H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard), commonly known as Aschehoug,() is one of the largest independent publishing companies in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, founded in 1872. Headquartered in

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 ...

, the publishing house has 480 employees. The Aschehoug group also comprises other publishing houses which it owns partially or wholly. The name Aschehoug can be directly translated as "ash hill".

History

Aschehoug was founded as a bookstore in 1872 on Egertorvet in

by the cousins Hieronymus and Halvard Aschehoug. From the start the firm was involved in publishing in a modest way, its output consisting mainly of school books. In 1888, the company was taken over by William Martin Nygaard (1865–1952) and Thorstein Lambrechts (1856–1933), who kept the name while expanding its operations. In 1900, William Nygaard withdrew from the bookselling side of the business and established a publishing company, which was given the name H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard). In 1935, following the death of Nygaard, the publishing house turned into a corporation in connection with the inheritance settlement, and Nygaard's son, Mads Wiel Nygaard became the Executive Officer. Aschehoug have published many important books over their years of operation. Important Norwegian authors first published by Aschehoug include the Nobel Prize laureate, Sigrid Undset, as well as

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 ...

, Johan Falkberget, Hans E. Kinck, Aksel Sandemose, Arne Garborg — all writers whose works are today regarded as classics of Norwegian literature.

Operations

Aschehoug's publishing program is divided into three main categories: works of fiction, including books for children and younger readers; works of reference, popular science and handbooks on various hobbies; and Norway's leading publishing house for textbooks, for every level of instruction. In 2004, Aschehoug Agency was founded to represent the foreign rights of Forlaget Oktober, Aschehoug and

Universitetsforlaget Universitetsforlaget AS (English: "The University Press"), also known in English as Scandinavian University Press, is a Norway, Norwegian academic publishing company, which publishes non-fiction literature and scholarly journal, journals mainly ...

publishing houses. Aschehoug has an interest in several other publishing companies, among them: *

(100%) - the main academic press in Norway * Forlaget Oktober (91%) - formerly the Marxist-Leninist press, now a publisher of

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

* Norli Gruppen (100%) -

bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The found ...

chain * Lydbokforlaget (33%) -

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

s * De norske Bokklubbene (48.5%) - book clubs * Forlagsentralen (50%) - distributes more than 75% of all books in Norway *

Kunnskapsforlaget Kunnskapsforlaget () is a Norwegian publishing company based in Oslo. Kunnskapsforlaget was established in 1975, as a partnership between H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard) and Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. The purpose was to co-operate on publishing ...

(50%) - publishes

encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...

s''Kunnskapsforlaget ANS'' (Store norske leksikon)
/ref> Aschehoug also published

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

's book '' Satanic Verses''. The company's then CEO William Nygaard was shot and seriously wounded in 1993, presumably as a result of the

fatwa A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist ('' faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...

issued against Rushdie and his publishers.

Executive officers

* William Martin Nygaard (1900–1935) * Mads Wiel Nygaard (1935–1952) * Andreas Wiel Nygaard (1952–1955) * Arthur Holmesland (1955–1973) * William Nygaard (1974–2010) * Mads Nygaard (2010–present)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Book publishing companies of Norway Companies based in Oslo Publishing companies established in 1872 1872 establishments in Norway