Tor Arvid Ulven was born in Oslo, Norway. He published several poetry collections before he began writing prose. Ulven published
Skyggen av urfuglen the first of five collections of poetry in 1977. His early works, consisting of traditional modernist verse poetry, were heavily influenced by the writings of French writer and poet
André Breton (1896–1966) and the
surrealism movement. As the 1980s progressed he developed a more independent voice, both stylistically and thematically. The later part of his work consists mainly of
prose. He wrote a number of essays dealing with literature, philosophy, music and visual arts.{{cite web|url = http://eng.gyldendal.no/Gyldendal/Authors/Ulven-Tor|title= Tor Ulven (1953-1995) |publisher =Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS For a number of years he had lived in relative physical isolation due to illness. He committed suicide in 1995 in
Oslo.{{cite web|url = https://www.nrk.no/kultur/tor-ulven---biografi-1.526572|title= Tor Ulven - Biografi|publisher = NRK Litteratur == Influence ==