We, writers from Norway and Sweden, are only too well aware that there will be a referendum in Scotland on September 18 to vote for or against independence.

We have been taken aback by the campaign of fear that is being launched by the political parties in London in order to maintain the Union. We offer our support to Scottish aspirations for independence and would like to point out that Norway's independence from Sweden in 1905 has benefited and enriched the political culture of both countries.

The separation did not lead to weakened co-operation in retrospect, but to a relationship of equality between our countries on every level.

Bearing this in mind, we hope you vote for independence.

Signatories: Thorvald Steen, novelist, essayist and poet; Jon Fosse, dramatist; Mustafa Can, novelist and journalist; Jostein Gaarder, novelist; Anne B. Ragde, novelist; Kjersti A. Skomsvold, novelist; Arne Ruste, poet, essayist and novelist; Ingvild Burkey, poet and editor; Paal Helge Haugen, novelist and children's author; Frode Grytten, author and journalist; Tom Egeland, novelist; Bengt Berg, poet; Torgeir Rebolledo Pedersen, writer, architect and songwriter; Thor Sørheim, author; Mette Karlsvik, author and journalist; Gro Dahle, poet and children's author; Knut Ødegård, poet and writer.