Kjell Aukrust


Kjell Aukrust was a Norwegian author, poet and artist.

Personal life

Aukrust was born in Alvdal as a son of Lars Olsen Aukrust and Louise Walmsnæss. He was a nephew of Olav Aukrust, brother of Odd Aukrust, a noted economist who was responsible for research at Statistics Norway, and first cousin of Tor Aukrust. He was married to Kari Holter since 1947.

Career

He is most famous for his memoirs of his childhood in Alvdal in the books Simen, Bonden and Bror Min, and his creation of the fictional Norwegian village of Flåklypa and its cast of idiosyncratic characters. He created the Flåklypa society while being an illustrator and columnist for the magazine Mannskapsavisa, with characters such as Reodor Felgen, Solan Gundersen, Ludvig and Emanuel Desperados. His column, which was modelled as a collection of satirical newspaper articles, was eventually renamed Flåklypa Tidende. This setting was the basis of the 1975 animated film "Flåklypa Grand Prix", directed by Ivo Caprino. The film was the first full-length animated feature in Norway, became an international success and has been translated into more than seventy languages. In Britain it is known as "Pinchcliffe Grand Prix". The protagonist Reodor Felgen has become synonymous in Norway with Rube Goldberg type contraptions.
Some of the characters who populated the village of Pinchcliffe were also the basis for the first full length handdrawn animated feature in Norway, "Solan, Ludvig og Gurin med reverompa". Released in 1998, this movie takes place in Oslo and Alvdal. In Britain it is known as "Gurin with the Foxtail".