Arthur Omre (17 December 1887, in

Brunlanes Brunlanes is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1988. The area is now the southwestern part of Larvik Municipality. The administr ...

– 16 August 1967) was a Norwegian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and writer of short stories. Omre hailed from

Vestfold Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

. With a background as sailor, journalist, constructor in the United States, engineer in Oslo, businessman and entrepreneur, he went bankrupt in 1922. From then on he initiated a criminal career, and made a living from liquor smuggling, swindle and theft, also spending long periods in prison. Following release from jail in 1935, Omre made his literary début with the novel ''Smuglere'' (Smugglers). The story is largely based on his own experiences, and is written in

hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

style. Then came the follow-ups ''Flukten'' (1936), ''Sukkenes bro'' (1937) and ''Kristinus Bergmann'' (1938). He was awarded

Gyldendal's Endowment The Gyldendal Prize, formerly Gyldendal's Endowment, is a Norwegian literary prize awarded by the Norway, Norwegian publisher Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. Gyldendal's Endowment was awarded from 1934 to 1995. It was superseded by the Gyldendal Prize in ...

in 1938. In 1939 he wrote the novel ''Intermesso'', in 1940 ''Det onde øie'', in 1941 ''Harmoni'', and in 1942 ''Mysterium i Rolvsøy''. He published several short story collections. Many of his short stories were first published in magazines, such as '' Arbeidermagasinet''. In the 1950s he wrote the trilogy ''Mikkelfanten'', ''Svarte-Paal'' and ''Ek & Co''.

Selected works

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References

1887 births 1967 deaths People from Larvik 20th-century Norwegian businesspeople 20th-century Norwegian criminals Norwegian male criminals 20th-century Norwegian engineers 20th-century Norwegian journalists Norwegian prisoners and detainees Norwegian sailors Prisoners and detainees of Norway Smugglers 20th-century Norwegian novelists Norwegian crime fiction writers Norwegian short story writers {{Norway-novelist-stub