Brita Josefsdotter Bjørgum (11 March 1858 – 16 January 1906) was a Norwegian writer, teacher and women's rights activist. She was one of the first feminist writers to write in

Nynorsk Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...

Early life

Brita Bjørgum was born on 11 March 1858 in

Voss Voss () is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality and a Districts of Norway, traditional district in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen. Other villages inclu ...

to farmer and freeholder Josef Tollefson and Brita Larsdotter. She was the sister of painter Nils Bjørgum. She never married.

Career

In 1879, Bjørgum took the lower teacher test at the teacher training school at Ølve in

Sunnhordland Sunnhordland is a traditional district in the western region of Norway. The district consists of the southern coastal regions of the old Hordaland county (now part of Vestland county). It includes the areas that surround the mouth of the Harda ...

. She then worked as a substitute teacher in

. Bjørgum wrote poems and short fiction in publications such as the ''Unge Skud/Unglyden'' and ''Den 17de Mai'', often just under the name Brita. In the latter magazine she published a serial, which was published as a book in 1895, titled ''Kari Lidi''. The book is considered to be the first longer story written by a woman in Nynorsk. Bjørgum was an active member of the

Noregs Ungdomslag Noregs Ungdomslag (NU, literally "Norway's youth society") is a Norwegian cultural society formed in 1896. It has around 17,000 members and 450 local chapters. Activities Among the society's activities are folk dance, theatre and the spreading of ...

. She was an active feminist who was fought for women's suffrage and the right for women to smoke, and she is considered a pioneer among female Nynorsk writers. She also advocated for a

republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

as a form of government. Despite her political work, Bjørgum was concerned with tradition and held a Christian outlook on life. She also interested in

bunad ''Bunad'' (, plural: ''bunader''/''bunadar'') is a Norwegian umbrella term. In a broader sense, the term encompasses household, householding equipment, and livestock as well as both traditional rural clothes (mostly dating to the 18th and 19th ...

clothing and she sought out old patterns and sewing techniques. In 1892, she was the first to contribute money to the charitable orphanage in Voss.

Later life

Bjørgum died on 16 January 1906, at the age of 47.

Bibliography

* 1895: ''Kari Lidi''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bjorgum, Brita 1858 births 1906 deaths 19th-century Norwegian educators 19th-century Norwegian poets 20th-century Norwegian poets 19th-century Norwegian short story writers 20th-century Norwegian short story writers 19th-century Norwegian women writers 20th-century Norwegian women writers Norwegian women poets Norwegian women short story writers Nynorsk-language writers People from Voss