Karin Beate "Linn" Ullmann (born 9 August 1966) is a Norwegian author and journalist. A prominent literary critic, she also writes a column for Norway's leading morning newspaper and has published seven novels.
Early life
Ullmann was born in Oslo, Norway, to Norwegian actress, author and director
Liv Ullmann
Liv Johanne Ullmann (born 16 December 1938) is a Norwegian actress and filmmaker. Recognised as one of the greatest European actresses of all time, Ullmann is known as the muse and frequent collaborator of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, whom she date ...
and Swedish director and screenwriter
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...
. She grew up in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
and Oslo.
Ullmann attended
Professional Children's School
The Professional Children's School (PCS) is a not-for-profit, college-preparatory school geared toward working and aspiring child actors and dancers in grades four through twelve. The school was founded in New York City in 1914 to provide an ac ...
in
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
. When she was fifteen, she was "kicked out" (as she puts it) of the
Norwegian National Opera and Ballet. She attended
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...
as a prospective dancer
[ and graduated from ]New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
, where she studied English literature and began work on her PhD.
Career
When her first and critically acclaimed novel ''Before You Sleep'' was published in 1998, she was already known as an influential literary critic. Her second novel, ''Stella Descending'' was published in 2001 and her third novel ''Grace'' was published in 2002. For ''Grace'', Ullmann received the literary award The Readers' Prize in Norway, and ''Grace'' was named one of the top ten novels that year by the prestigious newspaper '' Weekendavisen'' in Denmark. In 2007, ''Grace'' was longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in the United Kingdom, and in March the same year, the Norwegian theater Riksteatret played a successful run of the theatrical play ''Grace'', based on the novel.
Ullmann's fourth novel ''A Blessed Child'' was published in Norway the fall of 2005, and it was shortlisted for the prestigious Norwegian literature prize – the Brage Prize. In 2007, she was awarded the Amalie Skram Award for her literary work, and she received Gullpennen (the Golden Pen) for her journalism in Norway's leading morning newspaper ''Aftenposten
(; ; stylized as in the masthead) is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation as well as Norway's newspaper of record. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 daily copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen ...
''. In 2008, ''A Blessed Child'' was named Best Translated novel in the British newspaper ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', and in 2009 the novel was longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in the UK and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in Ireland. Ullmann's novels are published throughout Europe and the United States and are translated into 30 languages.
Ullmann is co-founder (2009) and former artistic director of the international artist residency foundation The Bergman Estate on Fårö
Fårö () or in Gutnish is a Baltic Sea island just north of the island of Gotland, itself off mainland Sweden's southeastern coast. It is the second-largest island in the county and it is a popular summer resort. It has its own language, Fårö ...
.
She served on the jury for the main competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival
The 64th Cannes Film Festival took place from 11 to 22 May 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition. American filmmaker Terrence Malick won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for t ...
.
Ullmann's fifth novel, ''The Cold Song'', was published in Norway on 24 November 2011.
In 2015, Ullmann appeared as a featured author, leading a writing seminar, at the annual Iceland Writers Retreat in Reykjavik, Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
br>
Personal life
Ullmann is married to Niels Fredrik Dahl, a novelist, playwright and poet. They live in Oslo
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 ...
. She has two children, including Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, and two stepchildren.
Literary works
*''Before You Sleep'' (Før du sovner) 1998
*''Stella Descending'' (Når jeg er hos deg) 2001
*''Grace'' (Nåde) 2002
*''A Blessed Child'' (Et Velsignet Barn) 2005
*''The Cold Song'' (Det dyrebare) 2011
*''Unquiet'' (De urolige) 2019
*''Girl, 1983'' (Jente, 1983) 2021
Literary awards
* Gold Pen (2007)
* Amalie Skram Prize (2007)
* Norwegian Readers' Prize (2002)
References
External links
Linn Ullmann's website
Linn Ullmann
at :no:Oktober forlag
Linn Ullmann
at NRK Forfatter
Linn Ullmann
at Dagbladet Forfatter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ullmann, Linn
1966 births
Living people
New York University alumni
Norwegian journalists
Norwegian women journalists
Norwegian people of Swedish descent
Norwegian people of Belgian descent
Writers from Oslo
Waldorf school alumni
Norwegian women novelists
20th-century Norwegian novelists
21st-century Norwegian novelists
20th-century Norwegian women writers
21st-century Norwegian women writers
Writers from New York City
Norwegian expatriates in the United States
Juilliard School alumni
Norwegian literary critics
Norwegian women literary critics
Norwegian women non-fiction writers
Bergman family