Anne Holt

Anne Holt (born 16 November 1958) is a Norwegian author, lawyer and former Minister of Justice.

Early life She was born in Larvik, grew up in Lillestrøm and Tromsø, and moved to Oslo in 1978. Holt graduated with a law degree from the University of Bergen in 1986, and worked for The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) in the period 1984 to 1988.

Career She then worked at the Oslo Police Department for two years, earning her right to practise as a lawyer in Norway. In 1990 she returned to NRK, where she worked one year as a journalist and anchor woman for the news program Dagsrevyen.

Anne Holt started her own law practice in 1994, and served as the Minister of Justice in Cabinet Jagland for a short period from 25 October 1996 to 4 February 1997. She resigned for health reasons, and was replaced by Gerd-Liv Valla.

Writing In 1993, she made her debut as a novelist with the crime novel Blind gudinne, featuring the lesbian police officer Hanne Wilhelmsen. The two novels Løvens gap (1997) and Uten ekko (2000) are co-authored with her former state secretary Berit Reiss-Andersen.

Her 2015 novel Offline is about a terrorist attack on an Islamic cultural center by a group of extreme Norwegian nationalists.

She is one of the most successful crime novelists in Norway. She has been published in 25 countries. Val McDermid, a Scottish crime writer, has said that "Anne Holt is the latest crime writer to reveal how truly dark it gets in Scandinavia".

Piratforlaget In 2004, Holt took part in the founding of the Norwegian branch of the Swedish publishing house, Piratforlaget, which had been started by the celebrated Swedish authors Jan Guillou and Liza Marklund. The objective, to publish bestselling writers at reduced prices, was controversial in Scandinavia, where book prices and author advances are highly standardized. Anders Heger, head of the Cappelen publishing house, expressed a widespread concern that Piratforlag would "intensify differences" between "the authors who earn a lot and those who don't".

Political views Holt is a social democrat and a lifelong member of the Labour Party. She is outspoken against racism.

In 2012, Holt wrote an op-ed in Dagbladet about the Norwegian Labour Party and the time after Anders Behring Breivik's terror attacks in Norway in 2011.

In 2017, Holt wrote an op-ed in Dagens Nyheter in which she rejected the far-right view that Sweden's immigration policies were reckless and dangerous.

Honours and awards She has won several awards, including the Riverton Prize (1994) for Salige er de som tørster, the Bokhandler Prize (1995) for Demonens død, and the Cappelen Prize (2001).

Personal life She lives in Oslo with her registered partner Anne Christine Kjær (also known as Tine Kjær) and their daughter Iohanne.