Karin Sveen

Karin Sveen (born 17 August 1948) is a Norwegian poet, novelist and essayist.

Early and personal life

Sveen was born in Hamar.

Literary career

Sveen made her literary debut in 1975 with the poetry collection Vinterhagen. Critics compared her with poet Hans Børli, mentioning similar relation to nature, plants and animals. In her next collection, Mjøsa går from 1976, she wrote poetry using Hedmark dialect. Further collections are Den svarte hane from 1977, Kroppens sug, hjertets savn (1985), Tegnebok (1989) and Nye dikt (1996).

Her prose includes the short story collection Døtre from 1980, Utbryterdronninga (1982), Den reddende engelen (1984), and the novel Kvinnen som forsvant (1987). In the novel Hannas hus (1991), the title figure Hanna is modeled after leader of the "Suttung" movement Ingeborg Refling Hagen. Her next novel was Maria Waters verden (1993). In 1997 she published the essay collection Den kulturelle lidelse. En bok om kropp og samfunn, and the Norsk språkpris in 2007.