
Ottar Grepstad (born 1 October 1953) is a
Norwegian Nynorsk
Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...
writer.
He was born in
Øyer Municipality
Øyer is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Tin ...
. In the 1970s he was the leader of the
Young Liberals of Norway
Young Liberals of Norway () (NUV) is the youth league of the Norway, Norwegian political party Venstre (Norway), Venstre. Young Liberals was founded on 27 January 1909, with Anders Kirkhusmo as the first leader. The current president is Sondre Han ...
for a period. From 1984 to 1988 he edited the periodical ''
Syn og Segn
''Syn og Segn'' is a Norwegian quarterly cultural and political periodical published in Oslo, Norway.
History and profile
''Syn og Segn'' was founded in 1894, and Rasmus Flo and Arne Garborg were the first editors.[Det Norske Samlaget Det Norske Samlaget is a Norwegian publishing house founded on 24 March 1868 with the aim to promote and publish books in Landsmål, now known as Nynorsk.
''Det Norske Samlaget'' is now divided into two institutions: a literature organization, '' ...]
for many years, and has been manager for
Noregs MÃ¥llag
Noregs MÃ¥llag (literally "Language Organisation of Norway") is the main organisation for Norwegian Nynorsk (New Norwegian), one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language
Norwegian ( ) is a North Germanic language from th ...
. In 1999 he became the leader of the
Ivar Aasen Centre in
Ørsta Ørsta may refer to:
Places
* Ørsta (village), an urban village area within Ørsta Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway
*Ørsta Municipality
is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, ...
. This centre is owned by ''Nynorsk kultursentrum''; which is led by Grepstad as well. From 1 January 2005 he has been a member of the
Arts Council Norway
The Arts Council Norway (, often shortened to ''Kulturrådet'') is the official arts council for Norway.
Based in Oslo, it is a Norwegian state institution created in as a result of a parliamentary decision in 1964.
Arts Council Norway's admini ...
, and from 2006 to 2010 he has been a board member of the
Norwegian Language Council
The Language Council of Norway (, ) is the administrative body of the Norwegian state on language issues. It regulates the two written forms of the Norwegian language: Bokmål and Nynorsk. It was established in 2005 and replaced the Norwegian Lan ...
. He left the Arts Council in late 2009.
In 1997 he released the book ''Det litterære skattkammer. Sakprosaens teori og retorikk'', which was claimed to be the "world's first theoretical book about
prose
Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...
". In 1999 he was awarded the Norwegian Language Prize by the
Norwegian Language Council
The Language Council of Norway (, ) is the administrative body of the Norwegian state on language issues. It regulates the two written forms of the Norwegian language: Bokmål and Nynorsk. It was established in 2005 and replaced the Norwegian Lan ...
.
In 2006 he released ''Viljen til språk. Ei nynorsk kulturhistorie'' and in 2010 ''Avisene som utvida Noreg. Nynorskpressa 1850-2010''.
Grepstad resides in
Volda Municipality
Volda is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre is the Volda (village), village of Volda. Other v ...
.
References
1953 births
Living people
Norwegian magazine editors
Norwegian non-fiction writers
Nynorsk-language writers
People from Øyer
People from Volda
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