Anne Holt (born 16 November 1958) is a Norwegian author,

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicit ...

and former

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

Early life

She was born in

Larvik Larvik () is a town and municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. The municipality of Larvik has about 46,364 inhabitants. The municipality has a 110 ...

, grew up in

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Viken county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger b ...

and

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies in Northern Norway. The municipality is the ...

, and moved to

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

in 1978. Holt graduated with a law degree from the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...

in 1986, and worked for The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) in the period 1984 to 1988.

Career

She then worked at the Oslo Police Department for two years, earning her right to practice as a lawyer in Norway. In 1990 she returned to NRK, where she worked one year as a journalist and anchor woman for the news program ''Dagsrevyen''. Anne Holt started her own law practice in 1994, and served as the

Cabinet Jagland Jagland's Cabinet governed Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The re ...

for a short period from 25 October 1996 to 4 February 1997. She resigned for health reasons, and was replaced by Gerd-Liv Valla.

Writing

In 1993 she made her debut as a novelist with the crime novel ''Blind gudinne'', featuring the lesbian police officer Hanne Wilhelmsen. The two novels ''Løvens gap'' (1997) and ''Uten ekko'' (2000) are co-authored with her former state secretary

Berit Reiss-Andersen Berit Reiss-Andersen (born 11 July 1954) is a Norwegian lawyer, author and former politician for the Norwegian Labour Party. She is chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, the 5-member committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize. She is also a ...

. Her 2015 novel ''Offline'' is about a terrorist attack on an Islamic cultural center by a group of extreme Norwegian nationalists. She is one of the most successful crime novelists in Norway. She has been published in 25 countries.

Val McDermid Valarie "Val" McDermid, (born 4 June 1955) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for a series of novels featuring clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill in a grim sub-genre that McDermid and others have identified as Tartan Noir. Biography ...

, a Scottish crime writer, has said that "Anne Holt is the latest crime writer to reveal how truly dark it gets in Scandinavia".

Piratforlaget

In 2004, Holt took part in the founding of the Norwegian branch of the Swedish publishing house, Piratforlaget, which had been started by the celebrated Swedish authors Jan Guillou and

Liza Marklund Eva Elisabeth "Liza" Marklund (born 9 September 1962) is a Swedish journalist and crime writer. Her novels, of which most feature the fictional newspaper journalist Annika Bengtzon, have been published in forty languages. Marklund is the co-owne ...

. The objective, to publish bestselling writers at reduced prices, was controversial in Scandinavia, where book prices and author advances are highly standardized. Anders Heger, head of the Cappelen publishing house, expressed a widespread concern that Piratforlag would "intensify differences" between "the authors who earn a lot and those who don't."

Political views

Holt is a

social democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

and a lifelong member of the Labour Party. She is outspoken against racism. In 2012 Holt wrote an op-ed in Dagbladet about the

Norwegian Labour Party The Labour Party ( nb, Arbeiderpartiet; nn, Arbeidarpartiet; A/Ap; se, Bargiidbellodat), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party ( no, Det norske Arbeiderparti, DNA), is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is positioned on the cent ...

and the time after

Anders Behring Breivik Fjotolf Hansen (born 13 February 1979), better known by his birth name Anders Behring Breivik () and by his pseudonym Andrew Berwick, is a Norwegian far-right domestic terrorist, known for committing the 2011 Norway attacks on 22 July 2011. On ...

's terror attacks in Norway in 2011. In 2017 Holt wrote an op-ed in ''Dagens Nyheter'' in which she rejected the far-right view that Sweden's immigration policies were reckless and dangerous.

Honors and awards

She has won several awards, including the

Riverton Prize The Riverton Prize ( no, Rivertonprisen) is a literature award given annually to the best Norwegian crime story (novel, short story, play, original screenplay). The prize is named after the Norwegian journalist and author Sven Elvestad (1884-1934) ...

(1994) for ''Salige er de som tørster'', the Bokhandler Prize (1995) for ''Demonens død'', and the

Cappelen Prize The Cappelen Prize ( no, Cappelenprisen) is a Norwegian literary award that was established in 1979 by the publishing company J.W. Cappelens Forlag, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the publishing house. It has not been awarded after J. ...

(2001).Berge, Toril; Jeg kan skrive krim; VG; March 10, 2004; https://www.vg.no/rampelys/bok/jeg-kan-skrive-krim/a/248044/

Personal life

She lives in Oslo with her registered partner Anne Christine Kjær (also known as Tine Kjær) and their daughter Iohanne.

Bibliography

The Hanne Wilhelmsen series

* 1993 ''Blind gudinne'' (Blind Goddess) * 1994 ''Salige er de som tørster'' (Blessed Are Those Who Thirst) * 1995 ''Demonens død'' (Death of the Demon) * 1997 ''Løvens gap'' (co-authored with

) (The Lion's Mouth) * 1999 ''Død joker'' (Dead Joker) * 2000 ''Uten ekko'' (co-authored with

) (No Echo) * 2003 ''Sannheten bortenfor'' (The Truth Beyond) * 2007 ''1222'' * 2015 ''Offline'' (Offline/Odd Numbers) * 2016 ''I støv og aske'' (In Dust and Ashes)

Separate titles

* 1997 ''Mea culpa'' * 1998 ''I hjertet av VM. En fotballreise'' (co-authored with Erik Langbråten) * 1999 ''Bernhard Pinkertons store oppdrag'' * 2010 ''Flimmer'' (co-authored with Even Holt) * 2014 ''Sudden death'' (co-authored with Even Holt)

The Vik/Stubø series

* 2001 ''Det som er mitt'' (''What is Mine/Punishment'' ) * 2004 ''Det som aldri skjer'' (''What never happens/The Final Murder'' ) * 2006 ''Presidentens valg'' (''Madam President/Death in Oslo'' ) * 2009 ''Pengemannen'' (''Fear Not'') * 2012 ''Skyggedød'' (''What Dark Clouds Hide'')

References

External links

Anne Holt's Swedish Publisher

The Salomonsson Agency

Fantastic Fiction
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holt, Anne 20th-century Norwegian women politicians 20th-century Norwegian politicians 1958 births Female justice ministers Labour Party (Norway) politicians Lesbian writers LGBT writers from Norway LGBT politicians from Norway Living people Ministers of Justice of Norway Norwegian crime fiction writers Norwegian women lawyers Norwegian women novelists People from Larvik People from Lillestrøm People from Tromsø University of Bergen alumni Women crime fiction writers Women government ministers of Norway 21st-century LGBT people 20th-century Norwegian lawyers