Linn Ullmann

Karin Beate "Linn" Ullmann (born 9 August 1966) is a Norwegian author and journalist.

A prominent literary critic, she also writes a column for Norway's leading morning newspaper and has published six novels.

Ullmann was born in Oslo, Norway to Norwegian actress, author and director Liv Ullmann and Swedish director and screenwriter Ingmar Bergman.

She grew up in New York City and Oslo.

Ullmann attended Professional Children's School in Manhattan.

When she was fifteen, she was "kicked out" (as she puts it) of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet.

She attended Juilliard School as a prospective dancer and graduated from New York University, where she studied English literature and began work on her PhD.

When her first and critically acclaimed novel Before You Sleep was published in 1998, she was already known as an influential literary critic.

Her second novel, Stella Descending was published in 2001 and her third novel Grace was published in 2002.

For Grace, Ullmann received the literary award The Readers' Prize in Norway, and Grace was named one of the top ten novels that year by the prestigious newspaper Weekendavisen in Denmark.

Ullmann's fourth novel A Blessed Child was published in Norway the fall of 2005, and it was shortlisted for the prestigious Norwegian literature prize – the Brage Prize.

In 2007, Grace was longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in the United Kingdom, and in March the same year, the Norwegian theater Riksteatret played a successful run of the theatrical play Grace, based on the novel.

In 2007, she was awarded the Amalie Skram Award for her literary work, and she received Gullpennen (the Golden Pen) for her journalism in Norway's leading morning newspaper Aftenposten.

In 2008, A Blessed Child was named Best Translated novel in the British newspaper The Independent, and in 2009 the novel was longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in the UK and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in Ireland.

Ullmann's novels are published throughout Europe and the United States and are translated into 30 languages.

Ullmann is co-founder (2009) and former artistic director of the international artist residency foundation The Bergman Estate on Fårö.

She served on the jury for the main competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Ullmann's fifth novel, The Cold Song, was published in Norway on 24 November 2011.

In 2015, Ullmann appeared as a featured author, leading a writing seminar, at the annual Iceland Writers Retreat in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Ullmann is married to Niels Fredrik Dahl, a novelist, playwright and poet.

They live in Oslo with their son.