Aasmund Olavsson Vinje

Aasmund Olavsson Vinje was born on April 6, 1818, into extreme poverty in Vinje, Telemark. Working as a cowherd, he fought through hardship to complete teacher training and later a law degree at the University of Christiania.

In 1858, Vinje launched his revolutionary weekly newspaper Dølen, which he wrote and published almost entirely on his own in Ivar Aasen's Landsmål. His travelogue Ferdaminni fraa Sumaren 1860 (Travel Memories from the Summer of 1860) revolutionized Nordic non-fiction prose with its biting humor and sociological candor. His lyric poems, including 'Våren' (Last Spring) and 'Ved Rondane', were immortalized in Edvard Grieg's sublime song settings.