Two years ago, there was talk that the nominees were unexpected and they were called "bang".

This year, the majority of the nominated authors are veterans.

Only two are debutants: Annika Norlin and Lydia Sandgren.

Sandgren's novel Samlade verk took ten years to write and is one of this year's great book talkies.

- It's dizzying.

I have been brought up with the idea that hard work pays off, it is very nice that it turns out to be true, she says.

Among the veterans are, among others, Carola Hansson with Memory Threads and Thomas Tidholm who is nominated for the third time, now with the book About nature, art and people.

Reign of terror that rules and ants that cooperate

Last year it was Patrik Svensson who taught us everything about eels and at the same time took home the prize in the non-fiction category.

This year, the nominated books are everything from a depiction of nature in essay form to a reportage book about crime.

In Familjen, the journalist Johanna Bäckström Lerneby maps a family that controls the Angered district in Gothenburg with a reign of terror.

- I am so extremely interested in this subject, I personally think that it is very exciting with these cultural clashes and contexts that one should try to describe as factually as possible, she says.

In the category of this year's non-fiction book, Nina Burton is also nominated with her book Life's thin walls, where she studies ants' intelligence, ability to work together and individuality.

Pain and heartbreaking in serial form

The nomination of a comic book album is unusual, but in the category of children's and young people's literature, two comic book novels have a chance to take home the prize.

One is Alma Thörn's comic novel Always Goodbye.

The jury's motivation is that the work is told from the child's perspective and cuts to the heart and at the same time gives a warm hug at the same time.

Anders Fager and Peter Bergting's book Kråkorna is also in serial format.

In his comic book novel, the reader meets Kim who inherits an abandoned family farm where he meets a painful origin.

This year's August Gala takes place on November 23 at the Concert Hall in Stockholm.