Brit Bildøen (born 28 January 1962) is a Norwegian poet, novelist, essayist, children's writer and literary critic. Her awards include the Nynorsk Literature Prize, the Melsom Prize, the

Amalie Skram Prize The Amalie Skram Prize (Norwegian: ) is a Norwegian literature prize established by the Amalie Skram society in Bergen in 1994. The prize is given to a female writer of fiction in the spirit of author and women's rights pioneer Amalie Skram, and ...

, and the

Dobloug Prize The Dobloug Prize (, ) is a literature prize awarded for Swedish and Norwegian fiction. The prize is named after Norwegian businessman and philanthropist Birger Dobloug (1881–1944) pursuant to his bequest. The prize sum is 4 * 150,000 Swedish crow ...

Background

Born in

Ålesund Ålesund () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of Ålesund Municipality. The centre of the town of Ålesund lies on the islands of Hessa, Aspøya, Ålesund, Asp� ...

on 28 January 1962, Bildøen grew up in

Aukra Aukra may refer to: Places *Aukra Municipality, a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway *''Aukra'' or Aukrasanden, a village within Aukra Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway *Aukra Church, a church in Aukra Municipality in Mø ...

. A librarian by education, she worked at the

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

Kvinnherad Kvinnherad is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnhordland, along the Hardangerfjorden. The municipality was the 5th in siz ...

until 1989. She has also studied

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

, and attended the in

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

in 1991.

Literary career

She made her literary debut in 1991 with the poetry collection ''Bilde av menn''. In her first novel, ''Eit anna eple'' (English: ''Another Apple'') from 1992, the protagonist Eva sees her world collapsing, and not only the world but also her face, her body, her language and the time, dissolves. Bildøen's next poetry collection, , was published in 1994. In 1994 she also issued the picture book . Her second novel, (1995), consisting of 134 short chapters, deals with the protagonist Anna who experiences a series of bizarre events during a job travel. The collection (1996) is a translation of selected poetry by American poet

Rita Dove Rita Frances Dove (born August 28, 1952) is an American poet and essayist. From 1993 to 1995, she served as United States Poet Laureate, Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She is the first African American to have bee ...

into

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 ...

. She translated two children's books by Swedish writer

Barbro Lindgren Barbro Lindgren (born 18 March 1937) is a Swedish writer of children's books and books for adult readers. For her lasting contribution as a children's writer, Lindgren was a finalist for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award ...

, (1996), and (1997), into Norwegian. In 1998 she was awarded the Nynorsk Literature Prize, for the novel . This novel is regarded as her literary breakthrough, and treats issues such as separation, disappearance, and search of own identity. Her next novel, (2001), portraits a modern woman who wants to accomplish everything, and treats issues like love and friendship. This novel earned her the Melsom Prize. In 2001 she also published the picture book . The novels (2004) and (2006) are both family dramas. (2011) is an

environmental Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

novel, and (2014) was among the first fiction books to treat the

2011 Norway attacks The 2011 Norway attacks, also called 22 July () or 22/7 in Norway, were two domestic terrorism, domestic terrorist attacks by far-right politics, far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik against the politics of Norway, government, the civil ...

. For her 2018 book she received her second Nynorsk Literature Prize. She was awarded the

in 2020. Her 2023 novel ''Gult farevarsel'' treats a family trapped at a remote mountain farm due to extreme weather conditions. In 2023 she was awarded the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bildoen, Brit 1962 births Living people People from Ålesund 20th-century Norwegian poets 20th-century Norwegian novelists 21st-century Norwegian novelists Norwegian women essayists Norwegian children's writers Norwegian literary critics Norwegian women literary critics Norwegian women critics Norwegian women non-fiction writers Norwegian women novelists Norwegian women children's writers Norwegian women poets 21st-century Norwegian women writers 20th-century Norwegian women writers 20th-century Norwegian essayists 21st-century Norwegian essayists