Olav Duun (November 21, 1876 – September 13, 1939) was a noteworthy author of Norwegian fiction. He is generally recognized to be one of the more outstanding writers in Norwegian literature. He once lacked only one vote to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Duun was born on Jøa an island in the Namsen Fjord in Fosnes municipality, Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway to Johannes Antonius Duun and Ellen (Fossum) Duun. Olav Duun was born Ole Johannesen Raaby. Duun was the oldest in a family of eight siblings. During his years as a boy his family lived at several farms on the island, the last one being Duun. He adopted the last name Duun when he left the island to start his training as a teacher.

He attended the state school at Trøndelag. In 1901, Duun took a position as a school teacher iat Levanger in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. He completed the graduate teacher examination in 1904. In 1908, he was hired by the Ramberg school at Botne in Vestfold, where he combined teaching profession with writing poetry. He worked as a teacher in Holmestrand on the Oslo Fjord until 1927. At the age of fifty, he retired in order to devote his time to writing.