One of Scandinavia’s most prominent authors, winner of the Nordic Council’s Prize for Literature 2001.

Jan Kjærstad (b. 1953) occupies a prominent place in contemporary Norwegian literature. He has a master‘s degree in theology from the University of Oslo, and he made his debut as a writer of fiction in 1980. Since then he has written a number of novels and short stories, picture books and essays. In 1984 he received the Norwegian Literary Critics Association’s Prize for Homo Falsus, or the Perfect Murder. The fact that he was honored with Germany’s prestigious Henrik Steffens Prize in 1998, awarded to Scandinavians who have significantly enriched Europe’s artistic and intellectual life, also illustrates his international appeal as an author. His trilogy The Seducer (1993), The Conquerer (1996) and The Inventer (1999) makes a monumental contribution towards renewal of the art of novel writing in Scandinavia. In 2001, Jan Kjærstad won the Nordic Council’s Prize for Literature for The Conquerer. His novel Berge (2017) was one of the most sold and best reviewed books in Norway in 2017. His latest novel “A Time to Live” was publilshed by Aschehoug in August 2021.

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