Walpurgis Tide by Jógvan Isaksen. London. 2016. Norvik Press. 9781909408241. Translated from Faroese by John Keithsson. 282 pages. paperback.
DESCRIPTION - Two British environmental activists are discovered dead amongst the whale corpses after a whale-kill in Torshavn, on the Faroe Islands. The detective Hannis Martinsson is asked to investigate by a representative of the organization Guardians of the Sea - who shortly afterwards is killed when his private plane crashes. Suspicion falls on Faroese hunters, angry at persistent interference in their traditional whale hunt; but the investigation leads Martinsson to a much larger group of international vested interests, and the discovery of a plot which could devastate the whole country.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY - Jogvan Isaksen (born 25 August 1950 in Torshavn) is a Faroese writer and literary historian. He is best known for his crime novels and for his book about Faroese literature Færøsk Litteratur (1993, in Danish). He is leader of the Faroese publication house Mentunargrunnur Studentafelagsins which has its address in the Faroe Islands, but its committee is located in Copenhagen. This publication house published Faroese books, it is the oldest Faroese publication house, founded in 1910. Jogvan Isaksen is the son of Magnhild Isaksen and Reimar Isaksen, who both come from the village of Gøta. After finishing high school in 1970 he moved to Denmark in order to study Nordic Philology at Aarhus University. He finished his MA in Scandinavian Literature Science in 1982. Since 1986 he has been associate Professor in Faroese language and Faroese literature at the University of Copenhagen. Since 2000 he has been main editor of the magazine Nordisk litteratur (Nordic Literature) by the Nordic Council. Since 1978 Isaksen has also worked as a writer. His crime fiction novels are popular in the Faroe Islands and often best sellers just before Christmas. Some of these books have been translated into other languages. Isaksen has also written some children's books and books about Faroese writers and literature. For his literature work about the Faroese writer Hanus Kamban (at that time his name was Hanus Andreassen) and for his work for Faroese Literature, Isaksen received the Faroese Literature Prize in 1994. In 2006 he received one of the prizes of the Faroese Government, called Heiðursgáva landsins. The crime fiction Blíð er summarnátt á Føroyalandi was Isaksen's first crime fiction novel and one of the first crime fictions written in Faroese, where the story also happens in the Faroe Islands. It has been translated into Danish, Icelandic and German.
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