Karin Beate "Linn" Ullmann (born 9 August 1966) is a Norwegian author and journalist. A prominent literary critic, she also writes a column for Norway's leading morning newspaper and has published six novels.
Early life
Ullmann was born in Oslo, Norway to Norwegian actress, author and director
Liv Ullmann
Liv Johanne Ullmann (born 16 December 1938) is a Norwegian actress and film director. Recognised as one of the greatest European actresses of all time, Ullmann is known as the muse and frequent partner of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. She acted in ...
and Swedish director and screenwriter
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known as "profoundly ...
. She grew up in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
and Oslo.
Ullmann attended
Professional Children's School
Professional Children's School (PCS) is a not-for-profit, college preparatory school geared toward working and aspiring child actors and dancers in grades six through twelve. The school was founded in New York City in 1914 to provide an academic ed ...
in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...
. When she was fifteen, she was "kicked out" (as she puts it) of the
Norwegian National Opera and Ballet
The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet ( no, Den Norske Opera & Ballett, links=no) is a Norwegian opera company and ballet company. The first fully professional company each for opera and ballet in Norway and the only such professional organisati ...
. She attended
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most ...
as a prospective dancer
[ and graduated from ]New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, ...
, where she studied English literature and began work on her PhD.
Career
When her first and critically acclaimed novel ''Before You Sleep'' was published in 1998, she was already known as an influential literary critic. Her second novel, ''Stella Descending'' was published in 2001 and her third novel ''Grace'' was published in 2002. For ''Grace'', Ullmann received the literary award The Readers' Prize in Norway, and ''Grace'' was named one of the top ten novels that year by the prestigious newspaper ''Weekendavisen
''Weekendavisen'' (meaning ''The Weekend Newspaper'' in English) is a Danish weekly broadsheet newspaper published on Fridays in Denmark. Its circulation (as of 2007) is approximately 60,000 copies, about ten per cent of which cover subscription ...
'' in Denmark. In 2007, ''Grace'' was longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in the United Kingdom, and in March the same year, the Norwegian theater Riksteatret played a successful run of the theatrical play ''Grace'', based on the novel.
Ullmann's fourth novel ''A Blessed Child'' was published in Norway the fall of 2005, and it was shortlisted for the prestigious Norwegian literature prize – the Brage Prize. In 2007, she was awarded the Amalie Skram Award for her literary work, and she received Gullpennen (the Golden Pen) for her journalism in Norway's leading morning newspaper ''Aftenposten
( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 millio ...
''. In 2008, ''A Blessed Child'' was named Best Translated novel in the British newspaper ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...
'', and in 2009 the novel was longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
The ''Independent'' Foreign Fiction Prize (1990–2015) was a British literary award. It was inaugurated by British newspaper ''The Independent'' to honour contemporary fiction in translation in the United Kingdom. The award was first launched i ...
in the UK and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in Ireland. Ullmann's novels are published throughout Europe and the United States and are translated into 30 languages.
Ullmann is co-founder (2009) and former artistic director of the international artist residency foundation The Bergman Estate on Fårö
Fårö () or Fåre in Gutnish is a Baltic Sea island just north of the island of Gotland, itself off mainland Sweden's southeastern coast. It is the second-largest island in the province and it is a popular summer resort. It has its own langua ...
.
She served on the jury for the main competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival
The 64th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition and French filmmaker Michel Gondry headed the jury for the short film competition. South Ko ...
.
Ullmann's fifth novel, ''The Cold Song'', was published in Norway on 24 November 2011.
In 2015, Ullmann appeared as a featured author, leading a writing seminar, at the annual Iceland Writers Retreat in Reykjavik, Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
br>
Ullmann is married to Niels Fredrik Dahl
Niels Fredrik Dahl (born 11 May 1957) is a Norwegian novelist, poet and dramatist. He was awarded the Brage Prize in 2002 for the novel ''På vei til en venn''. He has also written scripts for TV series. Dahl is married to author and journalist ...
, a novelist, playwright and poet. They live in 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 ...
with their son.
Literary works
*''Before You Sleep'' (Før du sovner) 1998
*''Stella Descending'' (Når jeg er hos deg) 2001
*''Grace'' (Nåde) 2002
*''A Blessed Child'' (Et Velsignet Barn) 2005
*''The Cold Song'' (Det dyrebare) 2011
*''Unquiet'' (De urolige) 2019
*''Girl'', 1983 (Jente, 1983) 2021
Literary awards
* Gold Pen (2007)
* Amalie Skram Prize (2007)
* Norwegian Readers' Prize (2002)
References
External links
Linn Ullmann's website
Linn Ullmann
at :no:Oktober forlag
Linn Ullmann
at NRK Forfatter
NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...
Linn Ullmann
at Dagbladet Forfatter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ullmann, Linn
1966 births
Living people
New York University alumni
Norwegian journalists
Norwegian women journalists
Norwegian people of Swedish descent
Norwegian people of Belgian descent
Writers from Oslo
Waldorf school alumni
Norwegian women novelists
20th-century Norwegian novelists
21st-century Norwegian novelists
20th-century Norwegian women writers
21st-century Norwegian women writers
Writers from New York City
Norwegian expatriates in the United States
Juilliard School alumni
Norwegian literary critics
Women literary critics
Norwegian women critics
Norwegian women non-fiction writers