Thorvald Steen – författare

Thorvald Steen (f. 1954) debuterade som poet 1983. Hans rika författarskap omfattar diktsamlingar, romaner, skådespel, noveller, barnböcker och essäer. Han har utmärkt sig som en av Norges mest internationellt orienterade författare genom nyskapande historiska romaner som Don Carlos, Giovanni, Konstantinopel, Den lilla hästen, Kemalskyar och Det osynliga biblioteket.  Dessutom romaner som bygger på egna livserfarenheter: Vikten av snökristaller, Det vita kallbadhuset och Det sista fotografiet och andra. Steen är översatt till ett 30-tal språk och han har inhöstat många litterära priser både i hemlandet och utomlands.   Med romanen Påklädaren – om den venetianske dogen Enrico Dandolo – avslutar Thorvald Steen sin septett om historiska personer som påverkat många av oss.    2025 tilldelades Steen Den Kongelige Norske St. Olavs Orden som «belønning for utmerkede fortjenester av fedrelandet og menneskeheten».    Romanen Det sista fotografiet gick hösten 2022 som radioföljetong i Sveriges Radio P1, i uppläsning av Staffan Göthe. I sitt efterord till romanen Påklädaren skriver Thorvald Steen: Eftersom så få har hört talas om Fjärde korståget kan somliga läsare fråga sig om korståget som slutade i Konstantinopel verkligen har ägt rum. Jag beklagar men det har det. De skriftliga källorna som det refereras till nedan talar inte emot att korståget och vad som berättas om i brevet kan ha inträffat. Ändå, kan någon hävda: Skriftliga källor bevisar ingenting även om det har en förvånansvärt hög status i vår tid. I detta fall finns det alltför många källor som bekräftar händelsen för att den skall kunna avfärdas. Det mest anmärkningsvärda med detta korståg är, mer än någonting annat, att flera av de centrala aktörerna den gången – som påven och dogen i Venedig – så länge lyckades lägga lock på det som hände". Thorvald Steen

The year is 323 bce. King Alexander of Macedonia--Alexander the Great--lies paralyzed by poison in his palace in Babylon. He is thirty-two years old, had Aristotle as a mentor, and is the greatest military commander the world has ever seen. At the other end of the palace, Phyllis, a cook for Alexander's army, sits locked in a room, arrested on suspicion of being the poisoner. All of her adult life she has lived in the field--and for a long period of time was Alexander's lover. Who has poisoned the king? Phyllis is allowed to live as long as she writes down everything she knows about Alexander. She tells a brutal story of the violent daily life in the war, about the planning of the expansion into the Arabian Peninsula, about an invisible library containing marvelous manuscripts and discoveries, and about the passion between a cook and a king. With The Invisible Library, Thorvald Steen interweaves known and unknown, relying on facts until they run out, then building his story on what is probable, to tell the story of a little-known period in the life of one of the most renowned figures in history. The result is an existential and inspired novel that goes to the heart of the human experience--who are we in war, in love, during the final days of life?

This creative, beautifully constructed novel reimagines the final days of this Icelandic hero, providing a wonderful new perspective on the politics and culture of the period.Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic politician, writer, and historian living during the twelfth century. He was a man of great political influence, and his writings are still researched and valued today. Snorri was killed on September 22, 1241, in Reykholt, where he lived the last years of his life, and The Little Horse is a novel about his final five days.Snorri, knowing his end is near, begins to write a saga of his own life. He wants to refute all those who oppose him in Norway and Iceland and defend himself against rumors that he is power-hungry and a deceitful womanizer. He is haunted by the fear that his son Orækja will turn against him, and waits to meet Margaret, the woman he loves, who challenges him in every possible way. Meanwhile, assassins in the distance prepare to carry out their orders to end his life.

Richard I (1157-99) was king of England from 1189 until his death, but he is best known as a soldier, not a monarch. He earned his moniker Richard the Lionheart as a knight and military leader, and his revolt against his father Henry II and his conquest of Cyprus as part of the Crusades helped to solidify his historical legend. In "Lionheart", Norwegian author Thorvald Steen, celebrated for his historical novels, brings his characteristic accuracy and artistic vision to the life of Richard I. "Lionheart" is the story of a man living in the shadow of his own myth, also a fanatic general who wants to conquer the world's greatest sanctum and a king who is suddenly vulnerable. At the age of fifteen he leads an army against his father. Fourteen years later he is the Pope's obvious choice to lead the third Crusade. But the Richard of Steen's novel is less sure of himself and his role - is it true that he is God's chosen one, like his mother says? Drawing on extensive research, Steen paints a dark and conflicted, yet credible and convincing, portrait of a man who has engrossed historians, poets, novelists, and readers for centuries.

Richard I (1157–99) was king of England from 1189 until his death, but he is best known as a soldier, not a monarch. He earned his moniker Richard the Lionheart as a knight and military leader, and his revolt against his father Henry II and his conquest of Cyprus as part of the Crusades helped to solidify his historical legend. In Lionheart, Norwegian author Thorvald Steen, celebrated for his historical novels, brings his characteristic accuracy and artistic vision to the life of Richard I. Lionheart is the story of a man living in the shadow of his own myth, also a fanatic general who wants to conquer the world’s greatest sanctum and a king that is suddenly vulnerable. At the age of fifteen he leads an army against his father. Fourteen years later he is the Pope’s obvious choice to lead the third Crusade. But the Richard of Steen’s novel is less sure of himself and his role—is it true that he is God’s chosen one, like his mother says? Built on extensive research, Steen paints a dark and conflicted, yet credible and convincing, portrait of a man who has engrossed historians, poets, novelists and readers for centuries. "Thorvald Steen’s new novel Lionheart is a fascinating read. . . . Steen manages to give flesh and blood to a historical icon, and creates a story with energy, dressed in sober yet sublime language."—Dagsavisen, on the Norwegian edition

A novel about disability, family secrets, and Norway’s eugenic past. The White Bathing Hut is a genetic detective story. The narrator uses a wheelchair because of an inherited illness that has caused his muscle tissue to degenerate, making him unable to walk. One day, he falls from his wheelchair. His family is away, his cell phone out of reach, and he has no choice but to lie on the floor of his apartment, dissecting his life, until help arrives. He recalls his parents’ reactions of shame and silence when, as a teenager, his illness was first diagnosed. Now in her old age, his mother remains stubbornly secretive. A chance call from a cousin provides the narrator with clues about his grandfather and uncle, whom he never met and who both also had the disease. His search for the truth about his heredity is given new urgency when his mother is diagnosed with cancer. He must persuade her to speak before she dies, for his own sake and for his daughter’s. The White Bathing Hut is an indictment of contemporary Norwegian society, which claims to abhor its history of eugenics, yet still seeks to control the lives of people with disabilities.