Kåre Holt

Holt was born in Våle Municipality in Vestfold, Norway. His parents were Peder Anton Kristiansen (1870-1958) and Mathilde Sofie Larsen Rønningen (1871-1945). He worked for some time as a journalist at Vestfold Arbeiderblad. His initial work was published in 1939, a children's book named Tore Kramkar. As his career progressed, Holt wrote many children's books, plays, radio plays, biographies, and historical novels. The trilogy Kongen about King Sverre Sigurdsson is considered his principal work. He is also remembered for his mythologically-based novels about icons of Norwegian history, among others Kappløpet about Roald Amundsen which created a sensation when it was published in 1974. Holt won The Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature 1954, for Mennesker ved en grense. Holt was nominated three times for The Nordic Council's Literature Prize (Nordisk Råds litteraturpris): in 1966 for the novel Kongen—Mannen fra utskjæret, in 1970 for the novel Kongen—Hersker og trell and in 1979 for the novel Sønn av jord og himmel. Holt was made a Knight 1st Class in the Order of St. Olav in 1991. He died during 1997 in Holmestrand Municipality in Vestfold. In 2007, a bust of the author by artist Ada Madssen was unveiled in front of his former house at Reidvintunet, an open-air museum in the village of Hillestad in Holmestrand.