the caution and uncertainty we might expect from new writers.

Heartbreaking and thrilling

We follow three sisters in exile, orphaned heirs to the throne, forced to flee through the world of humans while having to shove their hands deep into their pockets to hide their true nature, that they are not like us. They are faerie. Home sickness is a powerful pull, saturating the pages. It is heartbreaking, gripping and utterly thrilling.

Terribly relevant

Underneath, gravity lurks, frighteningly relevant, metaphorically supported by hazardously taped cables and broken carousels. We flee to a group of orphans with their own form of justice, through war and persecution that we can just glimpse the true extent of in this first book in a planned trilogy. We sense fear of the other, suppression and the race for resources. Catharina Wandrup digs deep into her themes, with elegance and confidence.

Love glows between the lines

We are masterfully guided through this gravity, because Catharina steals your heart from the first page. Siblings’ love glows between the lines, the characters are strong and distinctive, with believable and unique traits. Secondary characters are just as compelling, we care about everyone we meet.

Flows like a film

«The Lumière Sisters - The stars above Tivoli» is an impressive debut, with intense drive, and carefully curated descriptions that would suggest far more experience. The prose flows playfully and visually, with magical moods. «The Lumière Sisters» is a tribute to everything I love about fantasy: Hope, spirit and magic.

A writer who made the decision

Mentoring is a part of The Raven Rings Prize, which makes it important for me to choose writers with exceptional drive, and Catharina is serious. She writes from her brimming heart, and has demonstrated enormous capacity and willingness to invest. She is ambitious, flexible and incredibly quick to implement new knowledge. Catharina Wandrup has made her decision. This is a choice many readers will thank her for in the years to come.

The global market deserves «The Lumière Sisters», a fairytale I hope and believe will be the first of many. I am incredibly proud to offer my support to this writer at the start of her career.

Congratulations to Catharina, and to her Norwegian publisher Aschehoug. Catharina is represented by Oslo Literary Agency.

Photo: Agnete Brun

Silver Throat is nominated for the Norwegian Bookseller’s Prize!

My sixth book, and sixth nomination, it’s friggin mind-boggling! Ten years ago, Odin’s Child was nominated, as the first fantasy ever, then it was the first entire series ever, and it kept getting wilder. Thousands of books are published every year, a fact of which I’m acutely aware, and the prescious place among the booksellers’ top ten favourites, is a humbling privilege.

My dear booksellers, you are perfectly bonkers and I love you for it! My deepest gratitude for your ground-breaking enthusiasm, and for what it means to the genre I’m so passionate about.

Congratulations and cheers to all the nominees and the publishers who work so tirelessly! Especially my superheroes at Gyldendal Norsk Forlag.

International release dates!

HERE THEY ARE, everyone! The dates you’ve been asking for! Intelligence has been gathered and deals have been made. Not complete, not 100% certain, and some yet to be determined, but this is what we know so far about international releases of Silver Throat. In order of expected release:

Denmark: This week, 27.10!

Germany: March 24

Sweden: May 24

Poland: May 24

Czech: May 24

Finland: October 24

USA: TBD (spring 25?)

Russia: on hold due to national sanctions

I’ll let you know as soon as I have more details, and yes, I will be traveling to some countries for the releases. Thank you for always asking!

Why you must protect your morning brain.

Are you too having a hard time writing, these days? Many are struggling, with the world being as it is, so this is a good time to remind ourselves that art has always happened, and in all circumstances. There was never a moment in time with global calm. Never a perfect stillness for artists to sit down and create. So that moment you are longing for, that sense of equilibrium where you feel you can safely afford to take your eyes off the world, just for a minute, to make art… It will never come.

«You need to filter,» they say, like it’s as simple as taking out the trash. But it’s true. You need to build your own sanctuary, a stillness of the mind. An eye of the storm, where art is allowed to happen. But how?

Personally, I’ve come to recognize how fragile my mind is in the morning. My brain has been leaking dreams for hours and wakes up dry, like a sponge, and it will suck up anything it touches. I am an empty cup, ready for the world to fill me. I can read the news and fill with despair, I can go through my inbox and fill with stress. So I don’t.

I walk in the woods, every morning, first thing. Because I know I’m impressionable then, like a child. Vulnerable and raw. I watch the mist clear off the lake, and listen to the ducks dive. And I let my brain swell up to normal adult size, becoming alert and more resilient, ready to filter the day’s sh*t through a lense of beauty. Eternity.

Take care of your brain, especially in the morning. Let it soak in something good, before you open up to the rest. That will be your creative shield, because you can’t fill a cup with crap if it’s already brimming with coffee.

An epic release!

Ranting about fantasy
Photo: Belinda E. Kjernli
Failing at capturing everyone.
Juva, cosplayed by Cha Sandmæl.
My besties: Writers Tonje Tornes and Tone Almhjell.
Einar Selvik from Wardruna.
Me, fangirling Einar Selvik. Photo: Oda Rygh.
Writer H.L. Phoenix. Photo: Belinda E. Kjernli.
Cake or fake?
Cake! By Ragni Hansen.
And delicious!
The infamous crowing. (Yes. Yes, they did.)
They are coming...
The signing queue.
Signing books and boobs. (True!)
Cosplay of Solde, from Iron Wolf.
Cosplay of Hirka, from The Raven Rings.
Fangirling Einar Selvik again.
She had TWO collector's boxes for me to sign.
"Fantastic Four", my besties.
Overwhelmed by flowers and gifts!
The infamous crown...

The sermon (also known as the Silver Throat release party) happened so wildly on thursday that it’s a night I’ll never forget. The place was packed, effing Einar Selvik played, I signed a naked boob and you need to NEED TO SEE THIS CAKE! There’s no dictionary thick enough to contain the thanks I owe, so this is where you’ll have to use your imagination, ok? Here goes - thank you to:

Einar Selvik from Wardruna, who sang people to tears and remained perfectly stoic while I fangirled away every shred of dignity.

Tone Almhjell, Tonje Tornes, H.L. Phoenix and Pål Stokka, for speeches sounded 100% bribed. (Paypalling you monday)

The writers who crowned me on stage in a lovely and moving stunt that helped me define my own personal hell.

Everyone waiting hours in line to have me sign books and boobs. (True story)

The 30 plus writers who were there and made the cover carousel gorgeous on the big screens.

Everyone who showed up in cosplay, and with flowers and gifts that frustrated the taxidriver beyond average.

The ones who wept when I signed their books, sharing how much they mean to them. I have no words …

Ragni Hansen, for the most legendary release party cake of all time, enough to feed an army, or a few hundred fantasy lovers. (Every crumb was gone!)

Cha Sandmæl, for sweating in Juva’s outfit the whole day, without complaint! A well trained blood hunter. And Siri Øverland Eriksen for creating the outfit.

Everyone who had the wits to film and take pictures, generously spreading it around the ether. I’ll try to tag those I stole from.

Every person who came to share this event with me, those who travelled far, and those who really wanted to be there.

Everyone at my publisher Gyldendal who rigged the entire event and are probably still cleaning…

Writer Tom Egeland, who said it was simple to estimate how much cake we needed, just assume that 1/3 of those «going» would show up. Thanks a friggin lot, Tom…

My deepest gratitude for this dream party, I love you all! ❤️

«Upholds her position as Norway’s Fantasy Queen.»

NRK reviewed SILVER THROAT, live, on the morning news, and I had no idea until a freaking out friend sent me a screenshot. «She’s recognized as the greatest star of fantasy in Norway, as well as a big name internationally,» said the generous intro, before reviewer Gerd Elin Stava Sandve concluded that «She upholds her position as the Norwegian fantasy queen.»

«This is classic fantasy, and I mean in the very best way. (…) She takes full advantage of the genre. This is a great, grandiose story with big themes. It’s about finding yourself, liberating yourself from your own demons, from external demons, about anger, disease, revenge, sexual desire …»

I’m especially pleased that she admits to being excited, and that she emphasizes you should start with book one, Iron Wolf, and then you’ll have two thrilling books to look forward to. My deepest thanks for this wonderful reading, Nrk 🙏❤️

#4 nationally, #1 in Norway's biggest chain of bookstores!

I can hardly believe it, but you put SILVER THROAT straight to the national bestseller list in Norway! It’s number four, and I checked it four times, and wiped my glasses four times, but it still there! This is amazing! Thank you for buying and sharing my books, you are amazing! And we’re even number one at the ARK chain of bookstores, meaning Silver Throat is the week’s best-selling book for kids/YA. That’s insanely cool because I always knew I would never be number 1 in for instance hurdling… Thank you so much! <3