Rune Wikstøl (born 1957)

Translator's Note: This is a machine-assisted translation completed on May 23, 2025. While care has been taken to maintain accuracy, this translation has not yet undergone human review or validation.

Wikstøl has had a long career as a journalist. He has worked for Norsk Ukeblad, Morgenbladet, VG, and Blikk. For 23 years, he also served as language editor and journalist at NTB.

In 1993, Wikstøl co-authored the book The Queer Diversity – A Look at Gay Norway with Stein Fredriksen. They wanted to create a book that presented homosexual life in Norway as it was in 1993. Through interviews with around twenty people of different backgrounds, genders, and sexual orientations, they explored themes such as sex, love, diversity, and the joy of life.

In our interview with Wikstøl, he talks about the book, but also about the nightlife in Oslo before the internet. He also shares how, in many cases, he gained access to great stories and interviews by being gay himself and using his network in his work as a journalist.

In an excerpt from the interview, Wikstøl recounts his time working at Norsk Ukeblad, when he had the opportunity to interview the legendary artist Divine during a visit to Oslo.

Wikstøl personally conducted a number of interviews with activists in the 1990s. These audio recordings have been donated to Skeivt Arkiv. The full interview with him is available in our reading room. We met Rune Wikstøl in Oslo, October 2023.