Norwegian literature is literature composed in Norway or by Norwegian people. The history of Norwegian literature starts with the pagan Eddaic poems and skaldic verse of the 9th and 10th centuries with poets such as Bragi Boddason and Eyvindr Skáldaspillir. The arrival of Christianity around the year 1000 brought Norway into contact with European medieval learning, hagiography and history writing. Merged with native oral tradition and Icelandic influence, this was to flower into an active period of literature production in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Major works of that period include Historia Norwegie, Thidreks saga and Konungs skuggsjá.
Jon Olav Fosse is a Norwegian author, translator, and playwright. In 2023, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable."
Tarjei Vesaas was a Norwegian poet and novelist. Vesaas is widely considered to be one of Norway's greatest writers of the twentieth century and perhaps its most important since World War II.
Hans Herbjørnsrud was a Norwegian author of short stories. His works frequently play with the differences between Norwegian languages Bokmål and Nynorsk and the various Norwegian dialects. His stories' characters sometimes playfully mix and invent languages, sometimes become caught up in their linguistic games and start losing their identity.
Øystein Lønn was a Norwegian writer. He made his literary debut in 1966 with the short stories Prosesjonen, and followed up with the novel Kontinentene in 1967. He remained a relatively unknown writer until the 1990s, when he received several literary awards. Lønn died on 10 January 2022, at the age of 85.
The Brage Prize is a Norwegian literature prize that is awarded annually by the Norwegian Book Prize foundation. The prize recognizes recently published Norwegian literature.
Guri Vesaas is a Norwegian writer and translator of children's books, and former editor at the publishing house Samlaget.
Edvard Hoem is a Norwegian novelist, dramatist, lyricist, psalmist and government scholar. He made his literary debut in 1969, with the poetry collection Som grønne musikantar. He was awarded the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature in 1974 for the novel Kjærleikens ferjereiser. He was awarded the Melsom Prize in 2006, and the Peter Dass Prize in 2007 for the novel Mors og fars historie. He received the Ibsen Prize in 2008 for the play Mikal Hetles siste ord.
The Nynorsk Literature Prize is awarded annually by Noregs Mållag, Det Norske Teatret and Det Norske Samlaget for the best book in either Nynorsk or dialect. The award is presented for the best novel, poetry, novellas, or drama in the past year.
Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold is a Norwegian author who made her literary debut in 2009 with the novel Jo fortere jeg går, jo mindre er jeg. The book won the Tarjei Vesaas' Debutant Prize, and it was shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award 2013. Skomsvold has dramatized the novel and the play premieres at the National Theatre (Oslo) in 2014.
Nightsongs is a 1997 play by the Norwegian writer Jon Fosse. It tells the story of a young couple who just had their first child. The man tries to become a writer but is constantly rejected by publishers while the woman is growing tired of their situation. The play premiered in 1997 at Rogaland Teater in Stavanger, directed by Kai Johnsen.
Morgen und Abend is an opera by Georg Friedrich Haas to a libretto by the Norwegian writer Jon Fosse. It is based on Fosse's 2000 novel Morgon og kveld.
I Am the Wind is a 2007 play by the Norwegian writer Jon Fosse. It is about two men, The One and The Other, who travel by boat until The One commits suicide by drowning himself.
The House in the Dark is a 1945 novel by the Norwegian writer Tarjei Vesaas. It tells the story of a frightening, darkened house, to which men are trying to dig tunnels, but are routinely captured and taken away in a truck. The novel was written during the last winter of World War II and is an allegory for the German occupation of Norway. An English translation by Elizabeth Rokkan was published in 1976.
Olav's Dreams is a 2012 novel by Norwegian writer Jon Fosse.
Weariness is a 2014 novella by the Norwegian writer Jon Fosse.
Melancholy, original title Melancholia I, is a 1995 novel by the Norwegian writer Jon Fosse. It is about the Norwegian painter Lars Hertervig (1830–1902) and his time as a young student in Düsseldorf, where he, agonised by unrequited love and doubt in his art, is driven toward a mental breakdown.
Melancholy II, original title Melancholia II, is a 1996 novella by the Norwegian writer Jon Fosse. It is set in Stavanger, in early autumn of 1902, the year of Norwegian artist Lars Hertervig's death, and is told from the perspective of Hertervig's fictitious sister Oline. The novella covers one day, the day that Oline learns that her brother Sivert is dying. Sivert's wife, Signe, tells her in the morning that Sivert wants to speak to her, but Oline is frail, and forgetful, and she only sits down at Sivert's bed later in the day when he has already died. Oline is still mourning Lars, and large parts of the novella describe Oline's memories of Lars. The book is the sequel to Fosse's 1995 novel Melancholy, which is about Hertervig's time as a student.
Olav Vesaas is a Norwegian journalist, biographer and publisher.
Geir Halnes is a Norwegian poet.
