It is with great sadness that we Saturday night received the news of Ingvar Ambjørnsen's passing. He is an author who has meant and means a great deal to Norwegian literature and to us at Cappelen Damm. Ingvar Ambjørnsen was 69 years old, but leaves behind a remarkable legacy.
Ingvar Ambjørnsen
Ingvar Ambjørnsen (b. 1956) is considered to be one of the great storytellers of contemporary Norwegian literature. He started his literary career in 1981, and has since then become one of Norway's most widely read authors. He has written novels, short story collections, children's books and essays.
Over the span of his career he has won numerous awards, including the Brage Honorary Prize and the Aschehoug Prize. His work has been adapted into theatre and films. The movie Elling, based on Ambjørnsen’s novels The Bird Dance and Beyond the Great Indoors, was nominated to an Oscar in 2001.
From the eulogy, written by editorial director John Erik Riley:
Ingvar Ambjørnsen was a lively and intelligent storyteller, who wrote warmly about the vulnerable and the overlooked in Norway and in Europe. The tone could be sharp and harsh, sometimes also dark, perhaps especially in the short stories, but was just as often characterised by empathy and humour. Nowhere was it clearer than in the books about Elling, which were critically acclaimed and sold in many copies to ever new generations of fans. The books were adapted to the screen and to the stage a number of times.
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On paper, his life may sound like a fairy tale. He bet everything on literature and love (these were of course connected), so he moved to Hamburg and stayed there as long as he could, while sending one future classic after another to us, to the readers. It certainly hasn't always been easy. No authorship is without its challenges. Yet it seems effortless when you flip through Ambjørnsen's books, which flow so well and are so wise.
It is something we, not only the publisher Cappelen Damm, but the readers, are eternally grateful for. Norway has lost a great author and a unique human being. Our warmest thoughts go to Ingvar's wife Gabriele and to his other family.