Halldis Moren Vesaas (18 November 1907 – 8 September 1995) was a Norwegian poet, translator and writer of children's books. She established herself as one of the leading Norwegian writers of her generation.

Biography

She was born on a family farm near

Trysil Trysil is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Innbygda. Other villages in the municipality include Nybergsund, � ...

Hedmark Hedmark () was a county in Norway before 1 January 2020, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmark and Oppland counties were merg ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Her father was story writer, poet, and playwright,

Sven Moren Sven Moren (24 October 1871 – 14 December 1938) was a Norwegian farmer, poet, story writer, playwright, children's writer, organizer and politician for the Liberal Party. Personal life Moren was born in Trysil as the son of farmers John ...

. (1871–1938). She was the eldest and only girl in a family of five children. Her brothers included philologist

Sigmund Moren Sigmund Moren (27 November 1913 – 4 February 1996) was a Norwegian philologist, encyclopedist, literary critic, theatre critic and children's writer. Biography Moren grew up at Trysil in Hedmark. His father was writer Sven Moren (1871–193 ...

(1913–1996). She attended the teacher college in

Elverum is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Elverum. Other settlements in the municipality include Heradsbygd, Sørsko ...

1925-1928, and then held various jobs in

Hamar Hamar is a town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the traditional region of Hedmarken. The town is located on the shores of Mjøsa, Norway's largest lake ...

and

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) 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 ...

. In 1930 she moved to Switzerland, where she worked for three years as secretary. In April 1934, she married the Norwegian author,

Tarjei Vesaas Tarjei Vesaas (20 August 1897 – 15 March 1970) was a Norwegian poet and novelist. Vesaas is widely considered to be one of Norway's greatest writers of the twentieth century and perhaps its most important since World War II. Biography Vesaas ...

(1897-1970). They settled on the Midtbø farm in

Vinje Vinje is a municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional regions of Upper Telemark and Vest-Telemark. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Åmot. General in ...

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

County where her husband worked as a teacher (1941–43). She debuted in 1929 at 22 years old with a collection of poetry, ''Harp and Dagger'' (''Harpe og dolk''). Her more notable books of poetry would include ''Speech of Troubled Times'' (''Tung tids tale''), ''The Tree'' (''Treet''), ''In a Different Forest'' (''I ein annan skog'') and ''House of Life'' (''Livshus''). She composed and translated for the theater, especially

Det Norske Teatret Det Norske Teatret ( en, Norwegian Theater)Moe, Jens. 2011. ''My America: The Culture of Giving''. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, p. 133. is a theatre in Oslo. The theatre was founded in 1912, after an initiative from Hulda Garborg and Edvard Drabl� ...

in Oslo, wrote articles on various topics and was an external publishing consultant. She sat on the board of the

Riksteatret Riksteatret (English: National Traveling Theater) is a Norwegian touring theatre. It was established by law in 1948. Its first performance was in Kirkenes in 1949, with Sigurd Christiansen's play ''En reise i natten''. The theatre plays on about 2 ...

(1949-1969). In 1938, her first children's book translation was published. Her writing won great acclaim in

for her brave and personal expressions of women's life in its several stages: youth, marriage, motherhood, widowhood and second love in old age. Vesaas died on 8 September 1995.

Awards and honours

* She was awarded the

Mads Wiel Nygaards Endowment Mads Wiel Nygaard's Endowment is an annually awarded literary prize from the publishing house Aschehoug. The prize is a recognition of superior literary work. The publisher's editorial management makes the award based on their collective judgement ...

in 1977. * She was appointed Commander of the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav ( no, Den Kongelige Norske Sankt Olavs Orden; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II ...

in 1984. * She was a Knight of the National Order of Merit, France's second-highest order. * In 1992, she was awarded the

Anders Jahre Cultural Prize Anders is a male name in Scandinavian languages and Fering North Frisian, an equivalent of the Greek Andreas ("manly") and the English Andrew. It originated from Andres via metathesis. In Sweden, Anders has been one of the most common names fo ...

(''Anders Jahres kulturpris'') jointly with

Benny Motzfeldt Benny Anette Motzfeldt (née Berg Nilssen; 26 June 190924 November 1995) was a Norwegian visual artist and glass designer and sculptor. Biography Benny Anette Berg Motzfeldt was born at Levanger in Trøndelag, Norway. She was a daughter of phy ...

. * The

Halldis Moren Vesaas Prize The Halldis Moren Vesaas Prize ()Halldis Moren Vesaas (1907—1995) was a Norwegian author, poet and translator. is a Norwegian literary prize which is awarded annually to a Norwegian for lyric or other poetry, which through the quality and magnitud ...

is named in her honor.

Selected works

Poetry

* ''Harpe og dolk'', 1929 * ''Morgonen'', 1930 * ''Strender'', 1933 * ''Lykkelege hender'', 1936 * ''Tung tids tale'', 1945 * ''Treet'', 1947 * ''I ein annan skog'', 1955 * ''Livshus'', 1995

Children's books

* ''Du får gjera det du'', 1935 * ''Den grøne hatten'', 1938 * ''Hildegunn'', 1942 * ''Tidleg på våren'', 1949

References

Other sources

*Garton, Janet ( 2002) ''Norwegian Women's Writing 1850-1990. Women in Context'' (The Athlone Press) {{DEFAULTSORT:Vesaas, Halldis Moren 1907 births 1995 deaths People from Trysil Norwegian women poets Norwegian children's writers Nynorsk-language writers Norwegian women children's writers 20th-century Norwegian poets 20th-century Norwegian women writers 20th-century Norwegian translators Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal Dobloug Prize winners People from Vinje