Håkon Evjenth (26 December 1894 – 10 June 1951) was a Norwegian jurist, non-fiction writer, short-story writer and children's writer. He is probably best remembered for his children's books.

Personal life

Evjenth was born in Bodø to barrister and government minister

Håkon Martin Evjenth Haakon Martin Evjenth (17 July 1865 – 16 November 1934) was a Norway, Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party (Norway), Liberal Party. He was Minister of Justice 1928–1930. Evjenth was a barrister by profession. He was the father of jurist ...

and Martha Backer. He married schoolteacher Solveig Bjerve in 1923.

Career

Evjenth graduated as

cand.jur. Candidate ( or ) is the name of various academic degrees, which are today mainly awarded in Scandinavia. The degree title was phased out in much of Europe through the 1999 Bologna Process, which has re-formatted academic degrees in Europe. The de ...

in 1917. He started his professional career in

Kristiania Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022, an ...

, was a barrister in

Vardø Vardo or Vardø may refer to: Places * Vardø Municipality, a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway *Vardø (town) (Norwegian language, Norwegian; ), , or is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the administrative centre of Vard� ...

from 1921 to 1925, and then in Bodø. He received a grant from

Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

for the years 1927–1930 for conducting research on the Sami culture, and lived four years in a turf hut at the

Varanger Peninsula The Varanger Peninsula (; ; ) is a peninsula in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located in the northeasternmost part of Norway, along the Barents Sea. The peninsula has the Tanafjorden to the west, the Varangerfjorden to the south, and the Bar ...

, along with his wife. He made his literary debut in 1927, with ''Finnmarks-jakter'', and in 1928 he published the short story collection ''Folk under fot''. His literary breakthrough was the children's book ''3 på to og 2 på fire'' from 1935, which saw the sequels ''På to og fire i Suonjo'' from 1936 and ''Over kjølen i kano'' from 1937. Descriptions of the nature in Northern Norway, such as birds and animal life, dominate large parts of these books. In 1939 he wrote ''En fiskergutt i Sameland'', set in the mid 19th century, where the Sami culture is a central element. In 1940 he wrote the sequel ''På langferd i grenseland''. ''Falkefengeren'' from 1941 is set in the 17th century. These children's books were later reissued in

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 ...

's ''GGG book series'' for boys ("Gyldendals Gode Guttebøker").

World War II

During the

German occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

Evjenth took part in resistance activities. He was among a group of people in Bodø who tried to take some initiatives in 1940, and helped with the establishment of the

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (MI numbers, Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of Human i ...

wireline station ''Delta'' in 1941. He was arrested an held in the

Falstad concentration camp Falstad concentration camp ( or ) was situated in the village of Ekne in what was Skogn Municipality (now part of Levanger Municipality in Trøndelag county) in Norway. It was used mostly for political prisoners from Nazism, Nazi-occupied territor ...

from December 1941 to February 1942, and again from May to June 1943. He later focused on helping refugees and on news distribution. He was arrested on 5 September 1943, for being in possession of a radio. His wife was also arrested. They were both incarcerated at the

Grini detention camp Grini prison camp (, ) was a Nazi concentration camp in Bærum, Norway, which operated between 1941 and May 1945. Ila Detention and Security Prison is now located here. History Grini was originally built as a women's prison, near an old croft ...

from January 1944 to March 1945. His novel for young adults ''Krig i kvitt'' from 1945 treats the

Battles of Narvik The Battles of Narvik were fought from 9 April to 8 June 1940, as a naval battle in Ofotfjord and as a land battle in the mountains surrounding the north Norwegian town of Narvik, as part of the Norwegian Campaign of the Second World War. Th ...

in 1940. It is based on diaries written by participants in the campaign. In 1945 he also wrote the book ''Mannen som reddet verden'', about

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evjenth, Hakon 1894 births 1951 deaths People from Bodø Norwegian jurists Norwegian children's writers Norwegian non-fiction writers 20th-century Norwegian novelists Norwegian resistance members Falstad concentration camp survivors Grini concentration camp survivors 20th-century Norwegian non-fiction writers