William Nygaard
William Nygaard (born March 16, 1943 in Oslo ) is a Norwegian publisher.
Life
Nygaard graduated in economics in 1967 and was Managing Director of Aschehoug Verlag from 1974 to March 31, 2010 , where he followed in the footsteps of his father Mads Wiel Nygaard and grandfather William Martin Nygaard who had run the company in previous years and where his son Mads Nygaard finally inherited it. Nygaard was also chairman of the Norwegian Publishers Association from 1987 to 1990. Since June 10, 2010 he has been chairman of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation .
Nygaard has two children.
- Rushdie book and assassination attempt
On April 12, 1989, Aschehoug Verlag and William Nygaard were responsible for the publication of the Norwegian version of Salman Rushdie's controversial novel The Satanic Verses . This happened two months after Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against Rushdie and his publishers, in which he openly called for the murder of those involved in the publication. As a result of the fatwa, Nygaard and the translator Kari Risvik were threatened immediately, and Nygaard was under police protection for a period .
Regardless of this, on the morning of October 11, 1993, he was shot three times by an unknown perpetrator in front of his house on Dagaliveien Street in the Vestre Aker district of Oslo . Although the crime was never resolved in court, most people attribute the incident to the fatwa. After several months of hospitalization, most of which he spent at Sunnaas Sykehus Hospital in Nesodden , Nygaard slowly recovered.
Memberships and honors
Before and after the attack, Nygaard is an outspoken advocate of free speech and is a board member of the Norwegian section of the writers' association PEN. In 1994 he was awarded the Fritt Ord Prize . He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Language and Literature and was also a member of the Norwegian National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Publishing history of the Aschehoug-Verlag ( Memento from May 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (Norwegian)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nygaard, William |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Norwegian publisher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 16, 1943 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oslo |