Paal-Helge Haugen - Permeated with darkness, 'Anne' is a strange and compelling novel. Cinematic, each page feels like an intimate snapshot into another kind of life in Norway at the turn of the last century. It smells of damp wood, peeling paint, camphor, wounds, skin, hair, moss, and holy scripture

Paal-Helge Haugen, Anne: A Novel, Trans. Julia Johanne Tolo, Hanging Loose Press, 2019.
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“One of the most exciting books from Scandinavia that I’ve read in recent years. Permeated with darkness, Anne is a strange and compelling novel. Cinematic, each page feels like an intimate snapshot into another kind of life in Norway at the turn of the last century. As Haugen writes: ‘Pale, they are frail images, perhaps I can erase them with my hand.’ Documentary fragments break up Haugen’s tactile verse and make for a spellbinding mosaic narrative that I want to return to again and again. Julia Johanne Tolo’s translation is stunning.” — Katrine Øgaard Jensen 


“This book smells of damp wood, peeling paint, camphor, wounds, skin, hair, moss, and holy scripture. Julia Johanne Tolo's translation is a vividly palpable and unique performance of Haugen's classic.” — Val Vinokur




Paal-Helge Haugen is a Norwegian lyricist, novelist, dramatist, and children's writer. Haugen was born in Valle, Setesdal. He made his literary debut with Blad frå ein austleg hage in 1965, a translation of Japanese haiku poems. It was followed by På botnen av ein mørk sommar in 1967, an adaptation of Chinese poems and his first collection of original poetry. Studies in film and literature took him to the United States in 1971. From 1973 to 1978 he taught creative writing in Norway. Since then Haugen has worked as a freelance writer. Since 1967, Haugen has published eighteen volumes of poetry, including two volumes of selected poems and one of collected poems.