Karin Smirnoff: Sweden’s best-selling author on the northern connection, power and restlessness
By Malin Norman | Photos: Camilla Höglund
The first book in Karin Smirnoff’s praised trilogy about Jana Kippo has recently become a drama series on Swedish Television, and her latest instalment in the pulse-raising Millennium series was released in English last year. Now, she is working on her third Millennium story, once again taking Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist on a thrilling showdown in northern Sweden. Scan Magazine talks to the author about men’s violence against women, the powers challenging the North, and restlessness as a driving force.
Best-selling author Karin Smirnoff’s books have seen great success in both Sweden and internationally – with hundreds of thousands of copies sold, several titles translated, and many nominations and awards received.
Smirnoff first had her breakthrough with the critically acclaimed debut novel Jag for ner till bror (My Brother), which was shortlisted for the prestigious August Prize in 2018 and named Best Novel of the Year by the Swedish Booksellers’ Association. In 2022, she took over the torch for Stieg Larsson’s epic Millennium series, but more on that later.
From acclaimed debut to TV series
In Jag for ner till bror, Smirnoff introduced readers to the stubborn yet vulnerable Jana Kippo, who returns to the family’s farmhouse in the sparsely populated northern Sweden to see her brother.
Set in a rural community and steeped in darkness, the story follows Jana Kippo’s pursuit of love and art and has captivated audiences and critics worldwide.
This first of Smirnoff’s books is now a drama series on Swedish Television, with over a million streams so far. “The end result is surprisingly good,” admits Smirnoff. “What is perhaps missing in the TV series is the process of Jana Kippo developing as an artist; how trauma can be used for creativity instead of self-destruction.”
With roots in northern Sweden, Smirnoff is no stranger to the rural setting. “For me, it was natural to set the books about Jana Kippo in a place similar to my village. When you grow up in a place, it also gives you great access to small details; how the snow settles on the trees, how the fields look in February, how things smell and feel at certain times of year,” she ponders. “It’s not easy to live in the North; it’s cold and dark, and the weather works against you large parts of the year. But you also have a great sense of freedom. This mix shapes the people who live here.”
What attracts many readers, and now viewers, is Smirnoff’s straightforward, concise style and constant narrative drive in the storyline. In her books, and in our chat, she is refreshingly direct. “What I want is to move readers, emotionally, but without going over the top. Jana Kippo, for instance, doesn’t cry when she gets sad; instead she gets furious. I’m a big fan of revenge stories.”
Two more books about Jana Kippo followed, and the heroine has become an important character for many readers. “In my books, I include a lot of violence. It’s a tough subject that I’m trying to understand myself, how it arises and what it consists of,” she says. “It can be violence between a man and a woman – more than a third of women in the world will at some point be subjected to violence – but it can also be violence against a whole population. Ultimately, it has to do with power. And we need to continue the conversation, in order to be able to do something about it.”
Continuing the Millennium legacy
The epic Millennium series is one of Sweden’s biggest literary successes internationally, with more than 100 million copies sold worldwide. The first three books by journalist Stieg Larsson were published posthumously, after his passing in 2004. Journalist David Lagercrantz was commissioned to write three further instalments, before Smirnoff took over the reins.
Her first Millennium book, Havsörnens skrik (The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons), was published in 2022. Whilst Larsson’s main characters remain, in Smirnoff’s book Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist cross paths further north, in Gasskas – a fictive town with only 20,000 inhabitants. In addition to the pulse-raising murder plot readers expect from the Millennium series, this is also a story about powerful interests, capitalism and greenwashing in northern Sweden.
In Smirnoff’s Millennium sequel, the eighth instalment in the series, Lokattens klor (The Girl with Ice in Her Veins), she once again places Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist in Gasskas, where tensions rise as a global corporation exploits the town’s natural resources. The book has received praise from the likes of British author Lee Child, who says in a statement: “Lisbeth Salander is back-and maybe better than ever. Karin Smirnoff’s take is both respectful of the past and ready for the future-altogether remarkable.”
Keeping the northern connection
An underlying theme in Smirnoff’s storylines is the mentioned greenwashing, a challenge facing northern Sweden. “A lot is happening right now, with global corporations spending billions on projects such as developing new wind parks and mines. The money is rolling in, quickly, but at the cost of local communities, and in particular the Sámi people and their reindeer herding,” she says, but is also clear to point out: “I’m not against these developments in general, but we need to think critically about the long-term impact on both the communities and the environment.”
Smirnoff and Larsson share common ground in their interest in men’s violence against women, but also in their northern roots; both authors were born in Västerbotten county. When speaking to Scan Magazine, Smirnoff is working on her third book in the Millennium series, and she reveals that it once again is set in northern Sweden and includes reopening Gasskas’ old mine, called The Pit, which has been found to contain rare earth minerals.
“I’ve spent six years of my life in the Millennium world, and after this I’m just about ready to move on with my own projects,” the author says, but what those projects might be is not certain. Likely, another book about Jana Kippo is on the cards, something that Smirnoff has mentioned in other interviews as well. She also plans to write a piece for Norrbottensteatern, possibly also a book about Paris, where she lived for a few years.
What becomes obvious is Smirnoff’s free spirit, or as she says herself, her restless soul; before writing books, she used to be a journalist and photographer, an entrepreneur with a street food venue, and she still owns a wood products company. She appears fearless, keen to always make progress, ready to take on any challenge and see where it takes her. The restlessness is an important driving force, it seems.
“Writing a book is a huge project, something I didn’t think I could master being so restless, but as it turns out, it wasn’t as hard as I thought. Writing needs to be fun though, and it’s more fun when I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen in the story – that’s why I never plan my books,” she smiles, and adds; “I don’t think about the reader. When writing, I’m in that world on my own, and I like to be surprised.”
Books by Karin Smirnoff, in order of publication:
Jag for ner till bror (2018), English translation: My Brother (2022)
Vi for upp med mor (2019)
Sen for jag hem (2020)
Sockerormen (2021)
Havsörnens skrik (2022), Millennium 7, English translation: The Girl in the Eagle's Talons (2024)
Lokattens klor (2024), Millennium 8, English translation: The Girl with Ice in Her Veins (2025)
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