Johan Harstad
Buzz Aldrin, what happened to you in all the confusion?

The years us 1999. The final year before the future begins. Mattias is a gardener and was born on the night that man landed on the moon in 1969. His greatest wish is not to get in anyone's way, to be anonymous, a functional hole in the universe. He has been with his girl friend for eight years, he has a job he loves and a box of threadbare books about space. He also has a friend who has got a job as a musician on the Faroe Islands in the summer and has said yes, he will go along as the soundman – someone has to sort out the sound. According to plan he will be back home in a week. But it doesn't take much to rock the boat. One drop too many in the ocean, and a storm is let loose. It will be a long time before Mattias returns home. A long time. First he will almost disappear

Johan Harstad

John Erik Riley

Johan Harstad offers a wholly original voice and is one of the most obvious talents published by Gyldendal for many years.

He sees human fates in modern reality in a way that is both urgent and refined, offering a complete involvement and a particular sense of absurd humor. His characters often stand slightly to one side, at a distance to the major pulse of society. They are vulnerable, lonely, different.

Johan Harstad made his debut 21 years old, with a contribution to Postboks 6860 in 2000, releasing his first collection of prose works, From here on you just get older, in 2001. This was followed by a collection of short stories, Ambulance, in 2002 received with critical acclaim, translated into French and Finnish. Harstad has also written four pieces for the theatre, Degrees of White, Washington, Krasnoyarsk, The Breadman's Memoirs collected in BSIDES published in 2008.

Rights sold to

Australia, University of Western Australia Press
Denmark, Batzer
Finland, Gummerus
Faroe Islands, Kim Simonsen
France, Editions Gaïa
Germany, Piper Verlag
Italy, Iperborea
Korea, Munhakdongne
The Netherlands, Podium
Russia, Fluid Free Fly
Sweden, Wahlström & Widstrand
Turkey, Ithaki
USA, Seven Stories Press