Norwegian Authors

Biographies of the four major figures in Norwegian literature.

Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906)
One of the world’s most performed playwrights. Creator of modern realistic drama.

Knut Hamsun (1859–1952)
Nobel laureate and pioneer of modernist prose. One of literature’s most influential and most contested figures.

Sigrid Undset (1882–1949)
Nobel laureate and author of Kristin Lavransdatter, one of the great historical novels of the twentieth century.

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910)
Nobel laureate and author of Norway’s national anthem. Nation-builder, dramatist and public intellectual.

Camilla Collett (1813–1895)
Author of Norway’s first realistic novel. Pioneer for women’s rights and a sharp social critic who paved the way for Ibsen.