Meet the Author: Lilja Sigurðardóttir

21 October 2025

Icelandic crime-writer Lilja Sigurðardóttir was born in the town of Akranes in 1972 and raised in Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. An award-winning playwright, Lilja has written ten crime novels, including Snare, Trap ir Cage, making up the Reykjavík Noir trilogy, and her standalone thriller Betrayal, all of which have hit bestseller lists worldwide. Snare was longlisted for the CWA International Dagger, Cage won Best Icelandic Crime Novel of the Year and was a Guardian Book of the Year, and Betrayal was shortlisted for the prestigious Glass Key Award and won Icelandic Crime Novel of the Year.

The film rights for the Reykjavík Noir trilogy have been bought by Palomar Pictures in California. Lilja’s latest book Black as Death is published by Orenda Books on 23rd October. You can also find Lilja’s books on the Safolko bendruomenės bibliotekų katalogas.

Were you surrounded by books as a child or did you visit a library?

Yes, I grew up surrounded by books. My father was a historian, and my mother loved literature, so there were always books around – history, short stories and novels in Icelandic and foreign languages. My family travelled quite a lot, and we lived in many countries but when we lived in Iceland I settled into the local library.

Some of my best moments of childhood are connected to the Kópavogur Library where I spent hours and the lovely librarians allowed me to use both mine and my mum’s library card to take home books.

What was your journey to publication?

I had always been writing, mostly short stories, for the drawer, but one day I saw an advertisement in the paper from a publisher about a crime novel competition. I wrote Snare on my lunchtimes in a burst of creative energy. That novel was called Spor arba Steps in English and it got good reviews but didn’t sell much. The publisher still wanted a sequel, so I wrote that one and the same applied: good reviews but little sales.

In the following years I wrote for theatre with success and concentrated on my day job. But writing is a compulsion, and I wrote Snare because the characters just kept knocking. And Snare had immense success and went international. Since then I have been a full-time writer.

Kokia tavo rašymo rutina?

I’m a rather disciplined writer and I write every day. I start early, often before the world wakes up. I love my mornings: coffee, silence, and the story. I usually write for a couple of hours. The afternoons are for editing, emails, research and all the stuff that life demands. I try to end the day knowing exactly where to begin the next morning – it keeps the story alive overnight.

Snare was the book that brought you international success. When you were writing it did you have a feeling you were breaking new ground?

Not consciously, no. I was simply writing the story that I would have wanted to read: about a woman trapped by impossible choices. But looking back, I realize Snare touched on subjects that were quite new in Nordic crime fiction at the time: motherhood, financial crime, and moral compromise told from a female perspective. I was then told that having a lesbian main character was considered fresh and new and people both straight and gay enjoyed that. I am very pleased, as when writing a story I wanted to read, it turned out lots of other people also wanted to read it!

Your latest book Black as Death is released here on 23rd October and it is the finale in your Arora series. When you start on a series of books do you have a plan of where you want to take the story, or do you change it constantly to keep the reader guessing?

Nowadays I start with a loose plan – I know where my characters begin and roughly where I want them to end up. But the path between those points is full of surprises. The characters develop as I write, they make choices I didn’t foresee. I love that. If I can surprise myself, there’s a good chance the reader will be surprised too.

Arora is a wonderful character, determined and flawed but someone we can all identify with. How did you find her ‘voice’? Was she based on anyone?

Arora came to me fully formed – a financial investigator who has the physical strength to beat up the bad guys. She’s not based on one person, but I’ve met many strong, resilient Icelandic women who inspired aspects of her. Her voice is practical, slightly cynical, but deeply human. She wants justice, though she knows it’s never clean.

How does your writing relationship with your translators work?

It’s a wonderful collaboration. I have had two translators into English who are both really good. Quentin Bates who I started out with has a deep understanding of Icelandic culture and humour, which is invaluable. We worked well together for many years. The translator I have now is Lorenza García and she is also fantastic. Translation is an art form, and she approaches it with great care and precision. I trust her completely.

Kas toliau jūsų laukia?

I have just finished a new standalone novel called ⱯLFA, a crime novel set in the near future. And I’m also involved in adapting my earlier books for television, which is both exciting and slightly terrifying!

What is the funniest or strangest thing your readers have shared with you?

Once a reader told me they had learned how to smuggle drugs – “just in case” – from reading Snare. I had to assure them that was absolutely not the intended takeaway! And that they should not trust Sonja’s methods in the book. It is a novel after all! Another reader sent me a photo of their black cat sitting on a stack of all my books in order, which I took as a very Icelandic kind of blessing.

Gal galite papasakoti apie save vieną dalyką, kurio jūsų skaitytojai galbūt nežino?

I keep backyard chickens. They’re my quiet company between writing sessions – endlessly watchable and funny, each with a distinct personality. There’s comfort in their routine, but also something faintly sinister about how strictly they enforce the pecking order. Watching them has taught me a lot about human nature – ambition, alliances, betrayal – just with more feathers.