Pascal Engman

Pascal Carl Orlando Engman Murchio (born 30 July 1986) is a Swedish author and journalist. With more than 600,000 copies of his books sold in Sweden alone, he is the best-selling Swedish author in the millennial generation.^[1] His works have been translated into 19 languages.^[2] Portrayed as a rising star in Scandinavian crime fiction,^[3][4] Engman has been called "the master of the new generation" by David Lagercrantz, the author of the later books in the Millennium series.^[5]

Early life and journalism career

Engman was born in Stockholm, Sweden to a Swedish mother and a Chilean father.^{[citation needed]}

He began his professional life as a journalist, working first at the regional newspaper Trelleborgs Allehanda, then at online magazine Nyheter24,^[6] then at the Swedish evening newspaper Expressen.^[7]

Writing career

Engman's debut novel, Patrioterna (‘The Patriots’), was published in Sweden in 2017.^[8]

Soon after publishing, the TV rights to The Patriots were sold to Fabrik Entertainment in Los Angeles, the production company behind Amazon Prime's Bosch series and AMC's The Killing.^[9]

Following that stand-alone title, he began writing a series about police detective Vanessa Frank. As of 2022, there are four titles in the Vanessa Frank series: Eldslandet (‘The Land of Fire’), Råttkungen (‘The Rat King’), Änkorna (‘The Widows’) and Kokain (‘Cocaine’).^[10] Råttkungen is the first of these to be published in English, under the title Femicide,^[11] by Legend Press as part of a three-book deal. Femicide has already sold over 100,000 copies in Sweden alone.^[2]

The Vanessa Frank series is sold in over 20 countries and has been translated into 19 languages including English, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish.^[2]

Literacy initiative

In 2020, Engman founded the Pascal Engman Foundation, which works to promote reading amongst children and young people in Sweden. The foundation was officially launched in 2021.^[12] Its main activity is to award an annual scholarship (‘Reading Promoter of the Year’) to an individual or an organisation that has made significant contributions in this field.^[13][14] The prize committee awarding the scholarship each year consists of several prominent media personalities, including former SVT CEO Eva Hamilton.^[15]

Bibliography

• Patrioterna (‘The Patriots’), 2017

The Vanessa Frank series

• Eldslandet (‘The Land of Fire’), 2018
• Råttkungen (‘The Rat King’), 2019. Published in English by Legend Press under the title Femicide, 2022.
• Änkorna (‘The Widows’), 2020
• Kokain (‘Cocaine’), 2021

References