Martha Ostenso

Alison Calder (University of Manitoba)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.1.2: Canadian Writing and Culture (Anglophone): The Twentieth Century and beyond, 1900-present.
Vol. editors: Sarah Henzi (Simon Fraser University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Glen Nichols (Mount Allison University), Wendy Roy (University of Saskatchewan), Denis Salter (McGill University), Karis Shearer (University of British Columbia)

Dates

Born 17 Sep 1900
Died 24 Nov 1963
Activity 1923-1958

Places

Born in Norway
Active in Canada

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Story-writer

Resources

Ostenso's Works

Save to Bookshelf

Martha Ostenso was born 17 September 1900 in Bergen, Norway, to Sigurd and Olina (née Tungeland) Ostenso. She immigrated to the United States with her parents in 1902. The Ostenso family lived in several different towns in South Dakota and Minnesota before moving to Brandon, Manitoba, in 1915, and then to Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1917. In 1918 Ostenso spent a year teaching in a rural school, an experience that would be the basis for her first novel. In 1919 she attended the University of Manitoba where she met and fell in love with her English professor, Douglas Durkin, himself a novelist. She moved to New York in 1921 to join him, as he had taken up a position at Columbia University; they would remain together for the rest of their lives. (However, they would be unable to marry until…

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1003 words

Citation: Calder, Alison. "Martha Ostenso". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 January 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3438, accessed 23 November 2024.]