Merethe Lindstrøm (b. 1963) made her debut in 1983 with a collection of short stories, and has since published a number of short stories, novels, and a children’s book. Her novel The Stone Collectors (1996) won two awards, and she was also nominated for the prestigious 2008 Nordic Council’s Literary Prize and the Norwegian Critics’ Award for her short story collection The Guests. In 2008, she was awarded the Dobloug Prize for her entire literary work. For her novel Days in the History of Silence, she was awarded both the Nordic Council Literature Prize and the Critics’ Prize.