Gerd Kvanvig

Gerd Kvanvig was born in 1965 and grew up in Jessheim, near Oslo. Having decided that her future lay in writing rather than ballet, she made her literary debut in 1994 with a poetry collection called Persona. She has since published five novels, all written in her distinctly lyrical style: The Extraordinary Heart (1995), Paradise Entered (1999), The Day that Didn’t Happen (2000), The Murderer’s Tale (2009) and Messages from the Death Planet (2010). As well as being an author, Gerd Kvanvig teaches Norwegian at Jessheim Upper Secondary School. She now lives in Oslo.

Reviews of The day that didn’t happen
First-rate literary language – A beautiful, almost stylised text about a terrible secret, survival and love one late summer in a 12-year-old girl’s life.
The Day that Didn’t Happen is a poetic, evocative text (…) Beautiful images are modified and repeated. (This is a) novel in which grief and song are identical, in which style and language and structure combine so decisively to create meaning. I don’t think I have entered a young girl’s mind and experienced the dangers so intensely since I read The Lover by Marguerite Duras. It is hard to give any greater praise than that to Gerd Kvanvig’s The Day that Didn’t Happen.
Professor Hans H. Skei in Aftenposten
The Day that Didn’t Happen is intelligent and wise. The novel is written with empathy, and the writing is sensitive and atmospheric.
Kjersti Borgen Reisop in Romerikes Blad
The plot of The Day that Didn’t Happen (…) resembles a crime novel. It tells the story of what happened at the Jessheim Festival bit by bit, allowing the reader to suspect things by means of a taut and reticent style.
Kristine Sele in Haugesunds Avis
The narrator’s perception of the assault is well depicted, this duality of having the experience imprinted on her mind and her efforts to free herself from the trauma.
Kjell Eriksson in Moss Dagblad

Poetry
Persona, (Cappelen, 1994)

Novels
Det ekstraordinære hjertet (Cappelen, 1995)
Paradiset innskrevet (Tiden Norsk Forlag, 1999)
Dagen som ikke finnes (Tiden Norsk Forlag, 2000
Morderens fortelling (Forlaget Oktober, 2009)
Meldinger fra dødskloden (Forlaget Oktober, 2010)

In translation
The day that didn’t happen, novel, translated by Wendy H. Gabrielson (Naked Eye Publishing, 2022)