Winner of the Missing Voices Prize 2021

Espen Stueland made his literary debut in 1992 with A Slow Dance out of a Burning House, a collection of poetry. He has since writ­ten three more poetry collections, a novel and a prose collection, as well as essays on law, climate change and cultural and literary topics. He has received several awards for his poetry, was named one of Norway’s 10 best authors under 35 by Morgenbladet in 2004 and has been voted Critic of the Year.

“With his latest books, [the author] has broken new ground, both in his own writing and in Norwegian literature in general. Even though Espen Stueland started his literary career as a poet, it’s as an essayist that he has received the most attention. Through the Flesh – Dissection and the Cultural History of the Body from 2009 was universally praised by the critics for its unique, successful depiction of scientific history in fertile dialogue with philosophy, art, culture and religion”
Jury statement, Missing Voices Prize (The Literary Council of the Norwegian Authors’ Union)