World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Dag Solstad

ダグ・ソルスタッド

Dag Solstad

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1941-07-16 (Sandefjord, Norway)
Died
2025-03-14 age 83
Nationality
Norwegian
Languages
Norwegian
Residence History
Berlin (part-time residence) → Oslo (Skillebekk neighbourhood, part-time residence)

Career

Occupations
novelist, short-story writer, dramatist, essayist
Active Years
1965-2025
Influenced By
Witold Gombrowicz
Influenced
Karl Ove Knausgaard, Per Petterson, Jon Michelet

Education

University of Oslo
Country: Norway
Contributed to the literary magazine Profil while enrolled

Awards

Mads Wiel Nygaards Endowment
1969
Result: winner
Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature
1969
Work: Irr! Grønt!
Result: winner
Språklig samlings litteraturpris
1982
Result: winner
Nordic Council Literature Prize
1989
Work: Novel 1987
Organization: Nordic Council
Result: winner
Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature
1992
Work: Novel 11, Book 18
Result: winner
Dobloug Prize
1996
Result: winner
Gyldendalprisen
1996
Result: winner
Brage Prize (Honorary Award)
1998
Category: honorary
Result: winner
Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature
1999
Work: T. Singer
Result: winner
Aschehoug Prize
2004
Result: winner
Brage Prize
2006
Work: Armand V. Footnotes from an Unexcavated Novel
Result: winner
Vestfolds Litteraturpris
2007
Result: winner
Swedish Academy Nordic Prize
2017
Organization: Swedish Academy
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Spiraler

1965 short stories / literary modernism

Debut collection of short stories showing strong modernist influences.

modernismindividual interiority

Irr! Grønt!

1969 novel

One of Solstad's early novels, containing experimental and political elements.

politicsexperimental style

Gymnaslærer Pedersen's Account of the Great Political Awakening that Has Haunted Our Country

1982 novel

Story of a teacher set against the political awakening of the 1970s. Later adapted into a film.

political awakeningindividual and society
Adaptations
  • [film] Comrade Pedersen / Hans Petter Moland (2006)
Translations
  • English translations exist (e.g. Comrade Pedersen)

Novel 1987

1987 novel

Significant 1980s novel; recipient of the Nordic Council Literature Prize.

contemporary societyself-consciousness

Armand V. Footnotes from an Unexcavated Novel

2006 novel / metafiction

Work employing footnote-like and experimental techniques. Winner of the Brage Prize.

metafictionauthorship

T. Singer

1999 novel

One of his important 1990s novels; won the Norwegian Critics Prize.

personal narrativesocial observation

Bibliography

  • Spiraler (1965)
  • Svingstol (1967)
  • Irr! Grønt! (1969)
  • Arild Asnes, 1970 (1971)
  • 25. septemberplassen (1974)
  • Gymnaslærer Pedersen (1982)
  • Novel 1987 (1987)
  • T. Singer (1999)
  • Armand V. Footnotes from an Unexcavated Novel (2006)

Adaptations

  • Film adaptation of Gymnaslærer Pedersen (dir. Hans Petter Moland, 2006)

Translations of Works

  • Many works translated into more than 20 languages, including English

Style & Themes

Literary Style
modernist experimentationrealist descriptionelements of autofiction
Recurring Motifs
politics and the individualself-referentialitymarginal characters

Legacy

Solstad is regarded as one of Norway's leading contemporary writers, highly praised by critics and fellow authors. His works have been widely translated and adapted to film.

Archives

  • National Library of Norway (bibliography and archival holdings)

In Popular Culture

  • Film adaptation of Gymnaslærer Pedersen (2006)

Quotes

  • He was one of the most significant Norwegian authors of our time.
    Source: Eulogy comment by Jonas Gahr Støre (Prime Minister of Norway) reported in news (2025)

Trivia

  • The only author to have won the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature three times.
  • Works translated into over 20 languages.
  • Lived part-time in both Berlin and Oslo during his life.