About this item
About the Author
Petterson knew from the age of 18 that he wanted to be a writer, but didn't embark on this career for many years - his debut book, the short story collection ) was published 17 years later, when Petterson was 35. Previously he had worked for years in a factory as an unskilled labourer, as his parents had done before him, and had also trained as a librarian, and worked as a bookseller. In 1990, the year following the publication of his first novel, Pettersen's family was struck by tragedy - his mother, father, brother and nephew were killed in a fire onboard a ferry. His third novel ) was nominated for The Nordic Council's Literature Prize, and his fourth novel ) , which is a young man's story of losing his family in the Scandinavian Star ferry disaster in 1990, won the Brage Prize for 2000. His breakthrough, however, was ) which was awarded two top literary prizes in Norway - the The Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature and the Booksellers' Best Book of the Year Award.
