Jo Nesbø

Jon "Jo" Nesbø (Norwegian: [ˈjuː ˈnɛ̀sbøː]; born 29 March 1960) is a Norwegian novelist and musician. His books had sold over 50 million copies worldwide by 2021, making him the most successful Norwegian author to date. He first came to prominence as the singer, rhythm guitarist and principal songwriter of country-pop band Di Derre, when their second album became a big hit in Norway, almost selling enough to make double platinum. The album was initially titled Kvinner & Klær (Women & Clothing), but had to be renamed and re-released as Jenter & Sånt (Girls & Stuff) after the eponymous Norwegian women's fashion magazine filed a complaint. His first novel, The Bat, was released in 1997, one year before Di Derre's fourth and final studio album. It was awarded the Riverton Prize for best Norwegian crime novel, and the Glass Key prize for best Nordic crime novel. After 1998 he concentrated on writing, continuing the internationally successful crime novel series about inspector Harry Hole, collecting several awards nationally and internationally. In 2007 he released his first children's book, Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder, which also was hugely successful. Headhunters, the first film to be based on a Nesbø novel, was released in 2011. Since then several films and TV series have been based on his books, both the crime novels and the children's books, often with Nesbø himself as script writer.