DIE SCHÖNSTEN WEIHNACHTSGESCHICHTEN AUS SKANDINAVIEN

ANTHOLOGY
SEPTEMBER 2007
LIST (ISBN 978-3471795484)

In September 2007 Martin Hall made his literary debut in Germany with a contribution to the anthology Die schönsten Weihnachtsgeschichten aus Skandinavien – “the most wonderful christmas stories from Scandinavia”. The publishing company List had succeeded in getting the immensely popular Danish singer and entertainer Gitte Haenning to gather some of her favourite Christmas stories as well as writing the foreword in the book, thus introducing the readers to her appreciation of the Scandinavian Christmas traditions.

Martin Hall’s contribution to the book, however, is anything but a traditional Christmas story. His story is called “Nine Cigarettes” and is a barren, alienated tale of a man’s homecoming to his family at Christmas time. The entire narrative is enacted in the room where this character used to live as a boy, in the hours before he has to join his family at the dinner table. The novel originally appeared in the Danish publishing agency Lindhardt og Ringhof’s anthology Christmas Stories released in 1998.

Among the others contributors to Die schönsten Weihnachtsgeschichten aus Skandinavien you’ll find authors such as August Strindberg, Herman Bang and H.C. Andersen.