Erland Loe (b. 1969) — a popular Norwegian writer, critic, screenwriter, theater and film director, laureate of several national and international awards. Before dedicating himself to literature, he worked in various fields: performed on the theater stage, filmed short films and music videos, worked in a psychiatric hospital, as a school teacher, a critic for a newspaper, and translated his idol Richard Brautigan's "Dreams of Babylon" into Norwegian. He made his debut with the novel "Under the Power of a Woman," which was recognized by critics as "extremely funny and skillful" and was successfully adapted into a film in 2008. Loe's second novel "Naively. Super" — a straightforward story told from the perspective of a thirty-year-old protagonist about very complex things, a comedy of errors with elements of a parable, a humorous sketch about the lost meaning of life — has been translated into two dozen languages, received enthusiastic acclaim everywhere, including in Russia, became a European bestseller, and made the author a figure who is nothing short of cult. This charming and ironically restrained work is akin to good primitive, "naive" painting — at first glance simple and funny, but upon closer inspection, it is smart and touching, with details that, despite their overall seeming simplicity, are rendered precisely and masterfully.
