In contemporary Norwegian fiction Tomas Espedal's work stands out as uniquely bound up with the author's personal experiences. TRAMP (2006) introduced us to the wanderer Tomas. AGAINST ART (2009) is a novel that focuses on the author; on how a boy approaches art and eventually becomes a writer. It is about the profession of writing, about routines, responsibility and obstacles.
AGAINST NATURE is an examination of factory work, love’s labour, the job of writing. Working in order to live in compliance with society and nature. But what is natural, and why is the narrator drawn towards impossible, impossible love, books, myths, taboos? He reads the story of Abélard and Héloïse, about young Marguerite Duras and her Chinese lover, and realizes that he too is turning into one of those who live against nature.
Tomas Espedal
Jakob Dall
Tomas Espedal (born 1961) made his debut in 1988. A graduate of the University of Bergen, he has published both novels and short prose collections. In 1991 he won an award from the joint Radio P2/Book Club Novelists´ competition for She and I. Founder of the Bergen International Poetry Festival, Espedal’s later works explore the relationship between the novel and other genres such as essays, letters, diaries, autobiographies and travelogue. Espedal’s Tramp (Or the art of living a wild and poetic life) (2006), Against Art (2009) and Bergeners (2013) have all been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. The author was awarded the Literary Critics’ Prize in 2009.
Rights sold to
Bulgaria, Perseus
Croatia, Fidipid
Denmark, Batzer
France, Actes Sud
Germany, Matthes & Seitz
Hungary, Typotex
Israel, Locus Publishing House
Italy, Ponte alle Grazie
Korea, Open Books
the Netherlands, Uitgeverij Wereldbibliotheek
Serbia, Carobna Knijga
Turkey, Miklagard World
UK/US/India, Seagull
Other titles
The Year (2016)
Bergeners (2013)
Against Art (2009)
Tramp. Or the art of living a wild and poetic life. (2006)
Awards
Nominated for the Nordic Council's Literary Prize 2007, 2010 and 2014
Longlisted for the IMPAC Prize 2012
Winner of the Brage Prize 2011
Winner of the Critics' Prize 2009
Winner of the Gyldendal Prize 2009
Winner of the Bergen Prize 2006
