About Jostein Gaarder
Jostein Gaarder is a Norwegian intellectual and author of several novels, short stories, and children's books. Gaarder often writes from the perspective of children, exploring their sense of wonder about the world. He often utilizes metafiction in his works and constructs stories within stories. His best known work is the novel Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy (1991). It has been translated into 60 languages; there are over 40 million copies in print. Through the Sophie Prize, Gaarder contributed over $1.5 million to worthy environmental causes. It was an environmental development prize of (USD 100,000 = 77,000 €), awarded annually until 2013, when it was announced that it would no longer be awarded due to lack of funds. The final Sophie Prize was awarded in October 2013 to Bill McKibben.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.