1. Gunnar Staalesen was born on 19 October 1947 and is a Norwegian writer.
16 Facts About Gunnar Staalesen
1. 2.
Gunnar Staalesen is a major figure in the Nordic noir crime fiction genre through his 20 novels featuring Varg Veum, a private detective in Bergen on the rainy west coast of Norway.
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The Varg Veum series has been praised as one of the best in modern crime fiction, and Staalesen has sold more than 4 million books in 24 countries.
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Gunnar Staalesen is a screenwriter and a playwright who has worked extensively with Den Nationale Scene, the largest theatre in Bergen.
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Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, where he has lived his entire life.
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Gunnar Staalesen's parents were an educator and a nurse, and he grew up mostly in the Nordnes neighbourhood.
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Gunnar Staalesen earned a degree in language and literary studies from the University of Bergen in 1976, studying French and English while working as a journalist, a film critic and a press secretary at Den Nationale Scene.
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Gunnar Staalesen was inspired to create Veum, a social worker turned private detective, as an experiment in placing the classic detective archetype of American literature in modern-day Bergen.
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Gunnar Staalesen was inspired by the juxtaposition of crime fiction and social realism in the Martin Beck series published from 1965 to 1976 by Swedish writers Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo.
10.
Veum's physical appearance is almost never mentioned in the books, but Gunnar Staalesen chose the character's name to emphasize the private eye's lone wolf status in society.
11.
In 1997, Gunnar Staalesen stepped away from crime fiction and published three historical novels examining Bergen across the 20th century.
12.
Gunnar Staalesen considers the Bergen Trilogy to be his best work.
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Gunnar Staalesen has written a standalone sequel to the Bergen Trilogy, titled "2020 Post Festum," which was published on 15 October 2021.
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Gunnar Staalesen's novels have been adapted for cinema, television, radio and the stage.
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Gunnar Staalesen married his wife, Ellen-Karin Kristiansen, in 1969, and they are grandparents.
16.
Gunnar Staalesen has written 20 novels and two short story collections with Veum as the main character.