Gunnar Bull Gundersen (5 April 1929 – 7 November 1993) was a Norwegian sailor, novelist, playwright and lyricist.

Biography

Gunnar Bull Gundersen was born at

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

, Norway. Gundersen grew up with changing foster parents and at different boarding schools. He referred to his young years as a very itinerant childhood and said he had visited 10 schools and been expelled from three of them. Shortly after World War II, he went to sea. He was welfare secretary in the State Welfare Office for the merchant navy (''Statens Velferdskontor for Handelsflåten''), where he was stationed in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, Rotterdam and Liverpool. He took the officer and later captain examinations at Oslo Public Seamen's School (''Oslo Offentlige Sjømannsskole'') in 1953 and sailed for some years as an officer in foreign trade. At one time he was also captain of the ferry between Nesodden and Oslo. While a newly qualified officer, he was hired as stage manager at the Radio Theatre for the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

. Gundersen was active in many fields. He was a theater director, novelist, playwright, emcee of radio and television, and wrote lyrics with jazz musicians or in concert with his friend and colleague, lyricist Harald Sverdrup (1923–1992). He also made an important contribution as an enthusiastic jazz communicates through a long series of radio programs in 1960 - 1970. In addition, he was a frequent contributor to the press. In 1956, he made his literary debut with the novel ''Om natten – en bakgårdsfantasi''. He was soon noticed for his sure sense of language and fanciful imagination, which would become his trademarks. Gundersen published twelve novels receiving positive reviews and earning several awards. Gundersen was awarded the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature in 1959 for the novel ''Martin''. For the stage, he wrote several plays and in collaboration with Jon Michelet (1944–2018) wrote ''Matros Tore Solem og hans skip'' (1979).''Jon Michelet'' (Store norske leksikon)
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Selected works

*''Om natten – en bakgårdsfantasi'' (novel) 1956 *''Martin'' (novel) 1959 *''Judith; blader fra en kystskippers dagbok'' (novel) 1963 *''En dagdrivers opptegnelser'' (short stories) 1966 *''Han som ville male havet'' (novel) 1968 *''De hjemløse'' (novel) 1977 *''Matros Tore Solem og hans skip'' (play, with Jon Michelet) 1979

Awards

* Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature (''Kritikerprisen'') - 1959 * Mads Wiel Nygaard's Endowment (''Mads Wiel Nygaards legat'') - 1960 * Riksmål Society Literature Prize (''Riksmålsforbundets litteraturpris'') - 1961

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gundersen, Gunnar Bull 1929 births 1993 deaths People from Stavanger 20th-century Norwegian novelists Norwegian radio personalities Norwegian music journalists Norwegian dramatists and playwrights Norwegian theatre people Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature winners 20th-century Norwegian journalists