Aslak Sira Myhre is a Norwegian politician and former party leader of Red Electoral Alliance

Red Electoral Alliance

Red Electoral Alliance was an alliance of left-wing groups formed into a Norwegian political party to promote revolutionary far-left ideals into the Norwegian parliament...

 (RV). He currently is director of Litteraturhuset, part of Fritt Ord.

Myhre's parents were both active on the political left and his father Eldar Myhre is a known trade union chairman at Aker Kværner

Aker Kværner

Aker Solutions ASA is a Norwegian multinational provider of services related to engineering, construction, maintenance, modification and operation of both large and small industrial facilities. The company, with roots back to 1841, has its headquarters in Oslo and is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange...

. Aslak was very active in student demonstrations at the University of Bergen

University of Bergen

The University of Bergen is located in Bergen, Norway. Although founded as late as 1946, academic activity had taken place at Bergen Museum as far back as 1825. The university today serves more than 14,500 students...

 during the 1990s and sat on the university board in 1996. He was the party leader of Red Electoral Alliance between 1997 and 2003, and sat in the city council in his home city Stavanger

Stavanger

Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...

 between 1999 and 2003. He was the top candidate for Storting for Rogaland

Rogaland

is a county in Western Norway, bordering Hordaland, Telemark, Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder. It is the center of the Norwegian petroleum industry, and as a result of this, Rogaland has the lowest unemployment rate of any county in Norway, 1.1%...

 in the 1997 election

Norwegian parliamentary election, 1997

A general election to the Storting, the parliament of Norway, was held on 15 September 1997. Before the election, Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland of the Labour Party, issued the 36.9 ultimatum declaring that the government would step down unless it gained 36.9% of the vote, the percentage gained...

 and Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

 in the 2001 election

Norwegian parliamentary election, 2001

A general election to the Storting, the parliament of Norway, was held on September 10, 2001. The Labour Party won a plurality of votes and seats, closely followed by the Conservative Party...

, but his party failed to win any seats.

Leaving national politics, he became an executive of !Les, an association to stimulate children and youth to read more. Myhre has also worked as a football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 journalist for both the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and Klassekampen

Klassekampen

Klassekampen is a Norwegian daily newspaper, which styles itself as "the daily left-wing newspaper".Klassekampen was founded in 1969 with a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist platform. Until recently, it was owned by The Workers' Communist Party...

. In 2006 he started as director for the House of Literature in Oslo. The House of Literature opened in 2007, it is Europes largest and has more than 250.000 visitors annually.

For his work with !les and The House of Literature, Myhre in 2008 received "Eckbos legaters Kulturpris". Myhre has published several books, and has published articles in The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

and The Washington Post

The Washington Post

The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

in the aftermath of the 2011 Norway attacks

2011 Norway attacks

The 2011 Norway attacks were two sequential terrorist attacks against the government, the civilian population and a summer camp in Norway on 22 July 2011....

.

He is married to current editor-in-chief of Samtiden

Samtiden

Samtiden is a Norwegian political and literary magazine. It was founded by Jørgen Brunchorst and Gerhard Gran in 1890. The magazine's first publisher was John Griegs forlag , and from 1900 Aschehoug . Gran was the magazine's editor from 1892 to 1925. Cathrine Sandnes has been editor-in-chief from...

, Cathrine Sandnes.

Controversy

He was in 2002 convicted to 90 days in prison for failing to report for national military service. On appeal in 2003 his sentence was made suspended on probation. His case was controversial since Myhre had only political objection to serve national service due to Norwegian participation in NATO's out of area involvement and his refusal to classify himself as having objections to serve military national service. His objections were neither religious, moral nor ethical, which are the legal requirements for being granted civilian national service under Norwegian National Service laws.