Øystein Orten (b. 1962) is a norwegian writer living in Hareid, sunnmøre, not far from the art nouveau city of Ålesund.
In addition to a documentary based on material from the second world war, he has published poems, short stories and novels. In many of his text the author circles around small coastal communities in the north western part of Norway, focusing on themes like history, landscape identity belonging. Literary reviews have often emhasized his special consciusness of the language.
”A high class artist of words” Dagbladet wrote in 2004.
Øystein Orten has a masters degree in Humanities from the University of Bergen and he is still teaching as a lecturer of history, language and literature at the upper secondary level in Ulsteinvik.
PUBLISHED WORKS:
havflammen – the flame of the ocean – poems - 1995
fluktlinjer – lines of escape – poems – 2000
Livingstones retrett – The Retreat of Livingstone - novel – 2003
kjensla av at det ikkje regnar andre stader enn her – the feeling that it is not raining anywhere but here - poems – 2004
Vegen til Neverland – The Road to Neverland – novel – 2005
Rabarbrakrigen – The Rhubarb War – novel – 2007
Himmelen over Shetland. Historier om motstand og eksil 1940-45 –
The Heaven above Shetland. Stories about Resistance and Exile 1940-45 - documentary – 2009
Sjabervik - Sjabervik – short stories - 2011
Essays:
Avkallets estetikk – The Aesthetics of Renunciation (on the British poet Christina Rossetti) – Bokvennen 2-2007
Tidssirklar – Time Circles (on the Shetlander poet Christine de Luca) – Bokvennen 4-2010
Maraton – eller kunsten å overleve i helvetet – Marathon – or the Art of Surviving Hell – Syn & Segn 4-2010
Website: http://oysteinorten.blogspot.com