Kåre Holt (10 October 1916 – 15 March 1997) was a Norwegian author. He wrote plays, poetry and about forty books.^{[citation needed]}

Holt was born in Våle Municipality in Vestfold, Norway. His parents were Peder Anton Kristiansen (1870-1958) and Mathilde Sofie Larsen Rønningen (1871-1945). He worked for some time as a journalist at Vestfold Arbeiderblad.^[1]

His initial work was published in 1939, a children's book named Tore Kramkar. As his career progressed, Holt wrote many children's books, plays, radio plays, biographies, and historical novels. The trilogy Kongen about King Sverre Sigurdsson^[2] is considered his principal work. He is also remembered for his mythologically-based novels about icons of Norwegian history, among others Kappløpet about Roald Amundsen which created a sensation when it was published in 1974.^[3]

Holt won The Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature 1954, for Mennesker ved en grense. Holt was nominated three times for The Nordic Council's Literature Prize (Nordisk Råds litteraturpris): in 1966 for the novel Kongen—Mannen fra utskjæret, in 1970 for the novel Kongen—Hersker og trell and in 1979 for the novel Sønn av jord og himmel. Holt was made a Knight 1st Class in the Order of St. Olav in 1991. He died during 1997 in Holmestrand Municipality in Vestfold. In 2007, a bust of the author by artist Ada Madssen was unveiled in front of his former house at Reidvintunet, an open-air museum in the village of Hillestad in Holmestrand. ^[4]

• Tore Kramkar – (1939)
• Tore finner vei – (1940)
• Spillemann og kjøgemester – (1941)
• Udåden – (1945)
• Hurra for han som innstifta da'n – a biography of Henrik Wergeland for young people (1945)
• Demring – (1946)
• Nattgjester – novel (1948)
• Cleng Peerson og Nils med luggen – teen book (1948)
• Det store veiskillet – novel (1949)
• Brødre – novel (1951)
• Hevnen hører meg til – novel (1953)
• Mennesker ved en grense – novel (1954)
• Det stolte nederlag – novel (1956)
• Natt ved sjøen – radioplay (1956)
• Storm under morgenstjerne – novel (1958)
• Rømlingen Oskar og Maria fra Hulesjøen – teen novel (1959)
• Opprørere ved havet – novel (1960)
• Den gamle veien til Kierlighed – stories (1961)
• Perlefiskeren – novel (1963)
• Mannen fra utskjæret – novel (1965) (about King Sverre Sigurdsson)
• Fredløse menn – novel (1967) (about King Sverre Sigurdsson)
• Hersker og trell – novel (1969) (about King Sverre Sigurdsson)
• Kristina av Tunsberg – play (1971)
• Oppstandelsen – novel (1971)
• Ansikter i sagaens halvlys – (1971) (illustrated by Karl Erik Harr)
• Farvel til en kvinne – novel (1972) (about the queen buried at Oseberg)
• Hilsen fra Rafnaberg – collection of articles (1973)
• Folket ved Svansjøen – prose collection (1973)
• Kappløpet – novel (1974) (about Roald Amundsen)
• Sjøhelten – novel (1975) (about Peter Wessel Tordenskiold)
• De lange mil til paradiset – novel (1977)
• Sønn av jord og himmel – novel (1978) (about Hans Egede)
• Skuddet – criminal novel (1979) (about Claus Jæger)
• Gjester fra det ukjente – novel (1980)
• Biter av et bilde – drawings (1981)
• Mørke smil – satire (1981)
• Sannferdig beretning om mitt liv som løgner – autobiography (1982)
• Veien videre. Ny sannferdig beretning om mitt liv som løgner – autobiography (1983)
• Skoggangsmann – (1984) (about Rottenikken)
• Budbringeren fra Tunsberg – teen novel (1985)
• Flyktningen fra Stiklestad – teen novel (1986)
• Vandringen – novel (1986) (about Fridtjof Nansen)
• Det finnes en kvinne i Nevada for hvem jeg ha løyet – collection of articles (1995)

• Norwegian Culture and Religious Department prize for young peoples literature for Cleng Peerson og Nils med luggen - 1948
• The Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature for Mennesker ved en grense - 1954
• Språklig samlings litteraturpris - 1966^[5]
• Gyldendal's Endowment - 1967^[6]
• Sarpsborgprisen - 1967
• Dobloug Prize - 1970^[7]
• Sproingprisen for Kristina av Tunsberg - 1991 ^[8]
• Norwegian Culture and Religious Department prize for young peoples literature for Kristina av Tunsberg - 1991