Gordon Hølmebakk (26 February 1928 – 10 January 2018) was a Norwegian publishing editor, essayist and novelist.

Biography

He was born in

Feda Feda is a village in Kvinesdal municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located on the north side of the Fedafjorden, about southwest of the village of Liknes and about east of the town of Flekkefjord (town), Flekkefjord. The villa ...

, (now Kvinesdal) in

Vest-Agder Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway up until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total population of Norway. I ...

, Norway. He was the son of Søren Adolf Svindland (1881–1966) and Inger Marie Abrahamsen Møgedal (1888–1949). His brother was noted author,

Sigbjørn Hølmebakk Sigbjørn Hølmebakk (2 February 1922 – 25 November 1981) was a Norwegian author. Biography Hølmebakk was born at Feda (now Kvinesdal) in Vest-Agder, Norway. His parents were Søren Adolf Svindland (1881–1966) and Inger Marie Abrahamsen M ...

(1922-81). He entered the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

in 1950 where he came into contact with

Harald Grieg Harald Grieg (3 August 1894 – 6 October 1972) was a Norwegian publisher. He was director of Gyldendal Norsk Forlag and for many years was a leading figure in the Norwegian book industry. Biography Grieg was born in Bergen, Norway. He was the ...

, director of the publishing firm Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. Hølmebakk worked for Gyldendal from 1958. Hølmebakk soon came to assume responsibility of the large number of translations from contemporary world literature in ''Den gule serie'' which

Sigurd Hoel Sigurd Hoel (December 14, 1890 – October 14, 1960) was a Norwegian author and publishing consultant, born in Nord-Odal. He debuted with the collection of short stories (The Way We Go) in 1922. His breakthrough came with (Sinners in Summertim ...

(1890-1960) had previously edited since 1929. Hølmebakk edited a new series in which many important avant-garde foreign authors were introduced in Norway. Hølmebakk headed the section of translated fiction from 1960 to 1996 during which time Gyldendal published more translated books than did any other Norwegian publishing house. Hølmebakk also edited several book series and anthologies. In 1955, he married Inger Sophie Blix Manthey. After his retirement he wrote novels under the pseudonym Gabriel Homme. In 1996, he wrote his autobiography, ''Den gode strid''. In 1997 he was jointly awarded the Anders Jahre's Cultural Prize (''Anders Jahres Kulturpris'') with composer

Arne Nordheim Arne Nordheim (20 June 1931 – 5 June 2010) was a Norwegian composer. Nordheim received numerous awards for his compositions, and from 1982 lived in the Norwegian government's honorary residence, Grotten, next to the Royal Palace in Oslo. He ...

(1931–2010). He died during 2018 in Oslo, Norway.

References

1928 births 2018 deaths People from Kvinesdal Norwegian book publishers (people) Norwegian essayists 20th-century Norwegian novelists 20th-century essayists {{norway-writer-stub