Lars Saabye Christensen is one of Norway’s most beloved and prolific authors. Despite being known for his long novels, his debut book was the poetry collection History of Gly (1976), for which he was awarded the Tarjei Vesaas prize. His first novel, The Amateur, was published in 1977 and Saabye Christensen often says all his novels could’ve had this title. Humans who struggle with inner insecurities and lack of a directory of their own lives, who are not professionally well-prepared in all of life’s situations, but instead make wrong choices and appear clumsy – these are the people he has an ever-recurring love for in his books. 

His big breakthrough novel was Beatles (1984), which is one of the biggest selling literary titles in Norway ever and which new generations of youth keep falling in love with. In 2001 his epic major work The Half Brother was published, an extraordinarily generous and moving novel, which follows a family over a period of many years and through all stages of life. The Half Brother became an international success and won the Nordic Council Literature Prize. Between 2017 and 2021 the series Echoes of the City was published, which was met with exceptional criticism and reached a large readership. Saabye Christensen has written over 70 titles, won numerous prizes and awards, and has been translated into 36 languages.

Photo by Lina Hindrum