Per Petterson was born in Oslo in 1952 and worked for several years as an unskilled labourer, a bookseller, a writer and a translator until he made his literary debut in 1987 with the short story collection Ashes in my Mouth, Sand in my Shoes, which was widely acclaimed by critics. He made his literary breakthrough in 2003 with the novel Out Stealing Horses, which has been translated into 40 languages so far and won many prizes, including the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.

"Outstanding... Almost every paragraph of his poet's prose is informed by an awareness of the precariousness of life" Times Literary Supplement "A masterpiece... Powerful...compelling...stunning and deeply moving... It's exactly the kind of novel we need right now" -- John Burnside Scotland on Sunday "Exquisite" Independent "Delineates with powerful delicacy the struggle to bear the unbearable" Independent on Sunday

Per Petterson was born in Oslo in 1952 and worked for several years as an unskilled labourer, a bookseller, a writer and a translator until he made his literary debut in 1987 with the short story collection Ashes in my Mouth, Sand in my Shoes, which was widely acclaimed by critics. He made his literary breakthrough in 2003 with the novel Out Stealing Horses, which has been translated into 40 languages so far and won many prizes, including the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.

"Outstanding... Almost every paragraph of his poet's prose is informed by an awareness of the precariousness of life" Times Literary Supplement "A masterpiece... Powerful...compelling...stunning and deeply moving... It's exactly the kind of novel we need right now" -- John Burnside Scotland on Sunday "Exquisite" Independent "Delineates with powerful delicacy the struggle to bear the unbearable" Independent on Sunday

Per Petterson was born in Oslo in 1952 and worked for several years as an unskilled labourer, a bookseller, a writer and a translator until he made his literary debut in 1987 with the short story collection Ashes in my Mouth, Sand in my Shoes, which was widely acclaimed by critics. He made his literary breakthrough in 2003 with the novel Out Stealing Horses, which has been translated into 40 languages so far and won many prizes, including the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.

"Outstanding... Almost every paragraph of his poet's prose is informed by an awareness of the precariousness of life" Times Literary Supplement "A masterpiece... Powerful...compelling...stunning and deeply moving... It's exactly the kind of novel we need right now" -- John Burnside Scotland on Sunday "Exquisite" Independent "Delineates with powerful delicacy the struggle to bear the unbearable" Independent on Sunday