In 1997 he released the book Det litterære skattkammer. Sakprosaens teori og retorikk, which was claimed to be the "world's first theoretical book about prose".[7] In 1999 he was awarded the Norwegian Language Prize by the Norwegian Language Council.[8] In 2006 he released Viljen til språk. Ei nynorsk kulturhistorie and in 2010 Avisene som utvida Noreg. Nynorskpressa 1850-2010.