The National Library of Iceland commemorates the 100th anniversary of Thorbjørn Egner's birth with an exhibition in collaboration with the Norwegian Embassy, the National Library in Oslo, the National Theatre and the Theatre Museum. The Norwegian Embassy, the National Library in Oslo, the National Theatre and the Theatre Museum. Egner was born in one of the older districts of Oslo on December 12, 1912. He was a versatile man, wrote stories and plays, composed poems and songs, drew and painted pictures for his books and created plays and costumes for stage productions of his works. Early in the war years, Egner began writing stories for children. He had over twenty children's books under his belt when the story of Karíus and Bactus was published in Norway in 1949. He also compiled reading books for schools and was an active translator. Egner was fascinated by acting at a young age, writing plays and making puppets while still a student. His books led to his being hired for the Norwegian National Radio's children's program in 1946. The voices of Karíus and Baktus, Mikki the Fox and Aunt Soffía were first heard there. When his stories began to be adapted into plays in Norway in the late 1950s, Egner was all-in; drawing costumes, designing sets and making posters.
Egner's collaboration with the National Theatre was good and long. He came to Iceland in the spring of 1961 when the performances were coming to an end at Kardemommubærin and then toured the country. When the production was revived in 1965, he established a fund for artists at the National Theatre, which has supported many of them to travel abroad. When Egner was elderly, he donated his royalties from the productions of his works to the National Theatre for all future generations, and they were to go to the Egner Fund. The National Theatre's production of Dýranim í Hálsaskógur in November 1962 was a world premiere where actors played the roles, but previously the work had been performed in a puppet theatre in Norway. It is now 50 years since the original performance of that performance. Egner designed the sets and costumes for several performances of his own works at the National Theatre, and gave the National Theatre his costume and set designs.
Thorbjørn Egner died on Christmas Eve in 1990, after a varied career. By then he had long become a national celebrity in his homeland and popular far and wide, including in Iceland. His works and characters live on, as demonstrated by the National Theatre's stage productions of Animals in the Forest and Karíus and Baktus in 2012. Hulda Valtýsdóttir translated both Egner's plays and children's books, and Kristján frá Djúpalækur translated the poems. The books about Karíus and Baktus, Kardemommubæinn and Animals in the Forest have been popular in Iceland for decades, as have the albums and CDs with the plays that were recorded by the National Broadcasting Corporation. All of this material is preserved in the National Library of Iceland - University Library.
The National Library in Oslo has a special website about Egner: http://www.nb.no/egner