Anne-Cath. Vestly
Also known as: Anne-Catharina SchulerudAnne-Cath. Vestly (full name Anne-Catharina Vestly, born as Anne-Catharina Schulerud February 15 1920 in Rena in the municipality of Åmot and dead December 15 2008 in Mjøndalen in the municipality of Nedre Eiker) was a Norwegian writer of books for children, an illustrator and actress. Vestly is best known for her writing and for her work for children and youth in Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, for TV and radio.
Anne-Cath. Vestly started her theatre career as a student at The University of Oslo. However, the student theatre closed during the war. Vestly then got in touch withthe company ofThe Norwegian Actors' Equity Association's subdivision for young actors, who worked with Stanislavski's system in secret. This group established Studioteatret, where Vestly made her debut June 15, 1945. She was part of Studioteatret until the company ceased to exist in 1950.
Information
(Objekt ID 20576)| Object type | Person |
| Also known as | Anne-Catharina Schulerud |
| Born | February 15, 1920 (dead December 15, 2008) |
| Functions | Author, Actor, Narrator, Visual artist |
| Nationality | Norwegian |
| Gender | Female |
| Website | Anne-Cath.Vestly 100, NORSK BIOGRAFISK LEKSIKON |
Anne-Cath. Vestly was most known for writing books for children, with characters including Ole Aleksander, Grandma and the Eight Children, Lillebror (literally: Little Brother) and Twigson (Norwegian: Knerten), Aurora and Guro. Several of her characters she wrote several books about, and all in all she became the author of well more than fifty books. Several of these are dramatised for the theatre, and many are filmed.
In Norway Anne-Cath. Vestly is regarded among the greatest writers among the classics for children, in the same generation as Swedish Astrid Lindgren and Norwegians Thorbjørn Egner and Alf Prøysen.
Vestly was also known from the radio program Barnetimen for de minste (literally: The Children's Hour, for the smallest), in particular during the 1950es. When she moved to Oslo in her youth, she wanted a career as an actress, and she acted in the TV series for children called Kanutten og Romeo Clive (literally: Kanutten and Romeo Clive) against Alf Prøysen. In a number of movies at a later time she gave life to the Grandma character from her own books in the Eight Children series.
Anne-Cath. Vestly was the first to bring the big city into Norwegian literature for children, and she raised scandal more than once. In particular during the 1950es, when she through the radio told the children that kids came from their mothers' tummies, not by 'stork'. This led to death threats and protests, because small children should not get to know anything as 'dirty'. Her next series was about Grandma and the Eight Children, through which the suburbia was introduced. The series started with Eight Children and a Truck (Norwegian title: Åtte små, to store og en lastebil) in 1957, and the next year came Eight Children Move House (Norwegian title: Mormor og de åtte ungene i skogen).
Next was the story about Lillebror (literally: Little Brother) and Twigson. During the 1960es Vestly again was criticised, now because the father of Aurora became a stay-at-home dad. This led to massive criticism from men, but even more from women who felt sorry for the poor man who had to push a baby pushchair.
Vestly often read her own books in recordings, and she was known for her 'gentle' voice and warm narrative style. Still she had the ability to raise issues bringing the contemporary and the urban mundane into literature for children. At the same time she wanted to turn the common perceptions upside-down and she was not afraid to challenge children's, and not least adults', prejudice.
Anne-Cath Vestly's books have been translated into a number of languages, and her work can be summed up as great love to children and childhood. Not until she had reached the age of 83 did Anne-Cath. Vestly publish her first book for adults. Then she was ready with satirical texts about society.
Anne-Catharina Vestly's parents were Mentz Oliver Schulerud (1877 - 1931) and Aagot Schulerud (1875 - 1957). She was married to Johan Vestly (1923 - 1993), and they had two sons together, Jo Vestly and Håkon Vestly. Anne-Cath. Vestly was the sister of Mentz Schulerud (JR.).
Her husband, Johan Vestly, was her illustrator for a long time, but after his death Anne-Cath. Vestly illustrated her own books. About her personal life she has published the memoirs Lappeteppe fra en barndom (literally: Quilt from a Childhood) (1990) and Nesten et helt menneske - lappeteppe 2 (literally: Almost a whole human being - Quilt 2) (2000).
In November 2008 Anne-Cath. Vestly's son, Jo Vestly, told the media that she suffered from dementia (Alzheimer's disease), and that she had moved house to a nursing home in Mjøndalen because of it. She died December 15 the same year.
SOURCES:
Anne-Cath. Vestly 100 år (literally: Anne-Cath. Vestly 100 years), annecathvestly100.no, 15.09.2020, https://annecathvestly100.no/
Store Norske Leksikon on Anne-Cath. Vestly, http://snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Anne-Cath_Vestly/utdypning
Wikipedia, no.wikipedia.org, 14.12.2011, http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne-Cath._Vestly
- Studioteatret - Actor (from 1945 to 1950)
| Title | Publiseringsdato | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Lars Pusekatt og vennene hans lager hopprenn | 1949, Script, Children and youth, Audio play | – Author |
| Huset i skogen* (The House in the Wood) | 1959, Script, Children and youth, Realism | – Author |
| Eventyret om Kvikko* (The fairytale about Kvikko) | Script, Children and youth, Fairytale, Comedy | – Author |
| Ut av trolldommen* (Out of witchcraft) | 1965, Script, Children and youth | – Author |
| Junior and Twigson | 1962, Literature, children, Novel, Fiction | – Author |
| Twigson Ties the Knot | Literature, children, Novel, Fiction | – Author |
| Nyfødt Andersen* (Newborn Andersen) | 1970, Script, Children and youth | – Author |
| Heksen Innmaria og Frankogfri* (The witch Innmaria and Frankandfri) | Script, Children and youth | – Author |