He received a grant from Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture for the years 1927–1930 for conducting research on the Sami culture, and lived four years in a turf hut at the Varanger Peninsula, along with his wife.
[1] He made his literary debut in 1927, with Finnmarks-jakter, and in 1928 he published the short story collection Folk under fot.
[1] Descriptions of the nature in Northern Norway, such as birds and animal life, dominate large parts of these books.
[2] In 1939 he wrote En fiskergutt i Sameland, set in the mid 19th century, where the Sami culture is a central element.
He was among a group of people in Bodø who tried to take some initiatives in 1940, and helped with the establishment of the Secret Intelligence Service wireline station Delta in 1941.