William Nygaard
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "For". Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for clobbered parameters".Template:Wikidata image William Nygaard (born 16 March 1943) is a Norwegian retired businessman and publisher, who was the CEO of publishing company Aschehoug and the chairman of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.
Business career
From 1974 to 2010, he was the chief publisher of Aschehoug, Norway's second largest publishing house,[1] which is owned by the Nygaard family. When he took this job he followed the footsteps of his father Mads Wiel Nygaard and grandfather William Martin Nygaard who was leading the company in earlier years,[2] and the tradition continues since he left the job to his son, Mads Nygaard.[3] William Nygaard was chairman of the Norwegian Publishers Association from 1987 to 1990.[4] From 2010 to 2014, he was employed as a director of NRK (the state owned TV of Norway).[5]
Assassination attempt
On 12 April 1989, Aschehoug and William Nygaard were responsible for publishing the Norwegian edition of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses.[6] This was two months after Ayatollah Khomeini issued the following fatwa against Salman Rushdie and his publishers:
- I inform all zealous Muslims of the world that the author of the book entitled The Satanic Verses — which has been compiled, printed and published in opposition to Islam, the Prophet, and the Qur'an — and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, are sentenced to death. I call on all zealous Muslims to execute them quickly, wherever they may be found, so that no one else will dare to insult the Muslim sanctities. God Willing, whoever is killed on this path is a martyr.[7]
Owing to the fatwa, direct threats were made against William Nygaard and translator Kari Risvik, and in the resulting controversy, Nygaard was given police protection for a period.
On the morning of 11 October 1993, Nygaard was shot three times outside his home in Dagaliveien in Oslo.[8] Most people — including Nygaard[9] — link the incident to the fatwa. After several months of hospitalization, mostly at Sunnaas Hospital, Nygaard slowly recovered.[9] In early October 2018, almost a quarter century after the attempted assassination, charges were made against the alleged perpetrators. Their names and nationalities were not publicized at the time.[10] In November 2021 the two were identified as the Lebanese man Khaled Moussawi and an unnamed former Iranian diplomat.[11]
Other positions
Both before and after the attack, William Nygaard has been an outspoken defender of free speech, and is a board member of the Norwegian division of International PEN.[12][13] He is a member of the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature.[14]
He has been a member of the board of Norway's National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.[15] In 2010 he was elected chairman of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.[16]
Personal life
He has two children.[17]
Awards
- 1994 Fritt Ord Award.[18]
- 1998 Segerstedt award
- 1998 knight of 1. class of St. Olavs Orden
- 1998 (with Salman Rushdie) honorary doctor at Universitetet i Tromsø
- 2019 Gunnar Sønstebys award[19]
References
- ↑ Plurality in media, Norwegian Official Report NOU 1995:3. Template:Webarchive
- ↑ The history of Aschehoug publishing house (in Norwegian) Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Newspaper article in DN (in Norwegian) Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Newspaper article from Aftenposten (in Norwegian) Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ A timeline of the events of the Satanic Verses controversy (in Norwegian) Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Notes for Salman Rushdie: The Satanic Verses, including the text of the fatwa Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Interview with Helga Waagaard who was first to find Nygaard and call for an ambulance (in Norwegian) Template:Webarchive
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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- ↑ Listing of the board of the Norwegian PEN Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Listing of the board of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ A page about a video interview with Nygaard (in Norwegian) Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".