Saabye Christensen was raised in the Skillebekk neighbourhood of Oslo, but lived for many years in Sortland Municipality in northern Norway; both places play a major role in his work. He lives in Blindern, the university district of Oslo.
He is half Danish and holds Danish and Norwegian citizenship.[1][2]
Career
Saabye Christensen studied literature, Norwegian, art history and the history of ideas at university. He made his début in 1976 with a collection of poems entitled Historien om Gly, which won Tarjei Vesaas' debutantpris for that year's best Norwegian literary début, but he had published a poem collection, titled Grønt lys (Green light), when he was 19 years old, and had also published many poems in an underground literary publication called Dikt og Datt.[1]
He has written numerous poems and plays, and several film scripts, but is best known as a novelist. His first novel was published the year after Historien om Gly and titled Amatøren (The Amateur). Among his most noted works are the novels Beatles (1984) (for which he won the Cappelen Prize) and Halvbroren (The Half Brother, 2001) (for which he won the Brage Prize, two other Norwegian literary awards, and The Nordic Council's Literature Prize, and which was shortlisted for the 2005 International Dublin Literary Award). Other notable books by Saabye Christensen are Herman, Gutten Som Ville Være En Av Gutta, Maskeblomstfamilien and Modellen. Between 2017 and 2019, he released a trilogy titled Byens spor (The Traces of a City), in which all three books were met with critical acclaim, while simultaneously being treated for a spinal disc herniation and bone marrow cancer.[3]
Since 1993 he has issued 4 recordings of his poetry as a member of the band Norsk Utflukt: Med lyset på (1993), Diger og gul (1997), Det blå arret (2002) and Tida som går (2004).
Den andre siden av blått. Et bildedikt fra Lofoten og Vesterålen. – poetry (1996) (English 1997: The Other Side of Blue: Pictures and Poems from Lofoten and Vesterålen)
Den misunnelige frisøren – novel (1997)
Noen som elsker hverandre – novella (1999)
Pasninger – poetry (1999)
Falleferdig himmel – poetry (1998)
Kongen som ville ha mer enn en krone children's book (1999)
Under en sort paraply – poetry (1999)
Mann for sin katt – children's book (2000) (illustrated by Rune Johan Andersson)
↑ Mannen som ikke vil være moderne. Aftenposten, 22 August 2015, s. 8. «Forfatteren som har bodd i Norge i 62 år og har beholdt sitt danske statsborgerskap - fått ved fødselen - har stått på sitt, sier han.»
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