Kåre Holt (10 October 1916 – 15 March 1997) was a Norwegian author. He wrote plays, poetry and about forty books.[citation needed]
Biography
Holt was born in Våle Municipality in Vestfold, Norway. His parents were Peder Anton Kristiansen (1870-1958) and Mathilde Sofie Larsen Rønningen (1871-1945). He worked for some time as a journalist at Vestfold Arbeiderblad.[1]
His initial work was published in 1939, a children's book named Tore Kramkar. As his career progressed, Holt wrote many children's books, plays, radio plays, biographies, and historical novels. The trilogy Kongen about King Sverre Sigurdsson[2] is considered his principal work. He is also remembered for his mythologically-based novels about icons of Norwegian history, among others Kappløpet about Roald Amundsen which created a sensation when it was published in 1974.[3]
Holt won The Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature 1954, for Mennesker ved en grense. Holt was nominated three times for The Nordic Council's Literature Prize (Nordisk Råds litteraturpris): in 1966 for the novel Kongen—Mannen fra utskjæret, in 1970 for the novel Kongen—Hersker og trell and in 1979 for the novel Sønn av jord og himmel. Holt was made a Knight 1st Class in the Order of St. Olav in 1991. He died during 1997 in Holmestrand Municipality in Vestfold. In 2007, a bust of the author by artist Ada Madssen was unveiled in front of his former house at Reidvintunet, an open-air museum in the village of Hillestad in Holmestrand.[4]
Bibliography
Kåre Holt bust at Reidvintunet in Holmestrand
Tore Kramkar – (1939)
Tore finner vei – (1940)
Spillemann og kjøgemester – (1941)
Udåden – (1945)
Hurra for han som innstifta da'n – a biography of Henrik Wergeland for young people (1945)
Demring – (1946)
Nattgjester – novel (1948)
Cleng Peerson og Nils med luggen – teen book (1948)
Det store veiskillet – novel (1949)
Brødre – novel (1951)
Hevnen hører meg til – novel (1953)
Mennesker ved en grense – novel (1954)
Det stolte nederlag – novel (1956)
Natt ved sjøen – radioplay (1956)
Storm under morgenstjerne – novel (1958)
Rømlingen Oskar og Maria fra Hulesjøen – teen novel (1959)
Opprørere ved havet – novel (1960)
Den gamle veien til Kierlighed – stories (1961)
Perlefiskeren – novel (1963)
Mannen fra utskjæret – novel (1965) (about King Sverre Sigurdsson)
Fredløse menn – novel (1967) (about King Sverre Sigurdsson)
Hersker og trell – novel (1969) (about King Sverre Sigurdsson)
Kristina av Tunsberg – play (1971)
Oppstandelsen – novel (1971)
Ansikter i sagaens halvlys – (1971) (illustrated by Karl Erik Harr)
Farvel til en kvinne – novel (1972) (about the queen buried at Oseberg)
Hilsen fra Rafnaberg – collection of articles (1973)
