Jon Flatabø (April 7, 1846 – February 10, 1930) was a Norwegian writer of popular literature at the beginning of the 20th century.
[4] His depictions of the lives and concerns of ordinary farmers—in works such as Brudefærden i Hardanger (The Bridal Procession in Hardanger), Petra, perlen fra Smaalenene (Petra, the Pearl of Østfold), Husmannsdatteren fra Odalen (The Farmer's Daughter from Odal), Fattiges gjenvordigheter (Needy Adversity), and Hun fridde selv (She Redeemed Herself)—sold very well, much more so than works by the prominent poets of the time.
In 1948, the poet Inger Hagerup wrote the following about Flatabø: During my childhood we had a wonderful novel writer in Norway.
He was called Jon Flatabø and he died some years ago, old and full of days, reportedly at the age of eighty-five.
Daydreams were easier then than now; virtue was always rewarded (unless the person drowned himself, something the good-natured Flatabø incidentally only had the heart to have happen once), and vice was emphatically punished in every case.