Jan Arnald

Jan Arnald (born 1963) is a Swedish novelist and literary critic with a doctorate in literary theory. He writes under his own name and under the pen name Arne Dahl, which has brought him international fame as a crime novelist.

He made his debut under his real name in 1990 with the novel Chiosmassakern. Five years later he completed a doctoral thesis on the tensions between literary genres. The poet and writer Artur Lundkvist, a figure of twentieth-century Swedish letters, appears both in that research and in the novel Maria och Artur. His output also includes short stories and other prose. As Arne Dahl, he created the Intercrime series, following Inspector Paul Hjelm and the special police unit known as Group A. The ten Intercrime novels have been translated into more than twenty languages.

He works as a critic for the newspaper Dagens Nyheter and has edited the magazine Aiolos. His books have won prizes including the Palle Rosenkrantz Prize in 2003 for Europa Blues and the Swedish Crime Writing Award in 2011 for Viskleken. His best-known legacy is the television adaptation of the Group A novels, which reached British audiences on BBC Four.