Jan Kjærstad (Oslo, 1953). Norwegian novelist. He graduated from the Norwegian School of Theology. Since his literary debut in 1980 he has distinguished himself as one of the most popular, cosmopolitan and innovative authors of his country, and also as a respected literary theorist and active participant in cultural debates about what it means to be Norwegian. Great traveler, lived two years in Harare, Zimbabwe. Kjærstad was editor of the literary magazine Vinduet in the late 1980s. He was part of a generation that broke with the realistic and social trends that had been prevalent in Norwegian literature in the 1970s For him literature does not reflect reality, it is reality; Writing brings something new to existence. The writing job offered the shy child that was the opportunity to express himself, a way to stay a little apart and at the same time participate. His books have been translated into English, French, German, Danish, Swedish and Hungarian, among other languages. In 2001 he received the Literature Prize of the Nordic Council for his novel Oppdageren, the last part of the trilogy that begins with The Seducer.