Sigurd Evensmo (14 February 1912 – 17 October 1978) was a Norwegian author and journalist.
- Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. 25 November 2002.

Career

He was born in

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

. In his younger years he was active in Clarté, a student organization at

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 in contact with

Mot Dag Mot Dag (, 'Towards Day') was a Norwegian political group. The group was active from the 1920s to the early 1930s and was first affiliated with the Labour Party. After World War II, many of its former members were leaders in Norwegian politics and ...

, a forum among the social democratic students (later the Student's Communist Organization). He then joined the Workers' Youth League and worked actively with them. He began as a journalist apprentice with ''

Hamar Arbeiderblad ''Hamar Arbeiderblad'' (often referred to locally as "HA") is local newspaper published in Hamar, Norway by Hamar Media. The paper is edited by Carsten Bleness. HA was one of the first newspapers to place the internet edition of a newspaper behind ...

'' and continued as a journalist in many weekly workers papers including '' Tiden'' in

Arendal Arendal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the Districts of Norway, region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the munici ...

, ''

Fremtiden ''Fremtiden'' was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Drammen, Norway, between 1905 and 2000. It was an official publication of Norwegian Labour Party in Buskerud. History and profile ''Fremtiden'' was started in 1905. Its first editor was Torge ...

'' in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken (county), Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and village ...

and '' Arbeidernes Pressekontor'' in

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 ...

. Finally in 1939 he began to work for the ''

Arbeiderbladet ''Dagsavisen'' is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. ...

''. During the war Evensmo was active with the resistance and he wrote for the illegal paper, ''Bulletinen'' until he was forced into hiding and finally to flee from Norway. From 1953 through 1959 he was the editor for the paper ''

Orientering ''Orientering'' was a Norwegian newspaper which was initially published in December 1952 as an alternative voice. It was absorbed into ''Ny Tid'' in 1975. There were many reasons for establishing the newspaper, but the most important was perhaps ...

''. He served as film critic 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 ...

(NRK) from 1948 until 1962. Before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he had written a play, ''Konflikt'', in 1934. His first novel, published in 1945, was ''Englandsfarere''. The theme of the book was based on Evensmo's personal experiences during the war. His trilogy consisting of ''Grenseland'' (1947), ''Flaggermusene'' (1949) and ''Hjemover'' (1951) are recognized as a major example of Norwegian post-war literature, and explore the social and psychological differences between the country and city cultures as well as the intellectual development of workers between the wars. Evensmo won the ''Kritikerprisen'' for the books, and at the close of the 1970s, the trilogy was produced for television by NRK. His novels ''Gåten fra år null'', ''Femten døgn med Gordona'' and ''Miraklet på Blindern'' can all be categorized as

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

; Evensmo was among the first to write in this genre in Norway. He also wrote the scripts for many films.

Prizes and recognition

*1951 -

Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature The Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature (''Den norske Kritikerprisen for litteratur'' or ''Kritikerprisen'') is awarded by the Norwegian Literature Critics' Association (''Norsk Litteraturkritikerlag'') and has been awarded every year since 1950. ...

for the trilogy novels ''Grenseland'', ''Flaggermusene'' and ''Hjemover'' *1976 -

Gyldendal's Endowment Gyldendal's Endowment was a literature prize which was awarded in the period 1934–1995 by the Norwegian publisher Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. The prize was awarded to significant authors, regardless of which publisher the author was associated wi ...

*1977 - Nominated for

The Nordic Council's Literature Prize The Nordic Council Literature Prize is awarded for a work of literature written in one of the languages of the Nordic countries, that meets "high literary and artistic standards". Established in 1962, the prize is awarded every year, and is worth ...

(''Nordisk Råds litteraturpris'') for the novel ''Inn i din tid''

Works

Books

*1945 ''Englandsfarere'', novel *1946 ''Oppbrudd etter midnatt'', novel *1947 ''Grenseland'', novel *1949 ''Flaggermusene'', novel *1951 ''Hjemover'', novel *1954 ''Glassveggen'', collection of stories *1955 ''Trollspeilet: streiftokt i film'' *1956 ''Østenfor vest og vestenfor øst: Jugoslavia under Tito'' *1956 ''Gåten fra år null'', novel *1962 ''Femten døgn med Gordona'', novel *1964 ''Feider og finter'' *1966 ''Miraklet på Blindern'', novel *1967 ''Det store tivoli: film og kino i Norge gjennom 70 år'' *1968 ''Norske forfattere i krig og fred: Den Norske forfatterforening 1940-1968'', written with

Alex Brinchmann Alexander Brinchmann (15 June 1888 – 18 April 1978) was a Norwegian pediatrician. He was also a songwriter, novelist, playwright and crime fiction writer. He chaired the Norwegian Pediatric Society from 1933 to 1934 and the Norwegian Autho ...

*1969 ''Vold i filmene: ett års kinoprogrammer i Norge og noen perspektiver'' *1970 ''Observasjoner'', essay collection *1971 ''Den nakne sannheten: sex i filmene'' *1974 ''Gyldendal og gyldendøler'' *1976 ''Inn i din tid'' *1978 ''Ut i kulda''

Drama

*1934 ''Konflikt'', play *1952 ''Fredsprisen'', radio play *1955 '' Blodveien'', film script *1981 ''Stengetid'', play

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evensmo, Sigurd 1912 births 1978 deaths Norwegian newspaper editors Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature winners NRK people People from Hamar Hamar Katedralskole alumni University of Oslo alumni Norwegian resistance members Mot Dag 20th-century Norwegian novelists 20th-century Norwegian dramatists and playwrights Norwegian male dramatists and playwrights Norwegian male novelists