Kjell Heggelund is a Norwegian literary researcher, lecturer, editor, manager, lyricist, translator and literary critic.

Personal life

Heggelund was born in Hamar

Hamar

is a town and municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hedmarken. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hamar. The municipality of Hamar was separated from Vang as a town and municipality of its own in 1849...

. His parents were Kristian Heggelund and Katrine Vestby. He grew up in Tønsberg

Tønsberg

is a city and municipality in Vestfold county, southern Norway, located around north-east of Sandefjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tønsberg....

 and later Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

. He was married to Gerd Zelow Hofseth from 1956 to 1963, to Irene Olesen from 1965 to 1975, and then married the writer Liv Køltzow

Liv Køltzow

Liv Køltzow is a Norwegian novelist, playwright, biographer and essayist.She published texts in the modernist literary magazine Profil...

 in 1985.

Lyrics

In the 1960s Heggelund issued three poetry collections, Reisekretser (1966), I min tid (1967) and Punkt 8 (1969). His lyrics are regarded as an important contribution to the renewal of Norwegian poetry that took place in the late 1960s.

In 1971 he issued a book with translations of poems by Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...

 into Norwegian language

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

, in cooperation with Tor Obrestad

Tor Obrestad

Tor Obrestad is a Norwegian novelist, poet and documentary writer. He made his literary debut in 1966 with two books, the poetry collection Kollisjon and a collection of short stories, Vind, and received Tarjei Vesaas' debutantpris for these two books...

 (Mao Tsetungs dikt). He has also translated works by the surrealists

Surrealism

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....

 Paul Éluard

Paul Éluard

Paul Éluard, born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel , was a French poet who was one of the founders of the surrealist movement.-Biography:...

, Robert Desnos

Robert Desnos

Robert Desnos , was a French surrealist poet who played a key role in the Surrealist movement of his day.- Biography :...

, Henri Michaux

Henri Michaux

Henri Michaux was a highly idiosyncratic Belgian-born poet, writer, and painter who wrote in French. He later took French citizenship. Michaux is best known for his esoteric books written in a highly accessible style, and his body of work includes poetry, travelogues, and art criticism...

 and Benjamin Péret

Benjamin Péret

Benjamin Péret was a French poet, Parisian Dadaist and a founder and central member of the French Surrealist movement with his avid use of Surrealist automatism.-Biography:...

.

Heggelund co-edited the literary magazine Vinduet

Vinduet (magazine)

Vinduet is a Norwegian literary magazine, founded in 1947 by Harald Grieg and Nic. Stang. The magazine presents fictional texts, articles about various kinds of literature, and book reviews. Owner is the publishing house Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. Four paper editions are issued annually. The...

with Jan Erik Vold

Jan Erik Vold

Jan Erik Vold is a Norwegian lyric poet, translator and author. He was a core member of the so-called "Profil generation", the circle attached to the literary magazine Profil. Throughout his career as an artist, he has had the ability to reach the public, both with his poetry and his political views...

 from 1970 to 1974. He co-edited the literary magazine Basar from 1975 to 1981.

Academics and management

Heggelund was a lecturer and researcher at the University of Oslo

University of Oslo

The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...

 from 1970 to 1992. As a researcher he has worked on the baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 and pre romantic

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

 epoques, as well as on modernist literature

Modernist literature

Modernist literature is sub-genre of Modernism, a predominantly European movement beginning in the early 20th century that was characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional aesthetic forms...

. He has also edited works by Petter Dass

Petter Dass

Petter Dass was a Lutheran clergyman and the foremost Norwegian poet of his generation, writing both baroque hymns and topographical poetry. -Biography:He was born at Northern Herøy , Nordland, Norway...

, Ludvig Holberg

Ludvig Holberg

Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Dano-Norwegian double monarchy, who spent most of his adult life in Denmark. He was influenced by Humanism, the Enlightenment and the Baroque...

 and Johan Herman Wessel

Johan Herman Wessel

thumb|Johan Herman WesselJohan Herman Wessel was a Norwegian-Danish poet. Some of his satirical poems are still popular.-Biography:...

. He wrote the chapter covering the period from 1500 to 1814 in the six-volume work Norsk Litterturhistorie from 1974.

From 1992 to 2004 Heggelund served as a literary manager at the publishing house Aschehoug

Aschehoug

H. Aschehoug & Co , commonly known as Aschehoug, is one of the largest independent publishing companies in Norway. -History:...

.

Awards

Heggelund was awarded Mads Wiel Nygaards Endowment

Mads Wiel Nygaards Endowment

Mads Wiel Nygaard's Endowment is an annually awarded literary prize from the publishing house Aschehoug. The prize is a recognition of superior literary work. The publisher's editorial management makes the award based on their collective judgement of merit. Applications are not accepted.The...

 in 1968. He received the Norwegian Academy Prize in memory of Thorleif Dahl in 1995, and the Herman Wildenveys poesipris in 1996.