He was born in
Hamar. In his younger years he was active in
Clarté, a student organization at
University of Oslo and in contact with
Mot Dag, a forum among the social democratic students (later the Student's Communist Organization). He then joined the
Workers' Youth League and worked actively with them. He began as a journalist apprentice with
Hamar Arbeiderblad and continued as a journalist in many weekly workers papers including
Tiden in
Arendal,
Fremtiden in
Drammen and
Arbeidernes Pressekontor in
Oslo. Finally in 1939 he began to work for the
Arbeiderbladet. During the war Evensmo was active with the resistance and he wrote for the illegal paper,
Bulletinen until he was forced into hiding and finally to flee from Norway. From 1953 through 1959 he was the editor for the paper
Orientering. He served as film critic for the
Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) from 1948 until 1962. Before the
Second World War he had written a play,
Konflikt, in 1934. His first novel, published in 1945, was
Englandsfarere. The theme of the book was based on Evensmo's personal experiences during the war. His trilogy consisting of
Grenseland (1947),
Flaggermusene (1949) and
Hjemover (1951) are recognized as a major example of Norwegian post-war literature, and explore the social and psychological differences between the country and city cultures as well as the intellectual development of workers between the wars. Evensmo won the
Kritikerprisen for the books, and at the close of the 1970s, the trilogy was produced for television by NRK. His novels
Gåten fra år null,
Femten døgn med Gordona and
Miraklet på Blindern can all be categorized as
science fiction; Evensmo was among the first to write in this genre in Norway. He also wrote the scripts for many films.
Prizes and recognition • 1951 -
Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature for the trilogy novels
Grenseland,
Flaggermusene and
Hjemover • 1976 -
Gyldendal's Endowment • 1977 - Nominated for
The Nordic Council's Literature Prize (
Nordisk Råds litteraturpris) for the novel
Inn i din tid ==Works==