Larsen was born in
Decorah, Iowa, on September 1, 1873, died in
Elmsford, New York, on December 3, 1945, and is buried in Lutheran Cemetery in Decorah, Iowa. Hanna Astrup Larsen's father,
Peter Laurentius Larsen, was a notable Norwegian Lutheran educator who became the founding president of
Luther College.
Career Hanna Astrup Larsen's early career began with editing roles at a number of Scandinavian-American newspapers, including the Norwegian language
Amerika (
Madison,
Wisconsin) and the Swedish/English language
Pacific Posten (San Francisco, California). Larsen then became special contributor to the
San Francisco Chronicle and
The San Francisco Call. and the
Elverhoj art colony in upstate New York). Larsen would later write articles for
The New York Times. she also wrote
Selma Lagerlöf (Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1936), a biography of the Swedish author; in 1909, Lagerlöf was the first woman to receive the
Nobel Prize in Literature. Larsen was the editor of a number of Scandinavian-language story collections, including ''Norway's Best Stories
(W. W. Norton & Co., 1928), Sweden's Best Stories
(W. W. Norton & Co., 1928), and Denmark's Best Stories'' (W. W. Norton & Co., 1928).
Recognition Hanna Astrup Larsen was acknowledged to be "the first female editor-in-chief of a Norwegian language paper in America" when she was hired by
Olaf Tveitmoe, publisher of San Francisco-based, newspaper
Pacific Posten.
Awards In the 1930s, Hanna Astrup Larsen received a number of international honors, including the Swedish
Vasa Medal in 1931, the Norwegian Distinguished Service Medal in 1933, and the Royal Danish
Medal of Merit in 1937. == Works by Larsen ==