Torborg Nedreaas (1906-1987) was one of the most outstanding writers of the post-war era in Norway. Among her great works are the novel Nothing Grows by Moonlight, and the three books collectively known as the Herdis Trilogy.

Nedreaas was born in Bergen and spent most of her childhood there. Her mother was half Jewish and while she was baptized herself, she kept in close contact with the Jewish part of the family. After a failed attempt as a playwright, Nedreaas made her literary debut in 1945 with the short story collection Behind the Closet, the Axe. Her great breakthrough came in 1947 with her first novel, Nothing Grows by Moonlight, which addresses the question of abortion and women’s reproductive rights in a both nuanced and shocking way.

In 1950 she published The Magic Glass, a collection of stories revolving around the young girl Herdis and the people around her. The book won the Critics’ Prize, the first year that this prize was awarded. The story of Herdis is continued in the acclaimed novels Music from a Blue Well (1960) and At the Next New Moon (1971), which was nominated for the Nordic Council Literary Prize. Taken together, the trilogy follows Herdis from girlhood to early womanhood, in one of the most powerful coming-of-age stories of Norwegian literature.

In addition to these works, Nedreaas published one novel, three collections of short stories and several radio plays and essay collections. She was the recipient of the Critics’ Prize, the Dobloug Prize, Mads Wiel Nygaard’s Grant and the Norwegian Academy’s Prize.

Nedreaas was deeply involved in women’s issues throughout her adult life. A committed, but undogmatic communist, she was unafraid of voicing controversial political opinions and reached a wide audience late in life with her many incisive, witty talks on public radio.

In 2023, Nothing Grows by Moonlight was named one of 10 books of a new canon for the left, next to works by Karl Marx, Simone de Beauvoir, John Steinbeck, Pierre Bourdieu and Frantz Fanon. It was the only book that made both the jury’s list and the top 10 list in the readers’ poll.