Bjornstjerne Bjornson was a Norwegian writer, editor, and theater director, known along with Henrik Ibsen, Alexander Kielland, and Jonas Lie as one of the "four great ones" of 19th-century Norwegian literature. Bjornson campaigned widely for liberal and national ideals, and became an extremely popular national figure. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1903. "The Father" is one of his most widely anthologized stories.