Knut Olav Åmås is a Norwegian writer and editor.

He hails from Odda

Odda

is a municipality and town in the county of Hordaland, Norway. Odda was separated from Ullensvang on 1 July 1913 and on 1 January 1964 Røldal was merged with Odda. The town of Odda is the centre of the landscape of Hardanger, located at the end of the Hardangerfjord.In 1927, Erling Johnson,...

. He holds a cand.philol. degree in philosophy, haven taken his master's thesis on Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947...

 at the University of Bergen

University of Bergen

The University of Bergen is located in Bergen, Norway. Although founded as late as 1946, academic activity had taken place at Bergen Museum as far back as 1825. The university today serves more than 14,500 students...

. He later took a dr.philos. degree on a thesis about Olav H. Hauge

Olav H. Hauge

Olav Håkonson Hauge was a Norwegian poet. He was born in Ulvik and lived his whole life there, working as a gardener in his own orchard....

. He has worked as a journalist in Bergens Tidende

Bergens Tidende

Bergens Tidende is Norway's fourth largest newspaper and largest newspaper outside Oslo, with a circulation of about 87,000 copies . Founded in 1868, it is a Norwegian-language newspaper published daily in Bergen. It reaches approximately 260,000 readers every day , mainly in the counties of...

, and is from 2006 editor of debate (from 2008: editor of culture and debate) in Aftenposten

Aftenposten

Aftenposten is Norway's largest newspaper. It retook this position in 2010, taking it from the tabloid Verdens Gang which had been the largest newspaper for several decades. It is based in Oslo. The morning edition, which is distributed across all of Norway, had a circulation of 250,179 in 2007...

. He was an editor in the publishing house Universitetsforlaget

Universitetsforlaget

Universitetsforlaget AS is a Norwegian academic publishing company, which publishes non-fiction literature and journals. Universitetsforlaget is the main academic press in Norway....

 from 1996 to 2001, and edited the periodical Samtiden

Samtiden

Samtiden is a Norwegian political and literary magazine. It was founded by Jørgen Brunchorst and Gerhard Gran in 1890. The magazine's first publisher was John Griegs forlag , and from 1900 Aschehoug . Gran was the magazine's editor from 1892 to 1925. Cathrine Sandnes has been editor-in-chief from...

from 2001 to 2006.

Åmås is openly gay.