lønningspils

As the year comes to a close it is time to reflect on the year and much more importantly… make lists.

Here is the Lønningspils Top 10 Nordic Releases of 2025. Books released this year / debut English translations.

Our #1 book is, of course, The Calf by Leif Høghaug (trans. David M. Smith). Leif’s inspiration from translating James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake takes a bizarre form in an ambitious campy sci-fi that’s part Biblical Horror and part Lutefisk Western is something you can’t fergit; Smith’s translation into a rural Appalachian English dialect not only places it at the top of Nordic releases, but as the centrepiece of the 2025 ambitious literary translation triptych beside other behemoths Attila & Schattenfroh.

1. The Calf – Leif Høghaug

2. The Silence of Falling Snow – Kristjana Gunnars

3. Vaim – Jon Fosse

4. and when the light comes it will be so fantastic – Kristin Berget

5. On The Calculation Of Volume III – Solvej Balle

6. Aase’s Death – Aase Berg

7. Coming. Apart. – Edy Poppy

8. The Painted Room – Inger Christensen

9. Mountains Of Kong – Dag T. Straumsvåg

10. The Wax Child – Olga Ravn

There are many exciting publications on our radar for 2026: A Parish Chronicle by Halldórr Laxness, Queen by Birgitta Trotzig,  Small Comfort by Ia Genberg, they by Helle Helle and On The Other Side Is March by Sólrún Michelsen. Dalkey Archive Press will be re-releasing Self Control by Stig Saeterbakken. On the non-fiction end, Apathy In Scandinavian Literature by Jens Lohfert Jørgensen is something we can’t wait to dive into.

As the year ends we wanted to extend our gratitude to many people who made this website possible: Jordan Barger, David Smith, Edy Poppy, James Webster, Per Ebsen Svelstad, A.V. Marraccini, Erkka Finlander, Louis Davidson, Penelope Dieppa and Noah Volund alongside Archipelago, Deep Vellum, Verso, New Directions, Take Cover Books, Biblioasis, Poesia and Isolarii. An extra special thank you to our in house graphic designer Gabe and Ursula’s editor Matt. 

We thought we would leave you with our personal top ten reads of the year each, no rules. Some Nordic, some new, some old, all great.

Ursula’s 2025 Favorites-

1. The Love Story of the Century,  Märta Tikkanen, 1978 
2. Scenes From a Childhood, Jon Fosse, 2018
3. The Ice Palace, Tarjei Vesaas, 1963
4. The Calf, Leif Høghaug, 2025
5. Te Details, Ia Genberg, 2022
6. Tripticks, Ann Quin, 1972
7. Aase’s Death, Aase Berg, 2025
8. The Other Girl, Annie Ernaux, 2025
9. So The Wind Won’t Blow It All Away, Richard Brautigan, 1982
10. Kallocain, Karin Boye, 1940

Gregory’s 2025’s Favorites-

1. The Ice Palace, Tarjei Vesaas, 1963
2. Wittgenstein’s Nephew,Thomas Bernhard 1982
3. Septology, Jon Fosse, 2021
4. Novel 11 Book 18, Dag Solstad, 1992
5. The Sibyl, Pär Lagerkvist, 1958
6. Salka Valka, Halldór Laxness, 1931
7. Barabbas, Pär Lagerkvist, 1950
8. The Silence Of Falling Snow, Kristjana Gunnars, 2025
9. Heartfelt Anything, Teddy Burnette, 2022
10. The Calf, Leif Høghaug, 2025

We are so excited for 2026 at Lønningspils.

Gott nytt år!