William Nygaard (born 16 March 1943) is the

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

head of the

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 ...

publishing company

Aschehoug H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard), commonly known as Aschehoug,() is one of the largest independent publishing companies in Norway, founded in 1872. Headquartered in Oslo, the publishing house has 480 employees. The Aschehoug group also comprises ot ...

. He was also chairman of 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 ...

. He has two children.

Business career

From 1974 to 2010, he was the chief publisher of

, Norway's second largest publishing house, which is owned by the Nygaard family. When he took this job he followed the footsteps of his father Mads Wiel Nygaard and grandfather

William Martin Nygaard William Martin Nygaard (6 February 1865 – 19 December 1952) was a Norwegian publisher and politician. Personal life Nygaard was born in Kristiansand as the son of educator and linguist Marius Nygaard (1838–1912) and his wife Elisabeth "Elise ...

who was leading the company in earlier years, and the tradition continues since he left the job to his son, Mads Nygaard. William Nygaard was chairman of the

Norwegian Publishers Association The Norwegian Publishers' Association ( no, Den norske Forleggerforening) is a publishing house association in Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which compr ...

from 1987 to 1990. From 2010 to 2014, he was employed as a director of

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 ...

(the state owned TV of Norway).

Assassination attempt

On 12 April 1989, Aschehoug and William Nygaard were responsible for publishing the Norwegian edition of

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...

's novel ''

The Satanic Verses ''The Satanic Verses'' is the fourth novel of British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie. First published in September 1988, the book was inspired by the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical realism ...

''. This was two months after

Ayatollah Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...

issued the following

fatwa A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...

against Salman Rushdie and his publishers: :''I inform all zealous Muslims of the world that the author of the book entitled The Satanic Verses — which has been compiled, printed and published in opposition to Islam, the Prophet, and the Qur'an — and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, are sentenced to death. I call on all zealous Muslims to execute them quickly, wherever they may be found, so that no one else will dare to insult the Muslim sanctities. God Willing, whoever is killed on this path is a martyr.'' Owing to the fatwa, direct threats were made against William Nygaard and translator

Kari Risvik Kari Risvik (13 June 1932 – 6 November 2021) was a Norwegian translator, one of the most productive translators of literature into Norwegian language. She has translated books from several languages, including English, Spanish and German. She ...

, and in the resulting

controversy Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...

, Nygaard was given police protection for a period. On the morning of 11 October 1993, Nygaard was shot three times outside his home in Dagaliveien 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 ...

. Most people — including Nygaard — link the incident to the fatwa. After several months of hospitalization, mostly at Sunnaas Hospital, Nygaard slowly recovered. In early October 2018, almost a quarter century after the attempted assassination, charges were made against the alleged perpetrators. Their names and nationalities were not publicized at the time. In November 2021 the two were identified as the Lebanese man Khaled Moussawi and an unnamed former Iranian diplomat.

Other positions

Both before and after the attack, William Nygaard has been an outspoken defender of

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been ...

, and is a board member of the Norwegian division of

International PEN PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internationa ...

. He is a member of the

Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature The Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature ( no, Det Norske Akademi for Språk og Litteratur), commonly known as the Norwegian Academy, is a Norwegian learned body on matters pertaining to the modern Norwegian language in its Dano-Norwegian ...

. He has been a member of the board of Norway's

National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

. In 2010 he was elected chairman of the

Awards

* 1994

Fritt Ord Award Fritt Ord Award consists of two prizes awarded by the Fritt Ord Foundation (''Stiftelsen Fritt Ord''). Two prizes are awarded in support of freedom of speech and freedom of expression; the Fritt Ord Award ( no, Fritt Ords pris) and the Fritt O ...

. * 1998 Segerstedt award * 1998 knight of 1. class of St. Olavs Orden * 1998 (with Salman Rushdie)

honorary doctor An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

at Universitetet i Tromsø * 2019 Gunnar Sønstebys award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nygaard, William 1943 births Living people Norwegian publishers (people) Norwegian victims of crime Islamic terrorism and Norway Members of the Norwegian Academy Chairs of NRK