“[A] haunting masterpiece … The deceptively simple novel is slow-burning, placing each character into situations associated with horror—entering an unfamiliar house, accepting a ride from a stranger—and the result is a magnificent tale.”
Publishers Weekly, starred review of Love, 2018

With the publication of the novel Cut in 1994, Hanne Ørstavik (b. 1969) embarked on a career that would make her one of the most remarkable and admired authors in Norwegian contemporary literature. Her literary breakthrough came three years later with the publication of Love, which in 2006 was voted the 6th best Norwegian book of the last 25 years in a prestigious contest in Dagbladet.

Since then the author has written several acclaimed and much discussed novels and received a host of literary prizes. Her novel The Pastor won the Brage Prize in 2004, and she was nominated for the Brage Prize again in 2013 for On the Terrace in the Dark. In 2018 Love was published for the first time in English, earning rave reviews in US papers. The book was a finalist for the National Book Award the same year, and the translation won the PEN Translation Prize early 2019.

Literary awards and nominations:
Winner of the Gyldendal Prize 2023
Longlisted for The Republic of Consciusness Prize 2020
Winner of the Pen Translation Prize 2019
Winner of the Villa SULT Prize 2019
Shortlisted for the US National Book Award 2018
Voted one of the best ten international books published in Denmark in 2014 in Berlingske Tidende
Longlisted for The P2 listeners’ best novel prize 2013
Nominated for The Brage Prize 2013
Aschehoug Prize 2007
Klassekampen’s Literary Award 2004
Brage Prize 2004
Dobloug Prize 2002
Amalie Skram Prize 2002
Havmannprisen 2000
Oktober Prize 2000
NRK P2 Listener’s Prize 1999
Sult Prize 1999
Tanum’s woman scholarship1998