Sissel Castberg (born 21 November 1927 , died 23 March 1988 [1] ) was a Norwegian writer , journalist , ceramicist and gay activist.
Partner Turid S. Jensen
Queer Places:
Trudvangveien 31, 0363 Oslo, Norway
Holmenkollveien 16, 0376 Oslo, Norway
St. Olavs Gate 31, 0166 Oslo, Norway
Brinken 19B, 0654 Oslo, Norway
Sissel Castberg (born 21 November 1927 , died 23 March 1988 [1] ) was a Norwegian writer , journalist , ceramicist and gay activist.
Sissel Castberg was the daughter of jurist and professor Frede Castberg (1893–1977) and his cousin Ella Anker (1903–1974), and granddaughter of the prosecutor and radical left-wing politician Johan Castberg . Sissel was the eldest daughter of Ella and Frede, born on 21 November 1927. In the first years, the family lived in a townhouse at Majorstuen, Trudvangveien 31, but around 1930 they moved to their own villa at Holmenkollveien 16 in Smestad.
Sissel Castberg grew up in Oslo , and lived much of the Second World War in exile in Stockholm . In the early 1950s, she studied ceramics in Denmark , and received a journeyman's certificate as a ceramist. She then ran her own workshop, where she also ran a kindergarten . [2] Since then, she began working with revues and song lyrics. Among other things, she is known for Tannpussevise , which she wrote together with Kåre Grøttum towards the end of the 1960s. In the same period, she also wrote three radio plays , all of which were broadcast on NRK .
In 1957 she was living in St. Olavsgt. 31, not far from the castle and Holbergs plass, and according to the address books, a Turid S. Jensen lived in the same flat. The two also lived together in 1960, but the relationship must have ended, because sometime in the first half of the 1960s, Castberg moved to Brinken 19b in Kampen without her.
From 1979 she was a literary reviewer in Arbeiderbladet . In the 1980s, she got involved in the workshop theater Det Åpne Teater . Castberg was among the first to get involved in the Norwegian Federation of 1948 . In connection with the parliamentary representative Wenche Lowzow , Kim Friele's partner, openly coming out as gay in 1979, Castberg wrote the song Annleis as a direct tribute to this act. It was written for the revue "L/L Wang & Nilsen" with Sølvi Wang and Rolf Just Nilsen . The revue premiered at Det Norske Teatret on 24 November 1979 .
Even in an environment of cultural figures from journalism and revues, it was noticed that Castberg was unusually open for his time. In addition to being part of the environment surrounding DNF-48, she also had contact with other queer women, including the tourism manager in Oslo, Alfhild Hovdan.
Sissel Castberg seems to have been open to the family and to have been accepted; this in a time when hardly anyone was "openly gay" in the way that later became common. Rolf Løvaas wrote that she was hospitable and generous. When one year she heard that Løvaas was going to sit alone on Christmas Eve, she invited him to his family's home in Smestad, something that made an impression on Løvaas: "Warm, friendly people. An environment that gave her security and strength." According to Sissel, the father himself had talked about how in this role he had fought to "get acquitted/the law reduced for homosexual men, who had been convicted in their respective countries, with stricter punishments for homosexuality, than we had here at home, before we were protected by law a few years ago."
In 1987 she also wrote a small rallying cry in support of Henki Hauge Karlsen, based on a photo from a stand that was held in Fredrikstad. also built bridges to new generations: A young man she met in the 1980s, Teijo Grönstrand, wrote in his memorial about how she was there for him: "Sissel, you went out of your way to help me, with your strange, good humor and your adventurous stories about little things. You were a safe person to be with. I learned to be myself with you"
Teijo Grönstrand wrote in his obituary: "I think your feelings burned too strongly and too quickly for others. There was not much time left for yourself." Rolf Løvaas concluded his eulogy thus: "She did not want to grow old and decrepit. She put the full stop herself. Sissel Castberg lived to be 60 years old."
My published books:
