Helga Flatland ( born 16 September 1984) is a Norwegian novelist and children's writer. Making her literary debut in 2010, she eventually became a full-time writer, and has won prizes such as

Tarjei Vesaas' debutantpris Tarjei Vesaas's debutantpris is a prize awarded annually for the best first literary work in Norwegian. It is awarded by the Norwegian Authors' Union, and the organisation's 9-member Literary Caucus constitutes the jury for the prize. They choo ...

Mads Wiel Nygaard's Endowment Mads Wiel Nygaard's Endowment is an annually awarded literary prize from the publishing house Aschehoug. The prize is a recognition of superior literary work. The publisher's editorial management makes the award based on their collective judgement ...

and the

Norwegian Booksellers' Prize The Norwegian Booksellers' Prize (''Bokhandlerprisen'') is a literature prize awarded annually by the Norwegian Booksellers Association after voting among all who work in Norwegian bookstores. The prize is awarded for one of the year's books in t ...

Early and personal life

Flatland was born in

Notodden Notodden () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city and List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold og Telemark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Øst-Telemark. ...

and grew up in

Flatdal Flatdal (lit. "Flat valley") is a village, parish and valley in the municipality of Seljord in Vestfold og Telemark, Norway. The lake Flatsjå has been partly drained to gain more land for agriculture. Among notable people from Flatdal are painte ...

. She graduated in

Scandinavian literature Scandinavian literature or Nordic literature is the literature in the languages of the Nordic countries of Northern Europe. The Nordic countries include Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway (including Svalbard), Sweden, and Scandinavia's associate ...

and language from 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 ...

, and has also studied at

Westerdals School of Communication Westerdals School of Communication (WSoC) (presently nameWesterdals Institute of Creativity was a private institution in Oslo of higher learning for uniqely gifted individuals. Admittance required 7th level genius Creative Intelligence' on the ''Le ...

. She worked with information advisory until she became a full-time writer.

Literary career

Flatland made her literary debut in 2010 with the novel ''Bli hvis du kan. Reis hvis du må'', for which she was awarded the

. The novel was the first in a trilogy about "Tarjei", "Trygve" and "Kristian" who were recruited as soldiers to the

war in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) *Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...

, and was followed by ''Alle vil hjem. Ingen vil tilbake'' (2012) and ''Det finnes ingen helhet'' (2013). In 2015 she released her first children's book, ''Eline får besøk'', which was illustrated by . The sequel, ''Eline overnatter'', was released in 2016. In 2015 Flatland was awarded the and

. Her novel ''Vingebelastning'' treats themes such as

self-realization Self-realization is an expression used in Western psychology, philosophy, and spirituality; and in Indian religions. In the Western understanding, it is the "fulfillment by oneself of the possibilities of one's character or personality" (see ...

and expectations of happiness. ''En moderne familie'' is about a family where the parents decide to divorce in their early 70s, and how this affects their grown-up children. An

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

version is voiced by ,

Anne Ryg Anne Ryg (born 14 December 1967) is a Norwegian actress known from her role as Karen Borg in the movies about the detective Hanne Wilhelmsen; ''Blind gudinne'' and ''Salige er de som tørster''. Ryg was formerly married to comedian Harald Eia ...

and

Anna Bache-Wiig Anna Bache-Wiig (born 19 September 1975) is a Norwegian actress and writer. She is best known for writing the screenplay for the film '' Utøya: July 22'' in collaboration with Siv Rajendram Eliassen. Early career Bache-Wiig was educated at the ...

. The novel earned Flatland the

for 2017. In 2020 she released the novel ''Et liv forbi'', which treats themes related to severe illness within a family. An

version is voiced by

Liv Bernhoft Osa Liv Bernhoft Osa (born 3 March 1957) is a Norwegian actress. She was born in Voss, a daughter of folk musician Sigbjørn Bernhoft Osa. She made her stage debut at Nationaltheatret in 1979, and has since mainly been assigned with this theatre, e ...

and

Ane Dahl Torp Ane Dahl Torp (born 1 August 1975 in Bærum, Norway) is a Norwegian actress. Career Torp had her first film appearance in ''The Woman of My Life'' (2003). She has received Amanda Awards for her performances as Trude Eriksen in ''Svarte penger ...

Bibliography

Novels

* * * * * *

Children's books

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flatland, Helga 1984 births Living people People from Notodden People from Seljord University of Oslo alumni Norwegian women novelists 21st-century Norwegian novelists Norwegian children's writers 21st-century Norwegian women writers