Ragnar Hovland


Ragnar Hovland is a Norwegian novelist, essayist, poet, and writer of children's books.

Personal life

Hovland was born in Bergen to priest Håkon Hovland and schoolteacher Sigrid Indrebø, and grew up in Strandvik and Luster. He was married to Sabine Angelika Rolka from 1978 to 1992, and to Tove Olaug Bakke since 1996.

Career

Hovland made his literary debut in 1979, with the novel '. The book follows four young boys from secondary school to college. Their interests circle around rock music, alcohol, a dose of politics and girls.
He followed up with the short story collection '. The collection includes the stories "Dei siste beat-poetane i Midthordaland", where two wannabe poets are expelled from the gang and instead read their works for a herd of wet sheep; further "Sommarens blå flygel", where two young lovers are surprised by the boy's father, who expresses concern that they could catch a cold since they lie naked on the ground. In the surrealistic story "Songen om Emilia", a young man finds a dead body on the floor three days in a row, and is unable to get rid of the corps, even if he pushes them into the cupboard every time.
The novel Sveve over vatna is set in Bergen, and the protagonist is a student who gets involved in various strange adventures.
He was awarded the Brage Prize in 1992 for the children's book Ein motorsykkel i natta. He received the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature in 2001, for the novel Ei vinterreise.

Awards