Åsta Holth (13 February 1904 – 16 March 1999) was a Norwegian novelist, poet and short story writer. She made her literary debut in 1944 with the short story collection ''Gamle bygdevegen''. In 1946, she published the poetry collection ''Porkkalafela''. She was awarded the

Dobloug Prize The Dobloug Prize (, ) is a literature prize awarded for Swedish and Norwegian fiction. The prize is named after Norwegian businessman and philanthropist Birger Dobloug (1881–1944) pursuant to his bequest. The prize sum is 4 * 150,000 Swedish crow ...

in 1977.

Biography

Holth was born at Svullrya in

Grue Municipality Grue is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Solør. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kirkenær. ...

Hedmark Hedmark () was a Counties of Norway, county in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmar ...

county, Norway. She was of Forest Finnish descent. Many of her written works are about the residents of

Finnskogen Finnskogen ("Forest of the Finns") is an area of Norway and Sweden situated in the counties of Innlandet and Värmland respectively, so named because of immigration of Finnish people in the 17th century, the so-called ''Forest Finns, Skogfinner/"Fo ...

. Holth published a total of 19 books. She made her debut in 1929 with the play ''I Luråsen''. Her breakthrough came with her novel ''Kornet og freden'' (1955) followed by ''Gullsmeden'' (1958) and ''Steinen bløder'' (1963). Her autobiography ''Piga'' came out in 1979. Holth was awarded the

in 1977 and the

King's Medal of Merit The King's Medal of Merit (Norwegian: ''Kongens fortjenstmedalje'') is a Norwegian award. It was instituted in 1908 to reward meritorious achievements in the fields of art, science, business, and public service. It is divided in two classes: gold ...

(''Kongens fortjenstmedalje'') in gold during 1984. Very concerned with the preservation of Finnish culture in Norway, she founded the Finnskogdagane festival, held in the town of Svullrya every year. A memorial trail was opened during the 2017 festival.

References

1904 births 1999 deaths People from Grue, Norway Nynorsk-language writers Communist Party of Norway politicians 20th-century Norwegian novelists 20th-century Norwegian poets Norwegian women short story writers Norwegian women novelists 20th-century Norwegian women writers Communist women writers Norwegian women poets 20th-century Norwegian short story writers Norwegian people of Forest Finnish descent Recipients of the King's Medal of Merit in gold Dobloug Prize winners {{Norway-poet-stub