Olaug Marie Løken (29 November 1854 – 11 March 1925) was a Norwegian writer and activist.

Personal life

She was born at Sundnes in

Inderøy Municipality Inderøy is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Straumen, Trøn ...

as a daughter of landowner and politician Herman Løchen (1822–76) and Anne Margrethe Jenssen (1826–1911). She had ten siblings, among them

Håkon Løken Håkon Løken (9 November 1859 – 10 September 1923) was a Norwegian jurist, journalist, newspaper editor and non-fiction writer. He was a journalist for the newspaper ''Dagsposten'' from 1890 to 1902. He founded the newspaper ''Nidaros N ...

and

Gudrun Løchen Drewsen Gudrun Løchen Drewsen (1867–1946) was a Norwegian-born American women's rights activist and painter. A competent organizer and strategist, she was one of the founders and principal figures in New York's Norwegian Suffrage League. She contribute ...

. The family led a rich social life with many visiting writers and artists; P. Chr. Asbjørnsen exercised a special influence on Olaug Løken. She was also a first cousin of Arne,

Einar Einar is a Scandinavian given name deriving from the Old Norse name Einarr, which according to Guðbrandur Vigfússon is directly connected with the concept of the einherjar, warriors who died in battle and ascended to Valhalla in Norse mytholog ...

and

Kalle Løchen Kalle Løchen (9 May 1865 – 20 November 1893) was a Norwegian painter and actor. Biography Kalle Løchen was born in Fåberg (now Lillehammer), in Oppland, Norway, the son of cand.jur. Edvard Martin Løchen and his wife Anne Elisabeth Gr� ...

. In October 1881 in

Trondhjem Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is t ...

she married another first cousin, editor

Hjalmar Løken Hjalmar Løken (31 October 1852 – 1932) was a Norwegian jurist and newspaper editor. Personal life Hjalmar Løken was born in Vang, Hedmark as the son of cand.jur. Edvard Martin Løchen and his wife Anne Elisabeth Grøtting. He was a brothe ...

(1852–1932).

Career

Løken took orthopedic education 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 ...

, but made a career as a writer and public debater. Her husband was the editor of ''

Norske Intelligenssedler ''Norske Intelligenz-Seddeler'' is a former Norwegian newspaper issued in Oslo from 1763 to 1920. It was the first newspaper in Norway, and its first issue came out on 25 May 1763. The founder and first publisher of ''Norske Intelligenz-Sedde ...

'', and Løken debuted as a food writer here in the 1890s. In 1897 she issued the cookbook ''Madstel og Husstel for almindelige Husholdninger'', which became a large success with six re-issues. She also issued two books on childcare, ''Barnestel'' in 1903 and ''For Barnepiger og Mødre'' in 1905. The former was translated to

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

in 1906 and Finnish in 1908. Løken was also a board member of the

Norwegian Association for Women's Rights The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights (; NKF) is Norway's oldest and preeminent women's rights, women's and girls' rights organization that works "to promote gender equality and all women's and girls' human rights through political reform, ...

from 1891 to 1892, and was one of the thirteen co-founders of the National Association for Women's Suffrage in 1898. She died in March 1925 in Oslo.

References

1854 births 1925 deaths People from Inderøy Norwegian food writers Norwegian women non-fiction writers Norwegian feminists {{Norway-writer-stub