Bjørn Vatne

Bjørn Vatne (b. 1976) comes from Ålesund. He debuted in 2015 with the novel This is How We Choose Our Victims, which was voted Novel of the Year by Norwegian book bloggers. Vatne studied sociology and media science at the University of Bergen, and completed two years of the writing programme at the University of Tromsø. In addition to his own writing, he has worked extensively with the promotion of literature, including as a long-standing member of the Bjørnson Festival’s artistic council. Vatne also works across artistic expressions, often in collaboration with artists from other disciplines. For Lives I Have Purchased (2019), he opened a second-hand shop in Ålesund and paid cash for his customers’ life stories. For the novel The Deletion of Paul Abel (2018), Vatne was awarded the Stig Sæterbakken Memorial Prize. In 2020 he released the novel Death and Resurrection, while his latest novel Private Parts came out in 2022.

Bjørn Vatne High resolution image

Credits: Julie Pike

Publications