Children’s literature in Norway is also connected with the maintenance of a national
identity. The first picture book, Norsk Billedbog for Børn [Norwegian Picture Book for
Children] (1888) deliberately emphasised nationalism. Wergeland was one of the text
contributors, the pictures were by the later well-known illustrator Eivind Nielsen.
The period from the 1890s until the First World War, is usually referred to as the
Golden Age in Norwegian children’s literature. Folk-tales and fairy stories were
illustrated and published for children by famous artists like Erik Werenskiøld and
Theodor Kittelsen. The new authors, often writing in a realistic mode, focused on the
condition of children in the family and society, and depicted the peasants, fishermen
and shepherds of the Norwegian countryside. A couple of books by Hans Aanrud were
translated to German, but the most well-known author of the period is Dikken
Zwilgmeyer (1853–1913), one of the many practitioners of the Norwegian literary ‘crop-
rotation’. As a founder of the Norwegian girl’s story she is a classic. The twelve books
about the active and independent girl Inger-Johanne, starting in 1890 with Vi Børn
[What Happened to Inger-Johanne], launched a new kind of female protagonist.
The inter-war years were long regarded as a period of stagnation, but new research
will probably re-assess this rather gloomy view. Serials aimed for either boys or girls
flourished. A couple of picture books of political interest were published during the years
of German occupation. Using the children’s book as a camouflage (the Nazi regime had
enforced censorship) the main purpose was the hidden message of resistance. Well-
known is Snorre Sel (1941) by Fridtjof Sælen, a fable about a little seal and a grampus.
A renewal of children’s literature came in the early 1950s, when three highly
innovative authors became prominent. They all gained a unique popularity due to their
appearance in the radio. Anne-Cath. Vestly (b.1920), author of more than forty books,
began with realistic stories about children in urban surroundings; one classic is Ole
Aleksander Filibom-bom-bom (1953). She later moved towards contemporary realism in
discussing family and sex-role problems, mostly ending in positive solutions. The many-
sided authorship of Thorbjørn Egner (1912–1990) consists of songs, plays, tales, prose
and short stories. With his imaginative and deliberately fictional universes he broke with
the powerful realistic tradition. Classics in this category are the animal society depicted
in Klatremus og de andre dyrerne i Hakkebakkeskogen (1953) and the dynamic society
of robbers and common people in Folk og Røvere i Kardemomme by [The Singing Town]
(1955). Egner has appeared in around twenty languages and is one of the most
translated Norwegian authors for children. Alf Prøysen (1914–1970), whose writing
consists of both songs and stories, worked with fantastic elements, often derived from
the folk-tales. The stories are mainly set in the countryside, as in his well-known stories
about Mrs Pepperpot, the woman who shrinks without warning. The first book Kjerringa
som ble så lita som ei teskje came out in 1957. A visual and musical direction in
children’s poetry was introduced by an established poet for adults, Inger Hagerup (1906–
1985) in the early 1950s.
The realistic tradition was continued well into the 1970s, but the several new writers
are characterised by their desire to explore the narrative possibilities of children’s
literature. Significantly, most of them also write for adults. Tor-Åge Bringsvaerd (b.1939)
is the foremost exponent of a new fantastic literature, combining the fantastic elements
with social concerns. Rune Belsvik (b.1956) has examined the inner lives of teenagers in
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