'Millennium' author backs Danish newspaper boycott

25 Aug 2015 - AFP

AFP / Gerard Julien

Customers browse copies of "The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo," the first volume of the Millennium trilogy by Swedish author Stieg Larsson, at a bookstore in Arles, France on February 25, 2009

The Swedish author of the highly-anticipated sequel to the Millennium crime trilogy said Tuesday he supported a Danish newspaper boycott of him over his publisher's refusal to let literary critics read the book in advance.

The boycott concerns David Lagercrantz's book "The Girl in the Spider's Web" -- the fourth instalment of Stieg Larsson's best-selling Millennium trilogy which is due for release in 25 countries on Thursday and in the United States on September 1.

Larsson, who created the series, died 11 years ago and in December, Swedish publisher Norstedts said it had commissioned Lagercrantz to write a fourth instalment, although details of the plot have been shrouded in secrecy.

Media interviews with Lagercrantz ahead of the book's launch have been subjected to rigorous confidentiality agreements and Danish daily Politiken said it had been offered an interview with him in early June.

"Norstedts had an unusual condition: We would not be allowed to read the book before the interview!" Jes Stein Pedersen, the paper's cultural editor told public broadcaster Swedish Radio.
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