Magnhild Haalke

Magnhild Haalke (12 August 1885 – 18 October 1984) was a Norwegian novelist.

Biography Magnhild Camilla Kvaale was born in Vikna Municipality, an island municipality off the Namdalen coast in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. She was the second of ten children born to Knut Kvaale (1852–1942) and Kaja Augusta Wiig (1863–1948). She worked as a teacher for 30 years, first in Trøndelag, and later in Sør-Odal Municipality in Hedmark.

Her trilogy Åkfestet (1936), Dagblinket (1937) and Rød haust? (1941) describes the fate of a woman growing up on a small farm. The trilogy was later reworked into two books Grys saga (1950). The trilogy Karenanna Velde (1946), Kaja Augusta (1947) and Kvinneverden (1954) is from a rural district on the coast of Trøndelag. Her final work was her autobiography Mot nytt liv, written at the age of ninety-two.

Haalke was awarded Gyldendal's Endowment in 1949 and the Dobloug Prize in 1980. She was the first recipient of Mads Wiel Nygaards Endowment, which she was awarded in 1953 and which she shared with novelist, Lizzie Juvkam (1883–1969). From 1954, she received a national artist salary from the national government.

Personal life In 1922, she married her second cousin, artist Hjalmar Kristian Haalke (1894–1964). She died during 1984 and was buried in the cemetery at Nordstrand Church (Nordstrand kirkegård) in Oslo.

Selected works Allis sønn, 1935 Åkfestet, 1936 Dagblinket, 1937 Trine Torgersen, 1940 Rød haust?, 1941 Kan vi bygge en bedre menneskeslekt?, 1946 (lecture) Karenanna Velde, 1946 Kaja Augusta, 1947 Grys saga (contains Åkfestet, Dagblinket og Rød haust?), 2 volumes, 1950 Kvinneverden, 1954 Serinas hus, 1955 Munter kvinne, 1957 Dragspill, 1958 (short stories) Kommer far i dag?, 1969 Sol og skygge, 1971 (short stories) Mot nytt liv, 1978 (autobiographical)