Odd Lunde Børretzen (21 November 1926 – 3 November 2012) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

author, illustrator, translator, and one of the most significant text writers, folk singers and artists in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Biography

Børretzen was born in

Fister Fister is a village in Hjelmeland municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is a small community approximately 600 inhabitants, and is located on the mainland, along the Fisterfjorden, a branch off the main Boknafjorden. The village l ...

in the

Hjelmeland is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Ryfylke. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hjelmelandsvågen. Other villages in the municipality include Fister, Årdal, ...

municipality as the son of the preacher Jacob Børretzen. When Odd was three years old, his family moved to

Grorud Grorud is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. The borough contains the Ammerud, Grorud, Kalbakken, Rødtvet, Nordtvet and Romsås areas. To the north of the borough is the forest of Lillomarka. The borough is the smallest in Oslo, with fewe ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

; his childhood is related in the self-biographic ''Min barndoms verden'' (My Childhood World, 1997; filmed as '' Da jeg traff Jesus … med sprettert'', 2000). Later in life, between 1946 and 1952, he worked as a telegrapher among other things. He debuted as an author in 1959 with his self-illustrated children's book ''Byen som laget brannbil'' (The city that made a firetruck). He released his first

record album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records col ...

in 1974, and this was a product of many years of collaboration with the famous Norwegian folk singer and lyricist

Alf Cranner Alf Cranner (25 October 1936 – 3 March 2020) was a major Norwegian folk singer, lyricist and painter, considered by many to be the pioneer of the Norwegian folk music wave of the 1960s. (in Norwegian) (in Norwegian) The citation for the award ...

. In 1981, he started a comprehensive cooperation with another famous Norwegian folk singer and lyricist

Lars Martin Myhre Lars Martin Myhre (born 10 August 1956 in Tønsberg, Norway) (in Norwegian) is a Norwegian composer, guitarist, pianist, singer and producer residing in Sandefjord. He is best known for his collaboration with Odd Børretzen, (in Norwegian) but ha ...

, that would later have a profound impact in the musical life of Norway. Børretzen's play ''Synd og skam'' (Pity and shame) was shown on Teater Ibsen in 1994, his

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

s always written by hand are sharp witty and always with an edge into current issues or universal everyday life. He is well known for his many performances with Julius Hougen on radio and television as Braathen, a pensioner. They received a strong reaction to the so-called pensioner sketches, and therefore Børretzen decided to stop performing them due to bad conscience. He also was the narrator for the animation series ''Kalles klatretre'' (Kalle's Climbing Tree) on

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

. Børretzen lived in

Holmestrand is a town and municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Holmestrand. The town was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). ...

. He lived with Eva Bødtker-Næss, a sculptor, for over thirty years.

Awards

Odd Børretzen won the

Herman Wildenvey Poetry Award The Herman Wildenvey Poetry Award ( no, Herman Wildenveys Poesipris) is a Norwegian award. It is conferred every year on July 20, the birthday of the poet Herman Wildenvey, in an event held at Hergisheim. The award consists of NOK 15,000 and a bro ...

in 2005. He was awarded the

Leonard Statuette ''Leonardstatuetten'' (Leonard Statuette) is a prize awarded by the Norwegian Comedy Writers' Association. The award is named after revue instructor, composer and director Einar Leonard Schanke (1927–1992), who was one of Norway's most importan ...

in 2002.

References

External links

* 1926 births 2012 deaths Norwegian children's writers Norwegian illustrators Spellemannprisen winners Leonard Statuette winners Deaths from pneumonia in Norway 20th-century Norwegian dramatists and playwrights Norwegian male dramatists and playwrights People from Holmestrand {{illustrator-stub