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"Imagination is everything."
Stats:
Born: 1952, Oslo, Norway
Resources:
Jostein
Gaarder - Fan page with English language biography of Gaarder.
Jostein Gaarder.net -
Norwedgian site, with upcoming English translation. |
| Jostein Gaarder was born in Oslo, Norway in 1952. His parents'
occupations presaged his own interests in teaching and writing -- his father
was a headmaster and his mother a teacher and author of children's books.
Gaarder attended the Oslo Katerdralskole and the University of Oslo, where
he studied Scandinavian languages and theology.
Following his 1974 marriage, Gaarder began to write, contributing to several
textbooks on philosophy and theology. His family moved to Bergen in 1981,
where he began to teach high school philosophy, a post he held for several
years. His first fiction book, Diagnosen og andre noveller (The Diagnosis
and Other Stories) was published in 1986. Two books for children followed,
Barna fra Sukhavati (The Children from Sukhavati, 1987) and Froskeslottet
(The Frog Castle, 1988) before the publication of Kabalmysteriet (The Solitaire
Mystery) in 1990. Kabalmysteriet won both the Norwegian Literary Critics'
Award and the Ministry of Cultural and Scientific Affairs Literary Prize.
Sofies verden (Sophie's World) followed in 1991 and was a gigantic success.
For three years running it was Norway's number one best-seller, and it repeated
this success in nearly every country in which it appeared. To date, the book
has been published in 44 languages and was the best-selling fiction book
in the world in 1995, an astonishing achievement for what is essentially
a textbook in the form of a novel.
The success of Sophie's World allowed Gaarder to become a full-time writer.
He continues to publish a new book every one to two years. Gaarder, his wife
Siri, and their two sons live in Oslo.
(Biography courtesy
Bill Winter) |
