Arthur Omre was a Norwegian novelist and writer of short stories.

Omre hailed from Vestfold

Vestfold

is a county in Norway, bordering Buskerud and Telemark. The county administration is in Tønsberg.Vestfold is located west of the Oslofjord, as the name indicates. It includes many smaller, but well-known towns in Norway, such as Larvik, Sandefjord, Tønsberg and Horten. The river Numedalslågen runs...

. With a background as sailor, journalist, constructor in the United States, engineer in Oslo, businessman and entrepreneur, he went bankrupt in 1922. From then on he initiated a criminal career, and made a living from liquor smuggling, swindle and theft, also spending long periods in prison.

Following release from jail in 1935, Omre made his literary début with the novel Smuglere (Smugglers). The story is largely based on his own experiences, and is written in hardboiled

Hardboiled

Hardboiled crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly associated with detective stories, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex. The style was pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the decade, and refined...

 style. Then came the follow-ups Flukten (1936), Sukkenes bro (1937) and Kristinus Bergmann (1938).

He was awarded Gyldendal's Endowment

Gyldendal's Endowment

Gyldendal's Endowment was a literature prize which was awarded in the period 1934–1995 by the Norwegian publisher Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. The prize was awarded to significant authors, regardless of which publisher the author was associated with...

in 1938.