International Authors Book Club

Read an author of your choosing from a predetermined country. 

June's nation is Norway. We will meet each third Thursday of the month to discuss your author, their works, and any themes they explore.

The suggested authors, all native born, represent just a fraction of Norway's rich literary tradition.

The bolded titles are available through your Santa Fe Public Library as books or ebooks (Hoopla or Overdrive/Libby).

Suggested authors:

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, author of A Happy Boy and The Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Megapack: 149 Classic Works (ebook)

Winner of the 1903 Nobel Prize for Literature, Bjørnson was an advocate for those less fortunate in society and for small nations' right to freedom and independence. He wrote novels, plays, and hundreds of poems – one of which is the Norwegian national anthem, Ja, vi elsker dette landet (Yes, We Love This Country).

Lars Saabye Christensen, author of The Half-Brother and King of Devil’s Island

At the end of World War II, 20-year-old Vera is raped by an unknown assailant. From that rape is born a boy named Fred, a misfit who later becomes a talented boxer. Vera's young son, Barnum, forms a relationship with his half-brother, fraught with rivalry and dependence as well as love.

It is Barnum, now a screenwriter with a fondness for lies and alcohol, who narrates his family's saga. As he shares his family's history, he chronicles generations of independent women and absent and flawed men whom he calls the Night Men.

Jon Fosse, author of Aliss at the Fire, Morning and Evening, The Other Name: Septology I-III, I is another: Septology III-V,  A New Name: Septology VI-VII,  A Shining, Trilogy and Vaim

The novelist, poet, and playwright has published 40-plus plays, as well as novels, poetry, essays and children’s books. He is famous for winning the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature, “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.”

"You don’t read my books for their plot," Fosse has said. But over the past two decades, he has won almost every award in the Nordic countries, and two of his former novels were finalists for the Booker Prize – The Other Name: Septology I-III and A New Name: Septology VI-VII. He is among the world’s most widely performed living playwrights.

Karin Fossum, author of the Inspector Sejer series

The queen of Norwegian crime’s books are calmer and colder, more interested in motive and remorse than in gore than most Nordic Noir writers. The series starts with Eva’s Eye (aka In The Darkness) followed by Don’t Look Back, He Who Fears the Wolf, When the Devils Holds the Candle and The Indian Bride (aka Calling Out For You).

Jostein Gaarder, author of The Solitaire Mystery, and Sophie’s World and Questions Asked (children’s fiction)

For a generation of international readers, Gaarder was their first Norwegian author. Sophie’s World is a 1991 young adult novel that smuggles a philosophy course into a mystery, and it still sends curious teenagers into bookshops. Gaarder’s gift is to make big ideas playful, and to remind readers that questions are a form of adventure.

Knut Hamsun, author of Growth of the Soil, Hunger, My 1866 Lecture Tour, Pan, Victoria and Wanderers (all ebooks)

Although Hamsun's 1890 novel Hunger (also available as a book) is considered a pioneering work of European modernism, it was his novel The Growth of the Soil that won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920.

Hamsun (1859-1952) is often remembered for his contribution to the renewal of the novel, and his modern view of the mind. However, in Norway it his common touch, and his vivid and humorous descriptions of local culture that endeared him to the public. That is evident in My 1886 Lecture Tour.

Vigdis Hjorth, author of If Only, Will and Testament and Repetition (eaudiobook)

In Will and Testament, Bergljot’s mother and father decided to leave two island summer houses to her sisters, disinheriting the two eldest siblings. To outsiders, it is a quarrel about property and favoritism. But Bergljot, who has borne a horrible secret since childhood, understands the gesture as a final attempt to suppress the truth and a cruel insult.

Hjorth writes about family conflicts with a clarity that makes most readers uncomfortable. 

Anne Holt, author of the Vik & Stubø and the Hanne Wilhelmsen series

The five-novel series (2001-12) by the former Labour Party Minister of Justice brings together two very different investigators: Johanne Vik, a psychologist and former FBI profiler now teaching at Oslo University, and Adam Stubo, a dogged detective inspector carrying deep personal grief. Their cases mix traditional police work with psychological profiling and big moral questions about guilt, punishment and forgiveness.

The 11-book Hanne Wilhelmsen series (1993-2021) focuses on the aforementioned chief inspector that began with Holt’s literary debut Blind Goddess, followed in order by Blessed Are Those Who Thirst, Death of the Demon, The Lion’s Mouth, Dead Joker, No Echo, Beyond the Truth, 1222, Offline (Odd Numbers), In Dust and Ashes and The Eleventh Manuscript (not yet translated).

Henrik Ibsen, author of Brand, Enemy of the People, Ghosts, Hedda Gabbler, Little Eyolf, The Master Builder and Peer Gynt (all ebooks) and A Doll’s House

One of the most influential playwrights of all time, Ibsen’s works are set in the Norwegian farming society of the 19th century and feature music by Edvard Grieg. Peer Gynt shaped the nascent country's conception of its identity, which it shared with the world.

Roy Jacobsen, author of Borders, Child Wonder, Eyes of the Rigel (ebook), Just a Mother, and The Unseen 

The Barrøy novels, beginning with The Unseen, give you island life along the northern coast with a tactile sense of work, weather, and family. Jacobsen is perfect for readers who want to feel the salt and the cold, and who enjoy a novel that respects practical people. 

Alexander Kielland, author of Fortuna, Garman & Worse, Gift, Skipper Worse and St. Hans Fest 

Despite being the son of factory owners, Kielland remained a spokesman for the weak and a critic of society.  Among his most famous works are the novels Gift (1883), Skipper Worse (1882) and Garman & Worse (1880). Gift (published in English as Poison) is the first of a trilogy including Fortuna (1884) and St. Hans Fest (1887) that satirizes the hypocrisy of Norway's clergy. 

Jan Kjærstad, author of the Jonas Wergeland trilogy (The Seducer, The Conqueror and The Discoverer) 

With a string of ingenious novels Kjærstad is established as one of the leading and most original writers in contemporary Norwegian literature. His main work, the trilogy about the TV presenter Jonas Wergeland, a fictive biography that tells three different versions about the protagonist's life, combines several different genres 

Karl Ove Knausgård, author of My Struggle, Volumes 1-6 and The Seasons Quartet

Knausgård is critically acclaimed for his six-volume autobiographical series My Struggle. Although he didn't think anyone would be interested in reading about his life, it made him a worldwide sensation, and the novels have been translated into 30 languages.

Jonas Lie, author of The Jonas Lie Megapack: 14 Classic Novels and Stories (ebook) 

Lie often sought to reflect in his writings the nature, folk life, and social spirit of the nation of Norway. His writing often dealt with family life in diverse settings, including portraying the social and intellectual restrictions on women of the educated classes. Henrik Ibsen, Alexander Kielland, Lie and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson are considered the four greats of 19^th century Norwegian literature, establishing the country’s cultural identity following Danish rule – what Ibsen called “The Four Hundred Years of Darkness.” 

His two collections of short stories called Trold involve the superstitions of the fishermen and coast commoners of northern Norway (Fjord Norway) which were featured in Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories (1983). 

Maja Lunde, author of Blue, The End of the Ocean, The History of Bees and The Last Wild Horses

The Oslo native has written several successful children's books and TV series. She's most famous for The History of Bees (2015), her first novel for adults. In the sequel Blue (2017) the plot is set in the northern Fjord Norway region. This time the struggle concerns the most vital resource there is: water.

She is currently working to create a TV series of her books focusing on family relationships and the importance of bees.

Lars Mytting, author of The Bell in the Lake, The Night of the Scourge, The Reindeer Hunters, and The Sixteen Trees of the Somme

The Bell in the Lake (2018) is the first in a modern Norwegian folklore trilogy based on the legends and history of Gudbrandsdalen. The book is about a community on the brink of modernization and the local resistance that is roused when a German architect and a young priest wish to tear down the stave church. Norway was once home to more than 1,300 stave churches, but only 28 remain.

Mytting broke through as a writer with the still-bestselling nonfiction work, Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way (ebook)

Jo Nesbø, author of the Harry Hole series

The musician and mountain climber’s international bestselling crime series features propulsive, twisty investigations by damaged police detective Harry Hole (pronounced Ho-lay) that deliver a harsh look at Oslo at night, addiction, and the cost of obsession.

The longtime series includes The Bat (1997), The Snowman (2007), and Police (2013), several of which have been adapted for the screen including The Devil’s Star, a new Detective Hole series on Netflix.

He also writes the Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder children’s series – often set in the Oslo sewers --  and several standalone crime novels including Macbeth, a modern retelling of the classic for the Hogarth Shakespeare series.

Per Petterson, author of I Curse the River of Time, In the Wake, I Refuse, It’s Fine by Me, Men in My Situation, Out Stealing Horses and To Siberia

Consider his finest work, Out Stealing Horses tells the story of a man named Trond who reflects on his childhood and the events that shaped his life. The novel explores themes of memory, loss, and the passage of time, and is known for its lyrical prose and evocative descriptions of the Norwegian landscape.

Petterson’s writing style is characterized by its introspection and ability to capture the nuances of human emotions. His novels delve into the complexities of relationships and the impact of experiences on present-day lives.

Amalie Skram, author of Knud Tandberg

Her naturalist novels dissect marriage, medicine, and the treatment of women with hard light. Skram is an early Scandinavian counterpart of Henrik Ibsen but reading her feels quite modern.

Dag Solstad, author of Shyness and Dignity

Solstad’s landmark work is a meditative portrayal of one man's overwhelming inability to connect with contemporary society.  Elias Rukla begins yet another day under the leaden Oslo sky. At the high school where he teaches, a novel insight into Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck grips him with a passion so intense that he barely notices the disinterest of his students. After the lesson, when a broken umbrella provokes an unpredictable rage, he barely notices the students' intense curiosity. He soon realizes, however, that this day will be the decisive day of his life.

Gunnar Staalesen, author of the detective Varg Veum series

Bergen is the setting for his crime novels about hard-nosed private detective Varg Veum. Staalesen was born and raised, and still lives, in Norway's second biggest city, located in Fjord Norway. Outside the fictitious detective's office at Strandkaien 2, you'll find a statue of Veum, who appears in At Night All Wolves Are Grey, Big Sister, Bitter Flowers, Cold Hearts, We Shall Inherit the Wind, Wolves at the Door and Wolves in the Dark.

Linn Ullmann, author of A Blessed Child, The Cold Song, Girl, 1983 and Unquiet

Unquiet is a genre-bending novel about time, memory, and the author's extraordinary childhood as the daughter of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman and his muse, actor and director Liv Ullmann. If you like autobiographical fiction with restraint and style, consider this work.

Sigrid Undset, author of The Ax, The Bridal Wreath, The Cross, The Garland, In the Wilderness, Jenny, The Wife (all ebooks) and Kristin Lavsrandatter trilogy (1,144 pages).

Winner of the 1928 Nobel Prize for Literature for the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy -- The Bridal Wreath (aka The Wreath), The Wife (aka The Mistress of Husaby) and The Cross -- principally for her “powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages.” Her work is much admired for its historical accuracy.

Cultural, autobiographical, and religious topics constitute a large and interesting portion of her fiction, which is categorized as medieval or modern. Jenny (1911), an idealistic and tragic love story, is one of the latter novels.

During World War II she escaped the German occupation of Norway and fled to America, where she wrote her autobiographical Happy Times in Norway (1942).

Various authors, Heimskringla (aka The Kings‘ Sagas, multiple ebooks)

Heimskringla is a collection of sagas about the Swedish and Norwegian kings, beginning with the saga of the legendary Swedish-Norwegian dynasty of the Ynglings, followed by accounts of historical Norwegian rulers from Harald Fairhair of the 9th century up to the death of the pretender Eystein Meyla in 1177.

The authorship of Heimskringla is not referred to within the text or in any surviving manuscript—as is usually the case for a medieval work—and its first written collection is attributed to Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, who was raised by minor Norwegian nobility living in the then-independent nation. He later allied himself with Norwegian King Haakon, hoping to become King of Iceland, only to be assassinated under Haakon’s orders. The first surviving works in which he is credited are the 16th-century translations into Danish by the Norwegians Peder Claussøn Friis and Laurents Hanssøn.

King Harald’s Saga (part of Heimskringla) is available in hard copy.

Herbjørg Wassmo, author of the Dina series and Tora trilogy

Wassmo’s works display a fierce empathy for girls and women constrained by poverty, shame, and social judgment, and her storytelling has the intensity of a ballad. Wassmo’s northern settings are not scenic distractions; they are conditions to survive.

Henrik Wergeland, author of numerous poetry collections

The poet, playwright, polemicist, historian, and linguist is often described as a leading pioneer in the development of a distinctly Norwegian literary heritage and of modern Norwegian culture. His works reflecting national pride remain influential today.

Though he only lived to 37, his range of pursuits covered literature, theology, history, contemporary politics, social issues, and science. His views were controversial in his time, and his literary style often denounced as subversive.

For accommodations such as translations, ASL interpreters, or disability needs, please email library@santafenm.gov or call 505-955-6786.