Maria Navarro Skaranger: Rising Star
– Norway
Born in 1994, she lives and works in Oslo. Her debut novel titled Alle utlendinger har lukka gardiner (All Foreigners Have Drawn Curtains) was adapted into a film of the same name. She recived the European Union Prize for Literature for her second novel Bok om sorg. Fortellingen om Nils i skogen (The Book of Sorrow. The Story of Nils in the Forest). Czech readers are familiar with her through the translated the translated novel, Emily Forever. The protagonist of the story gets pregnant, but her boyfriend leaves her and she becomes a single mother. The book follows the heroine's challenging everyday life. The narrator of the story attempts to understand Emily and have empathy for her, but at the same time, they cannot avoid having a number of prejudices when commenting on her life. "In a certain way [Emily] represents a version of myself," the author stated in an interview for the Czech publishing house Host.