Petterson, Per

Norwegian author born in Oslo to a working class family with left-wing sympathies. His father was a logger of Swedish descent; his grandfather had been born in the Swedish province of Värmland. Petterson’s mother was Danish. His father, mother and a younger brother were among the 159 victims who died when the passenger ferry Scandinavia Star disaster caught fire en route from Oslo to Frederikshavn in April, 1990.