Birth of Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson was born on 8 December 1832 in Kvikne. A Norwegian writer and public figure, Bjornson was one of the leading cultural personalities of nineteenth-century Norway, and a figure in the movement for national identity. He wrote peasant tales such as Synnove Solbakken and Arne, plays including A Gauntlet and Beyond Human Power, and poems, among them the lyrics of Ja, vi elsker dette landet, the national anthem. He was a campaigner for democracy, the rights of women and the dissolution of the union with Sweden, and a friend and rival of Henrik Ibsen. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1903.

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