Gudrun Thorne-Thomsen

author

Gudrun Thorne-Thomsen

b. 1873

Best known for bringing Norwegian folk tales to English-language readers, this Norwegian-born storyteller helped turn story time into an art. Her retellings carry the warmth of oral tradition while opening a window onto Scandinavian folklore.

1 Audiobook

East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon : $b with other Norwegian folk tales

East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon : $b with other Norwegian folk tales

by Gudrun Thorne-Thomsen, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Jørgen Engebretsen Moe

About the author

Born in Trondheim, Norway, in 1873, Gudrun Thorne-Thomsen became known as a Norwegian author, folklorist, and storyteller whose work helped introduce generations of readers to traditional tales from her homeland.

She is especially associated with East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon: With Other Norwegian Folk Tales (1912), a collection that retold classic stories gathered by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe. Sources on her life also describe her as an influential storytelling teacher whose career stretched from the 1890s into the 1950s, with a strong impact on teachers and librarians.

Her reputation rests not only on the books she published, but also on the way she treated storytelling as both an educational tool and a living performance. That mix of folklore, teaching, and spoken tradition is what still makes her work feel inviting today.