Tor Obrestad (12 February 1938 – 25 January 2020) was a Norwegian novelist, poet and documentary writer.

Early and personal life

Obrestad was born in

Hå Hå is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is the southernmost municipality in the traditional district of Jæren. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Varhaug. Other villages in Hå include Brusand, Hæen, ...

on 12 February 1938. His parents were farmer Jon R. Obrestad and Sophie Riise. He studied at the teacher's college in Elverum and worked as a schoolteacher, and then studied at the University of Oslo. He eventually became a full-time writer, and was also assigned as journalist for the newspaper '' Stavanger Aftenblad''. He died on 25 January 2020.

Literary career

Obrestad made his literary debut in 1966 with two books, the poetry collection ''Kollisjon'' and a collection of short stories, ''Vind'', and received Tarjei Vesaas' debutantpris for these two books. He was a member of the so-called ''Profil generation'' in 1968, the circle attached to the literary magazine '' Profil''. He wrote biographies on Arne Garborg, Hulda Garborg, Alexander Kielland and Einar Førde. His novel ''Sauda! Streik!'' from 1972 was adapted for a film directed by Oddvar Bull Tuhus in 1975.

Selected works

* ''Kollisjon'', poetry, 1966 * ''Vind'', short stories, 1966 * ''Vårt daglige brød'', poetry, 1968 * ''Marionettar'', novel, 1969 * ''Den norske løve'', poetry, 1970 * ''Sauda! Streik!'', novel, 1972 * ''Sauda og Shanghai'', poetry, 1973 * ''Stå saman'', poetry, 1974 * ''Tolken'', short stories, 1975 * ''Baba Anastasia og andre tekster'', short stories, 1976 * ''Stå på! Roman om ein arbeidskonflikt'', novel, 1976 * ''Vinterdikt'', poetry, 1979 * ''Reisa til bestemor'', children's book, 1980 * ''Ein gong må du seie adjø'', novel, 1981 * ''Sjå Jæren, gamle Jæren'', short stories, 1982 * ''Kamelen i Jomarskogen'', children's book, 1985 * ''Misteltein'', poetry, 1987 * ''Seks netter, seks dagar'', novel, 1989 * '' Arne Garborg'', biography, 1991 * ''Hulda'', biography of Hulda Garborg, 1992 * ''Forsøk på å halde fast tida'', short stories, 1993 * ''Mimosa, myosotis, rosmarin'', poetry, 1994 * ''Sannhetens pris. Alexander Kielland'', biography, 1996 * ''Jæren. Eld or blått. Ei samling poesi i ord og bilete'', poetry, 1997 * ''Bernhards mor. En drøm'', novel, 1998 * ''Kvinnene i Casablanca og andre historier'', short stories, 2002 * ''Krokodillen Alexander og navigator emeritus, Reinert i Sjøhusgaten. Ei oppbyggeleg fortelling frå ein liten by'', children's book, 2002 * '' Einar Førde'', biography, 2007

Awards

* Tarjei Vesaas' debutantpris 1966 * Gyldendal's Endowment 1971

References

1938 births 2020 deaths People from Hå Nynorsk-language writers 20th-century Norwegian novelists 20th-century Norwegian poets Norwegian male poets Norwegian biographers Male biographers Norwegian male novelists 20th-century Norwegian male writers {{Norway-writer-stub