Carl Johan Fredrik Engelstad (11 November 1915 – 1 October 1996) was a Norwegian writer, playwright, journalist, translator and theatre director.

Personal life

Engelstad was born in

Hadsel Municipality Hadsel () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Vesterålen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of ...

as the son of jurist Sigurd Engelstad (1878–1916) and younger brother of archivist Sigurd Engelstad. He married Vibeke Engelstad, a physician. Their son

Fredrik Fredrik or Frederik is a masculine Germanic given name derived from the German name '' Friedrich'' or Friederich, from the Old High German ''fridu'' meaning "peace" and ''rîhhi'' meaning "ruler" or "power". It is the common form of Frederick in N ...

became a professor of sociology, and married professor Irene Johnson.

Career

Carl Fredrik Engelstad was hired as a theatre critic in ''

Morgenbladet is Norway's oldest daily newspaper, covering politics, culture and science, now a weekly news magazine primarily directed at well-educated readers. The magazine is notable for its opinion section featuring contributions exclusively from Norweg ...

'' in 1945. He stayed here until 1960, the last two years as cultural editor. He was theatre director for

Nationaltheatret The National Theatre in Oslo () is one of Norway's largest and most prominent venues for performance of dramatic arts. History The theatre had its first performance on 1 September 1899 but can trace its origins to Christiania Theatre, which was ...

from 1960 to 1961, and from 1965 he worked in ''

Aftenposten (; ; stylized as in the masthead) is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation as well as Norway's newspaper of record. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 daily copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen ...

''. He was known for writing from a Christian viewpoint. From 1946 to 1949 he also edited the periodical '' Spektrum''. He debuted as a writer in 1949, with two plays. His novels included ''Gjester i mørket'' (1958), ''Størst blant dem'' (1977) and ''De levendes land'' (1986). For the two latter novels, Engelstad was awarded the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature. He also wrote books about

Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone ( 1181 – 3 October 1226), known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italians, Italian Mysticism, mystic, poet and Friar, Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Chris ...

, Ronald Fangen,

Ludvig Holberg Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (3 December 1684 – 28 January 1754) was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Denmark–Norway, Dano–Norwegian dual monarchy. He was infl ...

and

Johan Herman Wessel Johan Herman Wessel (6 October 1742 – 29 December 1785) was an 18th-century Danish-Norwegian poet, satirist and playwright. His written work was characterized by the use of parody and satiric wit. Biography Wessel was born and raised at Ve ...

, among others.

Awards

* Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature 1977, 1986 *

Riksmål Society Literature Prize The Riksmål Society Literature Prize (''Riksmålsforbundets litteraturpris'') is awarded annually by the '' Riksmålsforbundet'' for the outstanding publication in riksmål. The prize was awarded until 2002 by the ''Oslo and Bærum Riksmål League ...

1986

References

1915 births 1996 deaths Norwegian theatre directors Norwegian theatre critics 20th-century Norwegian translators 20th-century Norwegian novelists 20th-century Norwegian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Norwegian essayists Norwegian male dramatists and playwrights Norwegian male novelists 20th-century Norwegian journalists People from Hadsel {{Theat-director-stub