born in oslo, bull-hansen decided to become a writer when an automobile accident on december 22, 1995 left him injured and unable to continue education towards an economics master's degree. he had previously won several prizes in powerlifting, including two gold medals in the norwegian powerlifting championship, a bronze medal in the european championship, and fifth place in the world, as well as several norwegian records. he decided to finish a manuscript on which he had been working sporadically for six years. this became his debut novel, "syv historier fra vestskogen" (seven tales of the western forest), published in 1997, when bull-hansen was 24 years old. he has since written about one book per year, and is widely read in his native norway.