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

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

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 List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Larvik (town) ...

, grew up in

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Akershus 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 ...

and

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

, and moved to

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

in 1978. Holt graduated with a law degree from the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen () is a public university, public research university in Bergen, Norway. As of 2021, the university had over 4,000 employees and 19,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 1946 consolidating several sci ...

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 practise 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

in Cabinet Jagland 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 Collaborative writing is a procedure in which two or more persons work together on a text of some kind (e.g., academic papers, reports, creative writing, projects, and business proposals). It is often the norm, rather than the exception, in many ac ...

with her former state secretary Berit Reiss-Andersen. 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 McDermid (born 4 June 1955) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for a series of novels featuring clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill and his collaborators in the police department. Her work is considered to be part of a sub-genre k ...

, 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 Jan Oskar Sverre Lucien Henri Guillou (, ; born 17 January 1944) is a French-Swedish author and journalist. Guillou's fame in Sweden was established during his time as an investigative journalist, most notably in 1973 when he and co-reporter Pet ...

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-own ...

. 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 Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

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 (; , A or Ap; ), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party (, DNA), is a Social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Norway, political party in Norway. It is positioned on the centre-left of the political spectru ...

and the time after

Anders Behring Breivik Anders Behring Breivik (; born 13 February 1979), officially named Fjotolf Hansen from 2017 to 2025, and Far Skaldigrimmr Rauskjoldr av Northriki since March 2025, is a Norwegian neo-Nazi terrorist and mass murderer. He carried out the 2011 No ...

'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.

Honours and awards

She has won several awards, including the

Riverton Prize The Riverton Prize () is a literature award given annually to the best work of Norwegian crime fiction (novel, short story, play, original screenplay). The prize is named after the Norwegian journalist and author Sven Elvestad (1884-1934) who pub ...

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

Cappelen Prize The Cappelen Prize () is a Norwegian literary award that was established in 1979 by J.W. Cappelens Forlag, one of the oldest publishing houses of Norway, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the publishing house. It has not been awarded aft ...

(2001).

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 Berit Reiss-Andersen) (The Lion's Mouth) * 1999 ''Død joker'' (Dead Joker) * 2000 ''Uten ekko'' (co-authored with Berit Reiss-Andersen) (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 novelists Norwegian LGBTQ novelists Norwegian lesbian politicians Norwegian lesbian writers Living people Ministers of justice of Norway Norwegian crime fiction writers 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 Norwegian LGBTQ people 21st-century Norwegian writers 21st-century Norwegian women writers 20th-century Norwegian lawyers 20th-century Norwegian women lawyers