Per Egil Hegge (6 March 1940 – October 2023) was a Norwegian journalist.

Life and career

Per Egil Hegge was born in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

as a son of two teachers from Skatval Municipality. The family moved to

Inderøy Municipality Inderøy is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Straumen, Trøn ...

in 1941. Hegge served his

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer military, volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Few nations, such ...

at the elite Russian language program of the

Norwegian Armed Forces The Norwegian Armed Forces () are the armed forces responsible for the defence of Norway. It consists of five branches, the Norwegian Army, the Royal Norwegian Navy, which includes the Norwegian Coast Guard, Coast Guard, the Royal Norwegian Air ...

. He started his career in the Norwegian News Agency, and was hired 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 ...

'' in 1962 and remained there for the rest of his career. He was the newspaper's

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

correspondent from 1963 to 1965, and then worked in Norway (winning the Narvesen Prize in 1968) before becoming

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

correspondent from 1969 to 1971. He was then expelled from the country, one of the reasons for this being that he was the first journalist to interview

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Soviet and Russian author and Soviet dissidents, dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union, especially the Gulag pris ...

after he won the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

in 1970. After another six years in Norway from 1971 to 1977 Hegge was the

Washington DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

correspondent from 1977 to 1981. He was then subeditor before editing ''Aftenposten'''s magazine ''

A-magasinet ''A-magasinet'' is a Supplement (publishing), supplement to the Norway, Norwegian newspaper ''Aftenposten'' that is published every Friday. The supplement is published in a format of , and it is therefore smaller than the daily newspaper, which is ...

'' from 1984 to 1988. From 1992 to 1998 he was the cultural editor. He retired in 2005, but continued to have a column about the correct use of language. When it comes to perceptions of the

Norwegian language Norwegian ( ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelli ...

quality development, Hegge has been called a "housegod of the dissatisfied" by literary critic Aage Borchgrevink. Hegge chaired the Norwegian branch of

PEN-International The Postsecondary Education Network International, known as PEN-International, is an international partnership of colleges and universities serving the higher education of students with hearing impairment. PEN-International was founded by Dr. Ja ...

from 1985 to 1988. He wrote several books, starting with world affairs, and later about the correct use of language and other popular releases. He also wrote biographies of Otto Sverdrup (in 1996),

Fridtjof Nansen Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 1861 – 13 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and co-founded the ...

(in 2002) and

Harald V of Norway Harald V (, ; born 21 February 1937) has been King of Norway since 1991. A member of the House of Glücksburg, Harald was the third child and only son of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. He was second in the Succession to t ...

(in 2006). His Nansen biography was translated into

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

in 2007. Hegge was also a popular lecturer. In 2003 he was decorated with the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav (Knight 1st Class). He died in October 2023, at the age of 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hegge, Per Egil 1940 births 2023 deaths People from Trondheim People from Inderøy Members of the Norwegian Academy Norwegian newspaper reporters and correspondents Norwegian columnists Norwegian expatriates in England Norwegian expatriates in the Soviet Union Norwegian expatriates in the United States Norwegian magazine editors Norwegian biographers Norwegian male writers Norwegian male biographers Order of Saint Olav