Thorvald Steen

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Thorvald P. Steen (born 9 January 1954) is a Norwegian writer.

A graduate in philosophy and history, he made his literary debut in 1983 and has subsequently published a wide range of novels, plays, collections of poems, books of short stories, children's books and essays. His Norwegian breakthrough came in 1992 with a cycle of poems, "Ilden" (The Fire), and shortly afterwards he achieved international recognition with his creative historical novels "Don Carlos" (1993), "Giovanni" (1995), "Constantinople" (1999) and "The Little Horse" (2002).

Don Carlos" and "Giovanni,these two short novels take the form of letters written by Giovanni Graciani, an Italian emigre living in Argentina, to his brother Roberto. Don Carlos, set in 1833, introduces us to Giovanni, who is living hand-to-mouth as a shipyard worker in Buenos Aires. While the city is consumed by civil war, he finds an acquaintance and later a benefactor in a naturalist known as Don Carlos. Carlos turns out to be the young Charles Darwin.

Steen was chairman of the Norwegian Author's Union (1991-97), and he has been an honorary member of the union since 1997. He was also a member of the board of International PEN from 2003.