Ida S. Skjelbakken

Who is Ida S. Skjelbakken?

Ida Sunniva Sandaas Skjelbakken is a Norwegian author and illustrator. She was born in Lørenskog and grew up in Tangen in Stange, Hedmark. Her first novel series, Krøniken om Ylva Alm was published in July 2012 by Schibsted Forlag. In 2014 her book Fangen på celle nr. 17, based on letters she wrote from prison, was published by Schibsted Forlag. She has studied art in Villa Faraldi, Italy, makes her own cover illustrations for Krøniken om Ylva Alm, and does illustrations for weekly magazines on a regular basis. She is also a certified bodyguard, and has been an uchi-deshi Karate student in Okinawa, Japan.

She has lived in Sweden, Germany and The Dominican Republic, and she worked for a private investigator agency in Naples, Italy, until she moved to the United States in 2005. In August 2011, she was, due to her immigration status, arrested on firearms charges and eventually deported from the United States. She currently lives in Hungary and the United Kingdom.