Bonnierförlagen and Lars Kepler are selling Storytellers Agency to the Salomonsson Agency

The literary agency Storytellers Agency, of which 70% is owned by Bonnierförlagen and 30% by authors Alexandra and Alexander Ahndoril, is being sold to the Salomonsson Agency. The change of ownership means that the Salomonsson Agency will henceforth act as agents for Lars Kepler in all territories and in all formats.

The collaboration upon which Bonnierförlagen and authors Alexandra and Alexander Ahndoril (the writers behind the pseudonym Lars Kepler) embarked in 2009 has grown into a sizeable international business incorporating book publication and film and television production in more than 40 countries. In 2013 Alexandra and Alexander Ahndoril and Bonnierförlagen set up, on the initiative of the authors, the joint agency Storytellers, which is now being sold to the Salomonsson Agency.

Håkan Rudels, MD, Bonnierförlagen:

“This sale to the Salomonsson Agency, the market-leading agency for Scandinavian authors, is a stage in the development of Kepler’s authorship internationally, in all formats.”

With the acquisition of the agency Niclas Salomonsson will take over as MD of Storytellers. Elisabet Brännström, head of Bonnier Rights and formerly head of Storytellers, will remain in her post at Bonnier Rights. The change of ownership comes into force immediately.

Niclas Salomonsson, MD, Salomonsson Agency:

“We are incredibly proud to have been entrusted with the task of further developing one of the most successful crime-writing authorships of our time, Lars Kepler, on the international market. The acquisition is an offensive investment, and we see immense future potential for this authorship.”

Alexandra and Alexander Ahndoril:

“We could never have dreamed of the journey we were embarking on together with Bonnierförlagen when we posted the manuscript of The Hypnotist through the letterbox in the spring of 2009. Six books on, we love writing about Joona Linna more than ever, and that’s what we’ll be concentrating on in future. Our collaboration with Bonnierförlagen has always been characterised by innovative thinking, and our shared agency was part of that. It was created from an author’s perspective – and the fact that we are now taking the step to combine our perspective with the Salomonsson Agency’s unique expertise feels exactly right.”

The parties have agreed not to make public the financial details of the exchange.

FACTS

Lars Kepler is the pseudonym of authors Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril. As Lars Kepler they have written the crime-novels The Hypnotist (2009), The Nightmare (2010), The Fire Witness (2011), The Sandman (2012) and Stalker (2014) about police officer Joona Linna, as well as the standalone thriller Playground (2015). In the autumn of 2016 the sixth book in the Joona Linna series will be published: The Rabbit Hunter. Lars Kepler’s books are now published in more than forty countries, and have sold a total of eight million copies. www.larskepler.com

The Salomonsson Agency was founded in 2000. Today the agency has fourteen employees and represents approximately forty Nordic authors in the fields of fiction, thrillers, children’s books and non-fiction. The agency also represents a number of scriptwriters. www.salomonssonagency.com

Bonnierförlagen is Sweden’s leading publishing company, with a total of over 10,000 titles on its lists, of which 5,500 are available digitally. In 2016 Bonnierförlagen is publishing approximately 450 new titles and 500 reprints. The group comprises Albert Bonniers Förlag, Bokförlaget Forum, Bokförlaget Max Ström, Bonnier Audio, Bonnier Carlsen, Bonnier Fakta, Bonnier Pocket, Kartago, Månpocket (70%) and Wahlström & Widstrand. Bonnierförlagen, which employs around 280 people, also includes five book clubs, the Bonnier Rights agency, the self-publishing service Type & Tell, and Bonnier Brands. www.bonnierforlagen.se

For further information, please contact:

Niclas Salomonsson, MD, Salomonsson Agency, Storytellers Agency,

Tel.: +46 70 773 42 00, niclas@salomonssonagency.com

Alexandra and Alexander Ahndoril

via Katarina Arborelius, Head of Communications, Bonnierförlagen

tel.: +46 70 696 66 90, katarina.arborelius@bonnierforlagen.se

Håkan Rudels, MD, Bonnierförlagen

Tel.: +46 73 773 80 55, hakan.rudels@bonnierforlagen.se