Olav Angell is a Norwegian poet, novelist, science fiction writer, crime writer, translator, anthology editor and jazz musician.

Angell was born in Trondheim

Trondheim

Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...

, and grew up in 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...

. He made his literary debut in 1966 with the poetry collection Burlesk. He wrote the science fiction novel Den elektriske blomsten in 1968 and the crime novel Perdido, Perdido... in 1975. The novel Topkapi. En historie om utroskap came in 1981. He issued the poetry collections Tiden er en korketrekker som forvandler kjærligheten til konkylier (1982) and Neptuns døtre (1986). He has written three memoir books, Oslo i skumring (1991), Oslo ved midnatt (1997) and Oslo i demring (2002). In the book Snapshots (1994) Angell describes some of his meetings with writers, musicians and actors. A collection of his texts, Det spesielle grep om fjærpennen, edited by Jón Sveinbjørn Jónsson

Jón Sveinbjørn Jónsson

Jón Sveinbjørn Jónsson was a Norwegian poet, children's writer and translator, born in Iceland.He made his literary debut in 1973 with the poetry collection Manus. Among his children's books are Pelle Parafins Bøljeband: Serum, serum and Håkon Håkonsson...

, came in 2007.

Angell was among the organizers of Oslo International Poetry Festival

Oslo International Poetry Festival

The Oslo International Poetry Festival was held on • June 14 to 16th 1985 and August 14 to 20th 1986.Participants were, among many other:The Norwegian author Axel Jensen was chairman of OIPF in 1985 and in 1986...

 in the 1980s. He was awarded the Riksmål Society Literature Prize

Riksmål Society Literature Prize

The Riksmål Society Literature Prize is awarded annually by the Riksmålsforbundet for the outstanding publication in riksmål...

 in 2002. He received the Arts Council Norway's Translator's Award for his translation of James Joyce

James Joyce

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...

's novel Ulysses

Ulysses (novel)

Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...

in 1992. He has also translated Raymond Chandler

Raymond Chandler

Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...

's crime novel The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep is a hardboiled crime novel by Raymond Chandler, the first in his acclaimed series about detective Philip Marlowe. The work has been adapted twice into film, once in 1946 and again in 1978...

, and Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac

Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...

's novel On the Road

On the Road

On the Road is a novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, written in April 1951, and published by Viking Press in 1957. It is a largely autobiographical work that was based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-century America. It is often considered a defining work of...

into the 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 2006 he received the Bastian Prize

Bastian Prize

The Bastian Prize is a prize awarded annually by the Norwegian Association of Literary Translators.The prize, established in 1951, is given for translating a published work into Norwegian language...

 for his translation work.

Angell was a member of the editorial board of the literary magazine Profil

Profil (literary magazine)

Profil was a Norwegian literary magazine which had great influence in the late 1960s and the 1970s. The magazine was founded in 1938 as Filologen, a house organ for the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oslo. Its name was changed to Profil in 1959. In 1966 the magazine was taken over by a...

from 1967 to 1968, and at the editorial board of the literary magazine Vinduet from 1973 to 1974.

Angell has also been chairman for Norsk Jazzforbund.