Jostein Gaarder (born August 8, 1952) is a Norwegian author of novels, short stories, and children's books.

Gaarder was born in Oslo, Norway, into a pedagogical family. He studied Scandinavian languages and theology at the University of Oslo. For a while, before launching his writing career, he taught philosophy.

His best known work is the novel Sophie's World, subtitled A Novel about the History of Philosophy (ISBN 0425152251). This popular work has been translated into fifty-three languages; there are twenty-six million copies in print, with three million copies sold in Germany alone.

List of Works

• Diagnosen og andre noveller (The Diagnosis and Other Stories) (1986)
• Froskeslottet (The Frog Castle) (1988)
• Kabalmysteriet (The Solitaire Mystery) (1990) ISBN 042515999X
• Sofies verden (Sophie's World) (1991) ISBN 0425152251
• Julemysteriet (The Christmas Mystery) (1992) ISBN 0374123292
• I et speil, i en gåte (Through a Glass, Darkly) (1993) ISBN 0753806738
• Hallo? Er det noen her? (Hello? Is Anybody There?) (1996) ISBN 0374329486
• Vita Brevis (Brief Life) (also appeared in English as That Same Flower) (1996) ISBN 0753804611
• Maya (1999) ISBN 0753811464
• Sirkusdirektørens datter (The Ringmaster's Daughter) (2001)
• Appelsinpiken (The Orange Girl) (2004) ISBN 0297849042

External link

• Biography http://members.aol.com/wpwinter/nordland/gaarder.htm