Gordon Hølmebakk (26 February 1928 – 10 January 2018) was a Norwegian publishing editor, essayist and novelist.

Biography

He was born in Feda, (now Kvinesdal) in

Vest-Agder Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total popul ...

, Norway. He was the son of Søren Adolf Svindland (1881–1966) and Inger Marie Abrahamsen Møgedal (1888–1949). His brother was the noted author Sigbjørn Hølmebakk (1922–1981). He entered the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

in 1950, where he came into contact with

Harald Grieg Harald Grieg (3 August 1894 – 6 October 1972) was a Norwegian publishing, publisher. He was director of Gyldendal Norsk Forlag and for many years was a leading figure in the Norwegian book industry. Biography Grieg was born on 3 August 1894, i ...

, the director of the publishing firm

Gyldendal Norsk Forlag Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS, commonly referred to as Gyldendal N.F. and in Norway often only as Gyldendal, is one of the largest Norway, Norwegian publishing houses. It was founded in 1925 after buying rights to publications from the Denmark, Dan ...

. Hølmebakk worked for Gyldendal from 1958. Hølmebakk soon came to assume responsibility of the large number of translations from contemporary world literature in ''Den gule serie'', which

Sigurd Hoel Sigurd Hoel (December 14, 1890 – October 14, 1960) was a Norwegian author and publishing consultant, born in Nord-Odal. A prolific writer and critic, during the World War II he was a member of the Norwegian resistance movement. In his early ...

(1890–1960) had previously edited since 1929. Hølmebakk edited a new series in which many important avant-garde foreign authors were introduced in Norway. Hølmebakk headed the section of translated fiction from 1960 to 1996 during which time Gyldendal published more translated books than did any other Norwegian publishing house. Hølmebakk also edited several book series and anthologies. In 1955, he married Inger Sophie Blix Manthey. After his retirement, he wrote novels under the pseudonym Gabriel Homme. In 1996, he wrote his autobiography, ''Den gode strid''. In 1997 he was jointly awarded the Anders Jahre's Cultural Prize (''Anders Jahres Kulturpris'') with the composer

Arne Nordheim Arne Nordheim (20 June 1931 – 5 June 2010) was a Norwegian composer. Nordheim received numerous awards for his compositions, and from 1982 lived in the Norwegian government's honorary residence, Grotten, next to the Royal Palace in Oslo. ...

(1931–2010). He died in 2018 in Oslo, Norway.

References

1928 births 2018 deaths People from Kvinesdal Norwegian book publishers (people) 20th-century Norwegian novelists 20th-century Norwegian essayists {{Editor-stub