DANISH ARTS FOUNDATION
DANISH LITER ARY MAGA ZINE AUTUMN 2017
WELCOME
Giving a platform to Danish debutants in foreign markets is another important part of our brief and, to that end, in this issue we feature three remarkable first timers whose
We fully understand why many foreign
works have aroused particular interest in
publishers and editorial departments like to
the Danish media.
check whether the titles they’re considering for purchase from abroad have won awards
Several of the more established Danish
and distinctions. Thus, in this edition of
authors also feature with new works;
Danish Literary Magazine we provide an
the likes of Peter Adolphsen, Anne Lise
overview of the most significant Danish
Marstrand-Jørgensen and Hanne Vibeke
literary awards, their background and how
Holst. We also love to report innovatory
they are adjudicated.
trends; so read more on Greenland’s move
2
AWARDS
27
4
CALENDAR OF PRIZES
19
SUPPORT SCHEMES
24
ORGANISATIONS
BOOKS IN BRIEF
RECENTLY SOLD
PETER ADOLPHSEN
30 32
from simply providing a range of compelling
regarding the Danish Arts Foundation’s
backdrops – think Peter Høeg’s Frøken
funding programmes for translators and
Smillas fornemmelse for sne (Miss Smilla’s
publishers abroad.
Feeling for Snow) and Kim Leine’s Profeterne i Evighedsfjorden (The prophets of Eternal
Remember also to subscribe to our
Fjord) – to itself giving us exciting and highly
newsletter – ‘Danish Literary Newsletter’ at
contemporary titles. We, therefore, proudly
danishliterarymagazine.dk. The newsletter
presents two new novels from Greenland, all
is published 4 or 5 times a year and reports
coming under the rubric – ‘Arctic Noir’.
the latest news and developments in Danish literature, including reminders of deadlines
We are also pleased to bring you our regular
for support applications.
summaries of important recent publications and titles sold abroad, as well as details
Marie Starup & Søren Beltoft / EDITORS
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE
CHRIS TIN A HE S SELHOLDT
Danish Broadcasting Corporation Novel of the Year Award: The Life of Vivian Maier
The Danish Broadcasting Corporation Novel of the Year Award can seem particularly rewarding for authors as a way of connecting with readers, as shortlistees are nominated by book clubs across the country. Christina Hesselholdt’s Vivian (Vivian) was up against tough competition with Mich Vraa’s Haabet (The Hope), and Merete Pryds Helle’s Folkets Skønhed (Human Beauty) also nominated. In the end the jury awarded Hesselholdt the main prize, for her singular use of language and her innovative portrayal of character. In her latest novel, Hesselholdt brings to life the intensely private and enigmatic street photographer Vivian Maier (1926-2009), as she tells the story of her tough childhood, her life as a nanny in affluent New York and Chicago, and her lifelong preoccupation with photography. A chorus of voices step in at intervals; family members, the children she cared for, and employers. PHOTO: ROBIN SKJOLDBORG
2
CHRISTINA HESSELHOLDT, born in 1962, published the first novel of a trilogy, Køkkenet, Gravkammeret & Landskabet (The Kitchen, the Tomb & the Landscape) in 1991. She has since written several novels and books for children, and is often noted for Camilla and the Horse (2013), which was selected for Dalkey Archive’s Best European Fiction anthology. In 2015 she published the follow-up and stand-alone novel, Selskabet (Companions). Hesselholdt has received critical acclaim and has been awarded various prizes for her books, including the Beatrice Prize in 2007, the Jytte Borberg Prize in 2007, the Critics’ Prize in 2010, and she is a nominee for the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2017.
CHRISTINA HESSELHOLDT
Vivian (Vivian) Rosinante 2016, 160 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Rogers, Coleridge & White Literary Agency, Laurence Laluyaux, l.laluyaux@rcwlitagency.com THIS TITLE SOLD TO: Germany/Hanser Verlag, Poland/Grupa Wydawnicza Foksal, World English/ Fitzcarraldo
AWARDS
IBEN UP MONDR
Iben Mondrup previously won both the Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s Novel of the Year award and the Weekendavisen’s Literature Prize, for her novel Godhavn (Godhavn) (2014), a story told by three siblings living in Godhavn, Greenland, in which an outsider has a detrimental effect on their lives. This May Mondrup’s latest novel, Karensminde (Karensminde) received The Blixen Literary Award at its Oscars-like white-tie event. The jury emphasized Mondrup’s sensual and fluent writing style. Summary: Bjørk decides to stay with her parents over the summer, on the beautiful island of Møn. Karen and Jens have just moved there from Greenland, to be closer to their family, and they plan to run a B & B out of an old farmhouse called ‘Karensminde’. Bjørk’s older brother Knut and his wife have their hands full with twins, and Hilde, the
PHOTO: ISAK HOFFMEYER
The Blixen Literary Award: A Complex Family Portrait
oldest sibling, has grown aloof. A family reunion brings old issues to the surface, and in the middle of it all, Jens’ fall from a ladder has dire consequences. “Iben Mondrup’s writing is not linear, but rather associative. She artfully unfolds memories from concrete situations, interweaving these to reveal a complex, multifaceted picture. The author succeeds in masterfully bringing the past alive in the present.” – Dr. Sigrid Engeler, German translator, among others, of Jussi Adler-Olsen, Janne Teller and Ida Jessen.
IBEN MONDRUP, born in 1969, made her literary debut in 2003 with De Usynlige Grønlændere (The Invisible Greenlanders), followed by two more novels. In 2014 she published the critically acclaimed novel, Godhavn (Godhavn) and in 2015, she received a three-year working grant from the Danish Arts Foundation.
IBEN MONDRUP
Karensminde (Karensminde) Gyldendal 2016, 312 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Copenhagen Literary Agency, Esthi Kunz, esthi@cphla.dk PREVIOUS TITLES SOLD TO: France/Denoël, Netherlands/Querido, USA/Open Letter
3
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE
BOOKS IN BRIEF DEBUTANTS
COMING OF AGE STORY “It was in books such as Nordkraft (Nordkraft) by Jakob Ejersbo and Malcolm X’s autobiography, that I experienced the social injustice of my life mirrored in books. These were
Jonathan grows up in Denmark of the 1990’s, with his mother, his AfricanAmerican stepfather Leon, and his half-brother James. The charming and violent Leon scrapes by working as a shoeshine, and the wellbeing of their little family is tied to his dramatic
PHOTO: SOFIE AMALIE KLOUGART
BREAKING THE PATTERN OF VIOLENCE
my models, and I have attempted to draw an honest portrait of violence in the family.” – Sebastian Bune
mood swings. Jonathan’s mother is more engaged with her New Age religion than the reality of her family, and Jonathan bears the heavy burden of keeping the family together. Min Familie (My Family) is a story of relocations, emergency visits, and court cases, as well as the good times, of sitting on the back of his mother’s bike under a clear starry sky. Bune’s debut offers a tender portrait of daily life in a disadvantaged family, and of a boy who, against all odds, escapes his lot to become an independent, self-made man. SEBASTIAN BUNE, born in 1985, had his debut with a collection of poetry in 2014, Nomadesind (Mind of a Nomad). He has written for several Scandinavian literary journals. Bune received a grant from Author’s Society in 2016, along with a working grant from the Danish Arts Council in 2017.
SEBASTIAN BUNE
Min Familie (My Family) Lindhardt og Ringhof 2017, 208 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Lindhardt og Ringhof Nya Guldberg, nya.guldberg@lrforlag.dk
AN EYE FOR VULNERABILITY “Signe Maxen has written a book that is simultaneously humorous, tragic and delicate, about the nature of refusing to eat, captured particularly in the author’s images and her eye for the sick, quiet life – a world removed from the world.” – Weekendavisen
4
BOOKS IN BRIEF / FICTION
PHOTO: LÆRKE POSSELT
HIDEAWAY OF A SENSITIVE SOUL
LOOKING FOR INÉS
SIGNE MAXEN, born in 1992, is currently studying at the Danish Academy of Creative Writing. This is her debut novel.
JAKOB SILAS LUND has a Masters in International Relations and Human Rights from Columbia University, and has worked for the
For Daniel, the invincible sister he knew, was a charming political activist, and a force to be reckoned with. It is therefore all the more unimaginable when Inés is kidnapped and killed by rebels while working for Doctors Without Borders in a risky area of the Central African Republic. Daniel cannot find peace with her death, and he gets the feeling that there remains something unexplained about her disappearance.
JAKOB SILAS LUND
Sporene efter Inés (Traces of Inés) Gyldendal 2017, 312 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency, Jenny Thor, jenny_thor@gyldendalgroupagency.dk
PHOTO: ANA ZINN
Sigrid moves from her childhood home, into an apartment in Albertslund, on the outskirts of Copenhagen. She’s supposed to start a degree, but she never really gets started with the right one. Neither does she manage to join a choir, as her doctor suggests. The days crumble little by little, and only place her even farther behind the adult life her sister so effortlessly adopts. The sorrow of her father’s death, her refusal of adulthood, and her own yearning for childhood become a safe haven. A quiet, tortured seriousness plants itself in Sigrid’s mind, and puts her beyond the reach of others. Drawing comparisons to Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, Signe Maxen’s Sort galde (Black Bile) is about giving in to mental frailty, and becoming physically ill. It is also a story that insists that reflection, vulnerability, and being an introvert have a place – and that each has its own beauty.
FN-organisation UN Women, along with several other NGOs, including Amnesty International in Denmark. In 2008 he founded Play31, an organization based in Sierra Leone which uses the unifying power of football to unite communities torn apart by civil war. Play31 has won several international prizes for its humanitarian work. Lund has featured at TedX Copenhagen and as a speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative University. He is a McGill Echenberg Human Rights Fellow and a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow. Sporene Efter Inés (Traces of Inés) is Lund’s debut as a fiction writer. His first book, Junior Rambo, was a biography about a rebel fighter from Sierra Leone.
He rereads her emails, seeks out her friends, digs out her hidden diaries, and in the end, sets out to follow her footsteps, taking a plane to the Central African Republic to shed light on the life she lived, the political engagement that drove her, and her sudden death.
SIGNE MAXEN
Sort Galde (Black Bile) Rosinante 2017, 175 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency, Jenny Thor, jenny_thor@gyldendalgroupagency.dk
LETTERS FROM A LOST SISTER 5
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE
DARK PSYCHOLOGICAL FAMILY DRAMA WAR OVER THE BOREDOM OF HOME
JESPER BUGGE KOLD
Krigsturisten (War Tourist) People’s Press 2018 (January), 300 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: People Group Agency, Louise Langhoff Koch, louise.langhoff@peoplespress.dk PRE-PUBLICATION SALE: Germany/Amazon Deutschland PREVIOUS TITLES SOLD TO: Amazon Crossing/Germany and USA (World rights), Czech Republic/Jota
It was the divorce that cost Kaisa the right to her children, 14-year-old Malte and 10-year-old Mira, and yet it didn’t seem that unreasonable: Kaisa is an alcoholic and has a problem with hallucinations connected to her past, mental breakdowns, self-harm, and sex addiction. When Simon and his new wife Agnete go on vacation, Kaisa is allowed the exceptional opportunity to spend some time with her children at a summer cottage. After a trip to the beach, Malte takes off alone for a laugh, intending to bike back home through Asserbo plantation. He never makes it. Simon rushes back, and both he and Kaisa are drawn into a complicated game, with clues they must follow to find Malte alive. Alongside her husband’s pathological outbursts, her son’s mental state, and her own personal battle, our (at times unreliable) narrator chases after the
FICTION PHOTO: KAJSA GULLBERG
ROAD TRIP THROUGH WAR Niels is married to Annemette and works as a teacher at a gymnasium. Both are boring him out of his mind. Late one evening at a bar an old friend, a war photographer, asks Niels to join him on an assignment in Beirut. He jumps at the chance. Beirut is only one of the many destinations ravaged by war that Niels and his friend pass through. They travel together from one war to another – in Libya, Mali, Ukraine, and Syria – and meet journalists, locals, extreme sport athletes and war
6
tourists. Just like Niels, everyone has a reason to be there; whatever they fled back home. JESPER BUGGE KOLD, born in 1972, is a journalist, librarian and author. He made his debut with the critically acclaimed historical novel, Vintermænd (Winter Men). In 2016, he published a novel about the DDR, Land i datid (The Wall Between), which also received glowing reviews. Both books have been sold abroad, and were bestsellers in Germany and the US.
BOOKS IN BRIEF / FICTION
“Hega Holst writes hard, and direct, without unnecessary frills, like the stab of a knife that is intended to go deep and be painful.” – Weekendavisen KAMILLA HEGA HOLST, born in 1973, had her debut in 2010, with En kærlighedshistorie (A Love Story). In 2012 she published the novel, Sort (Black) and was awarded a 3-year Arts Council grant the same year. Her children’s book from 2003, Den sovende sangerinde (The Sleeping Singer) received the Ministry of Culture’s Children’s Book Award, and most recently, in 2015, she received the Blixen Literary Award, for her novel På træk (On the Move), along with nominations for the DR Novel Prize, Weekendavisen’s Literature Prize and the EU Prize for Literature.
KAMILLA HEGA HOLST
Rud (Rot) Rosinante 2017, 180 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Copenhagen Literary Agency Monica Gram, monica@cphla.dk
HIDE AND SEEK THRILLER
PHOTO: LES KANER
truth, to find out what she and her child have become.
THE FINAL VACCINE
MEDICAL THRILLER With her new novel, Danish bestseller Hanne-Vibeke Holst reaches beyond the Danish borders, in a literary medical thriller reminiscent of John le Carré’s The Constant Gardener. A feared and fatal flu breaks out, right as Danish doctor Karoline Branner steps into her new position as coordinator for the WHO’s Department of Pandemics and Epidemics in Geneva. Not only does she have to mastermind a plan to stop the spread of the disease, she has to combat those who have their own agenda, including various political players in the Nordic countries with strong economic interests within the vaccine industry. If challenged with the worst possible nightmare of our time – a pandemic influenza – would our health care system have the capacity to help us all, or would some have to go without?
HANNE-VIBEKE HOLST, born in 1959, worked for many years as a journalist for Danish newspapers Berlingske Tidende and Politiken. She made her debut when she was 21 and several of her books became bestsellers, including her trilogy about a young female politician, Kronprinsessen (The Crown Princess), for which she won the bookseller’s Golden Laurel, and Kongemordet (Regicide), which was awarded the Danners Honor Award for its exposure of violence against women. Her most recent novel, Knud, den store (Knud the Great), from 2013, received a special prize from the Danish Arts Foundation Scholarship Committee.
HANNE-VIBEKE HOLST
Som Pesten (Like the Plague) Gyldendal 2017, 675 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Copenhagen Literary Agency Esthi Kunz, esthi@cphla.dk PREVIOUS TITLES SOLD TO: (among others) Iceland/Forlagið, Italy/Mondadori, France/ Éditions d’Ormesson, Germany/Piper, Norway/ Gyldendal, Sweden/Albert Bonniers
7
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE
EUROPEAN TRAIL OF SORROWS In the same vein as Mikhail Bulgakov’s magical realism, Marstrand-Jørgensen’s latest novel probes at old wounds in Europe’s history; from the Congress of Vienna to the great wars of the 20th century. A gigantic mole gives birth to her young in a den once filled with the tears of God, sorrowing over the human suffering to come. Everywhere the mole burrows, from the Arabian Peninsula to the European continent, it leaves a trace of this sorrow. Vienna, 1814. The mole is caught for its fur, at exactly the time Europe’s leaders meet for the Congress of Vienna after the Napoleonic wars. The mole skin passes through the hands of a Jewish jeweler, Benoni, a Christian Armenian antique dealer, Hakob and a black
nurse, Grace, and thus they too are linked to the story of sorrow. They travel through time and witness wars, the mass migrations, and political struggles, as well as progress. There ensues an endless process of forgetting and remembering. ANNE LISE MARSTRANDJØRGENSEN, born in 1971, had her popular breakthrough came with the two-volume, critically-acclaimed literary biography Hildegard I (Hildegard I) and Hildegard II (Hildegard II) about the medieval mystic Hildegard of Bingen. She has also written Hvad man ikke ved (What One Doesn’t Know) (2012) and its stand-alone sequel Hvis sandheden skal frem (If Truth Be Told) (2013). More recently, she published the novel Dronningen af Saba og Kong Salomon (The Queen of Sheba and King Salomon) in 2015. In 2009 she won the Weekendavisen Literature Prize and in 2012, the Edvard Pedersen’s Library Foundation Prize.
PHOTO: ISAK HOFFMEYER
MAGICAL REALISM
ANNE LISE MARSTRANDJØRGENSEN
Sorgens grundstof (Tears of God) Gyldendal 2017, 350 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Copenhagen Literary Agency Esthi Kunz, esthi@cphla.dk PREVIOUS TITLES SOLD TO: Finland/WSOY, Germany/ Suhrkamp, Hungary/Typotex, Italy/Marsilio, Norway/Press, Sweden/Forum
8
“...THE NOVEL ALIGHTS LIKE A CRANE FROM A CHINESE LEGEND..” – Information
INTERRACIAL LOVE STORY In 1902, Tivoli in Copenhagen, the oldest amusement park in the world, opens its doors for an exotic and unprecedented exhibition. People arrive in droves to the park, for the possibility of observing a group of Chinese people, shipped over from Canton, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Among the visitors observing the Chinese, one young woman catches the eye of San Wung Sung. Ingeborg Danielsen and San fall in love, but scandal soon surrounds them, and Ingeborg’s family and friends quickly distance themselves from her; a ‘half-woman’ in the company of a Chinese man. Their endurance of pain, becomes an astonishing display of love.
BOOKS IN BRIEF / FICTION
STOPPING THE ATOMIC BOMB Well-known for his Scandinavian crime fiction and thrillers at home and abroad, Steffen Jacobsen’s latest story has a classic twist and is set in the context of the 1940s Manhattan Project. Can a man choose to save his family at the expense of millions of lives, or will he sacrifice his loved ones for the greater good?
PHOTO: JACOB NIELSEN
David Adler is related to the Danish physicist Niels Bohr, one of the leading scientists behind the development of the atomic bomb. A Russian colonel gives Adler an ultimatum – “Use your family connections to give us information about the bomb or we’ll kill your family.” Adler is given a chess set in which to smuggle out the stolen research. Desperate, Adler travels to Los Alamos to work as Bohr’s secretary. After witnessing a successful bomb test, he realises
JESPER WUNG SUNG, born in 1971, made his debut in 1998 with the short story collection To Ryk Og En Aflevering (Kick ‘n Rush) for which he received the Debut Prize. Wung Sung has since written more than 20 books for children, young adults and adults – including Ud med Knud (Boot Canute) (2014), which sold to several countries and for which he was nominated for the Nordic Council’s Children’s and Young Adult Literature Prize. In 2000, he received a 3-year scholarship from The Danish Arts Council. His latest novel for adults is inspired by the author’s own Chinese great-grandfather.
he can’t do it, burns the microfilms and is about to take his own life, aware that it would mean the death of his wife and daughter. At the last minute, he confides in his boss at the laboratory, Robert Oppenheimer, about the plan. Much to his surprise, Oppenheimer agrees to help. STEFFEN JACOBSEN, born in 1956, is an orthopaedic surgeon, commentator and writer. He is the author of two crime series: the Robin Hansen series and the Lene Jensen and Michael Sander series. His latest novel, Enhjørningen (Unicorn), sold over 50,000 copies in Denmark. International publishers compare his work to John le Carré.
STEFFEN JACOBSEN
Da blev jeg døden (I Am Become Death) Lindhardt og Ringhof 2017, 464 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Lindhardt og Ringhof Nya Guldberg, nya.guldberg@lrforlag.dk PREVIOUS TITLES SOLD TO: China/ERC Media, Czech Republic/Kniha Zlín, Germany/ Heyne Verlag, France/Telemaque, Holland/ Cargo (Uitgeverij), Holland/De Bezige Bij, Japan/Hayakawa, Norge/Aschehoug, Taiwan/ Faces, UK/Quercus, US/Quercus, US/Skyhorse Publishing/Arcade
MANHATTAN PROJECT CLASSIC THRILLER
JESPER WUNG SUNG
PHOTO: THOMAS A
En anden gren (Show Me) Gyldendal 2017, 555 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency, Jenny Thor, jenny_thor@gyldendalgroupagency.dk PREVIOUS TITLES SOLD TO: France and Belgium/Les Éditions du Rouergue, Germany/ Carl Hanser Verlag, Italy/Edizioni Piemme, Netherlands/Clavis Uitgeverij, USA/Simon & Schuster
9
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE
CURTAINS FULL OF QUARRELS
PHOTO: LÆRKE POSSELT
THE BIOLOGY OF WRITING “The poetic chamber play of Bedårende (Adorable) is bursting with humor and there’s plenty of food for thought, as biological concepts are transformed into imaginative prose.” – Politiken Bedårende (Adorable) is about the continuity between the materiality of our surrounding world and the materiality inside our human bodies. Life-giving families of bacteria in our stomachs resemble the families we live in. Yet we do not clearly grasp the bigger picture that we are part of, and which is a part of us. Bedårende (Adorable) also tenderly portrays the continuity between the living and the dead through the story of a father’s death and the symbiosis between a mother and a daughter. The child, the deceased and those we love are bound to one another. Finally, the book is about the continuity that exists between the soul and the
10
MY FATHER THE MONSTER From the lesser known streets of Copenhagen comes a grim tale of a lonely figure growing up in one of Copenhagen’s toughest and most socially disadvantaged environments. 19 year old Sus counts the days until her father’s release. Not for the chance to be reconciled, but for the possibility of revenge. Her brother is in intensive care with a piece of shrapnel in his brain. Her father is in for manslaughter; he killed her mother after tying her to the bed, and leaving her there. Sus tries to suppress her anxieties by preparing for the death of her father, whom she intends to murder as soon as he’s released. But it’s all going to take some planning, because Sus is convinced that what she will face is not a man, but a monster.
material: a quarrel still clings to the white fabric of the curtains in a room. IDA MARIE HEDE, born in 1980, has a MA in Aural and Visual Culture from Goldsmiths College, London, is a graduate of the Danish Academy of Creative Writing, and holds a Masters in Art History from Copenhagen University. Her debut, Seancer, Anblik (Seances), came out in 2010. Hede’s writing lies at the intersection between literature and art, between text and performance, and is best defined as art writing or theory fiction. “Bedårende (Adorable) is about families, phones, shit and love, but especially about death, and it’s one of the best books I have read this year. Never before has the post-humanist paradigm shift been so cheerful in all its dark insistence.” – Information
IDA MARIE HEDE
Bedårende (Adorable) Forlaget Gladiator 2017, 148 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Copenhagen Literary Agency Monica Gram, monica@cphla.dk
COPENHAGEN RAW REALISM
BOOKS IN BRIEF / FICTION JONAS T. BENGTSSON, born in 1976, published his prize-winning debut Amina’s breve (Amina’s Letters) in 2005. Two years later, Bengtsson made a powerful come-back with Submarino (Submarino), which was later made into a film by Thomas Vinterberg in 2010. In 2010 Bengtsson was awarded the PO Enquist Literary Prize, the jury citing his: “unfailing writing style, his exact character depictions, his portrayal of society’s outcasts, and the remarkable empathy that comes from his writing.” His third novel, Et Eventyr (A Fairy Tale) was published in 2011, and was later shortlisted for the Danish Broadcasting Corporation Best Novel Prize in 2012 as well as for the Weekendavisen Literature Prize.
Sus (Sus) Rosinante 2017, 271 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Salomonsson Agency, Anna Carlander, anna@salomonssonagency.com THIS TITLE SOLD TO: Czech Republic/ Euromedia, Finland/Like, France/Denoël, Germany/Kein & Aber, Netherlands/Koppernik, Norway/Gyldendal, Romania/Editura Paralela 45
PHOTO: SOFIE AMALIE KLOUGART
JONAS T. BENGTSSON
THE MODERN FALL OF MAN
PHOTO: ROBIN SKJOLDBORG
EUPHORIA VS. DYSPHORIA 20-year-old Samsine is a petite bourgeoise, in stark contrast to 29-year-old HP, who can never be anything but a little farmer boy, without table manners or the proper know-how of relationships. They meet on a trip in town, both on a binge of drinking and wild escapades. They are young and wild, ‘Bonnie & Clyde’, addicted to each other, and blind to their own destruction. Jalousi ( Jealousy) is divided into two parts, ‘Euphoria’ and ‘Dysphoria,’ and throughout the novel fragments appear from their quarreling correspondence and the misunderstandings that ensue, after one fateful evening, when jealousy puts a strange twist on their alcohol induced fantasy.
“Jacob Skyggebjerg’s Jalousi ( Jealousy) is like a romantic version of Jakob Ejersbo’s Nordkraft. (Nordkraft)” – Kristeligt Dagblad JACOB SKYGGEBJERG, born in 1985, published his debut novel in 2013, Vor tids helt (A Hero of Our Time), an autofictive novel, which was shortlisted for the Debutant Prize. In 2015, his novel, Hvad mener du med vi (What Do You Mean By ‘US’), was nominated for the Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s Novel Prize.
JACOB SKYGGEBJERG
Jalousi (Jealousy) Gladiator 2017, 142 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Copenhagen Literary Agency Monica Gram, monica@cphla.dk
11
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE
SEQUELS
THE HOPE TRILOGY: PART TWO Peter von Scholten and Marie Eide return to far away islands and uncertain fates, in a landscape sweltering with an unresolved past, in part two of Mich Vraa’s pageturning trilogy, set in the early 19th century Danish West Indies. The situation on the islands has changed. It is no longer a place where a young military officer can dream away his life and impress the island girls. Many years later, when Peter von Scholten is given a chance to return, under mysterious assignment from the King, the slave trade has ended, but the blacks aren’t free, and sugarcane is a dwindling enterprise. The man who was once driven by his love for women, for money and power, becomes a man of a new generation. When a rebellion is set in motion, Peter turns to his trusted friend Marie Eide, but von Scholten has many roles to play and promises
to keep, and his position may not be enough to keep them, or their dreams, alive. MICH VRAA, born in 1954, is a writer and literary translator of titles by, among others, Annie Proulx, Jonathan Franzen and Ernest Hemingway. In 2014 he won the Danish Translator Society’s Honorary award. He has written several novels, including children’s and young adult books. In 2016, Vraa published Håbet (Hope), the first novel in the trilogy, which was nominated for both the Danish Broadcasting Coorporation’s Novel Prize and Politiken’s Literature Prize. The trilogy is inspired by the period between 1787 until 1917, the year of the transfer from Danish to American rule. The third book is expected in fall 2018.
MICH VRAA
Peters kærlighed (Peter’s Passion) Lindhardt og Ringhof 2017, 512 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Copenhagen Literary Agency Esthi Kunz, esthi@cphla.dk PREVIOUS TITLE SOLD TO: Norway/Bazar, Germany/Hofmann & Campe
PHOTO: SIMON NØRLEV NYBERG
RETURN TO THE WEST INDIES
12
PHOTO: LINE THIT KLEIN
ENDURING FRIENDSHIPS In her follow up to Italienvej (Italy Street), De voksnes rækker (Welcome to the Grown-up Ranks), Anna Grue returns to the romantic conflicts, secrets and enduring friendship of Italian Vittoria and Danish Conny, two very different women – often compared by readers to Elena Ferrante’s characters. It’s 1964, and the two friends have both found good husbands, but married life isn’t rosy for either of them, and both contend with a daily dose of housewife boredom, disgruntled husbands, and for Vittoria, a disobedient teenage daughter. Friendship is delicate, especially when one friend can’t conceive, and the other is carrying a baby she doesn’t want. All the meanwhile, neither of them find it easy to accept that their dreams and desires have been swept under the carpet, especially when the Beatles are playing nearby in Copenhagen, and a charter trip to Rome brings up an unexpected answer to one of Vittoria’s biggest questions.
BOOKS IN BRIEF / SEQUELS
CRIME & THRILLER
STREET ART THRILLER Neither Rosa nor her Turkish friend Sevin have anywhere to go that summer, at the end of the 1980s. Left to their own devices, the twelve-yearold girls roam the streets of Aarhus, drawn into a world of street art, alleyways and hidden courtyards.
NORDIC ELENA FERRANTE
ANNA GRUE, born in 1957, had her debut with a crime novel in 2005, Noget for Noget (Something for Something), that earned her the Danish Crime Academy’s award for Best Novel. The following year, she published Det vi ikke taler om (What We Don’t Speak Of), followed by Dybt at falde (Far to Fall), which was the first of seven books in her highly successful crime series with Dan Sommerdahl, ‘the bald detective’. In 2015, she published her critically acclaimed romance novel, Italiensvej (Italy Street).
‘The Danes’ Favorite Crime Novel of the Decade’ and one of the ‘10 Best Mysteries of 2013’ by the Wall Street Journal. In 2013 she published the sequel and stand-alone novel, Svalens graf (The Arc of the Swallow) and in 2014 she received the Danish Readers’ Book Award.
Rosa grows up alone, her independent, politically active single mother more interested in researching mushrooms and fighting capitalism than in parenting. Rosa decides to hunt down the truth about her father’s identity – and her own – in secret. Twenty years later, Rosa is the leading expert on the anonymous street artist Inkcap. When she tracks Inkcap to Berlin, she finds herself on her father’s trail too – and the overwhelming secrets her mother tried to protect her from.
FAMILY SECRETS AND RADICALISATION
PHOTO: JOACHIM GERN
ANNA GRUE
De voksnes rækker (Welcome to the Grown-up Ranks) Politikens Forlag 2017, 400 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Copenhagen Literary Agency, Esthi Kunz, esthi@cphla.dk PREVIOUS TITLES SOLD TO: Armenia/Guitank, France/Gaïa Editions, Germany/Atrium Verlag/ Piper, Iceland/Forlagid, Italy/Marsilio, Norway/ Cappelen Damm, Sweden/ Piratförlaget Film rights optioned by ndF (neue deutsche Filmgesellschaft).
SISSEL-JO GAZAN, born in 1973, has a postgraduate degree in biology with a specialization in dinosaurs from the University of Copenhagen. In 1995 she published her debut novel, Når man kysser i august (When You Kiss in August). In 2008, she returned with a science crime novel, Dinosaurens fjer (The Dinosaur Feather), a bestseller that sold to 15 countries, and was selected by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation as
SISSEL-JO GAZAN
Blækhat (Inkcap) Lindhardt og Ringhof 2017, 544 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Lindhardt og Ringhof Nya Guldberg, nya.guldberg@lrforlag.dk PREVIOUS TITLES SOLD TO: Bulgaria/Perseus, Czech Republic/Jota, France/Gallimard, Germany/Hoffmann und Campe, Greece/ Livanis, Italy/Sperling & Kupfer, Netherlands/ Prometheus, Norway/Vigmostad & Bjørke, Poland/Amber, Romania/Univers, Russia/ Corpus, Spain/Alfaguara, Sweden/Albert Bonniers Förlag, Taiwan/InStars Multimedia, UK & Commonwealth/Quercus, US/ Quercus
13
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE
CRIME & THRILLER
CRIME / ARCTIC NOIR
PHOTO: FINN FRANDSEN
Greenland has long served crime writers as unexplored territory, but in the novels of Nina von Staffeldt and Mads Peder Nordbo, their personal knowledge and experience of the vast expanses and sparse population offer more than just a frozen backdrop.
SIKA HASLUND CRIME SERIES ONLY THE DEAD CAN KEEP A SECRET
COPENHAGEN SPY NOVEL Journalist Robert Lassen knows that his old childhood friend, Morten Richter, is dying of cancer, so when he not only disappears, but was last seen on his way to Paris with an unknown young woman, Lassen launches into his own investigation, that reveals both the loose threads of their friendship and the underlying realities of Copenhagen. Robert’s search for clues gets him mixed up with the criminal element surrounding a ring of Pakistani kiosks on the streets of west Copenhagen, and then into the hands of a spy network. His investigation comes to a halt when someone from an influential family steps in to spread an alternative version of the truth to the intelligence services. The mystery becomes a test between two men, each fighting for their side of the truth, in a world where facts have become increasingly irrelevant.
14
Praise for Hypokonderens død (The Death of the Hypochondric): “Davidsen-Nielsen writes with such precision and knowledge, and exposes a world where cynicism has hit both those who do evil, and those who struggle to overcome it.” – Dagbladenes Bureau HANS DAVIDSEN-NIELSEN, born in 1968, is a journalist at Politiken and the author of two non-fiction books on the Danish Intelligence Services. His debut in fiction and the start of his spy novel series, Hypokonderens død (2014), earned him a Danish Crime Academy Diploma. His books are connected, but also work as standalone books.
HANS DAVIDSEN-NIELSEN
Løgnen om en sand ven (The Lie About a True Friend) Politiken 2017, 320 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Politiken Literary Agency Rudi Urban Rasmussen, rudi.u.rasmussen@jppol.dk
In Den Sorte Engel (The Black Angel) a man is found murdered on a fishing boat drifting off the coast of Uummannaq, far north of the Polar Circle. In the cargo, police find a number of polar bear skins, in addition to valuable teeth from narwhal and walrus. It looks like a smuggling attempt gone wrong. Greenpeace get wind of the story, and steer towards a case against poaching.
COLD CRIME UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN
BOOKS IN BRIEF / ARCTIC NOIR
NINA VON STAFFELDT has lived, worked and traveled in most of Greenland since 1997. She broke through the literary scene with her debut crime novel Frosne Beviser (Frozen Evidence) in 2016, for which she earned the Debut of the Year prize, from the Danish Crime Academy and was invited to several crime festivals in Europe. Den Sorte Engel (The Black Angel) is the second book in the Sika Haslund crime series, as well as a stand-alone novel.
NINA VON STAFFELDT
Den Sorte Engel (The Black Angel) Milik 2017, 315 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Milik Publishing Lene Therkildsen, forlag@milik.gl
PHOTO: IVAN BOLL
Consultant Sika Haslund, working for Go Greenland, is suddenly hit head-on with preventing a devastating media storm, one that could have serious consequences for the country’s reputation, export possibilities, and ultimately for Greenlandic fishermen and hunters. In the middle of it all, Haslund discovers the illegal contraband was planted, the murder remains unsolved, and everyone seems to have a hidden agenda she hadn’t counted on. Even in such a boundless landscape, the world can seem very small.
GRIT AND GUTS FROM THE GREENLANDIC UNDERWORLD
NUUK NOIR
PHOTO: JØRGEN CHEMNITZ
Young journalist Matthew Cave is slowly losing his mind, after the death of both his wife and unborn daughter. He decides to head for the remote Arctic capital of Nuuk, spurred on by a postcard his American father once sent him from Thule base, before he disappeared. Once there, he is sent to cover a story on inland ice, about the discovery of a mummified Viking – the first finding of its kind. The tiny Arctic community is set for a global sensation, but then the Viking vanishes and a police officer is found with his belly brutally gutted. Back in Nuuk, both cases have been covered up, but Matthew quickly links the cold-blooded killing to the similar murder of four men in 1973. Long forgotten files reveal that two of the murdered men’s daughters went missing, along with the investigating police officer. The bloody crimes from the past and the present start to flow together, and the only one Cave can trust is Tupaarnaq, a woman who killed her father at 14, by gutting him.
MADS PEDER NORDBO, born in 1970, is Danish but has lived and worked in Nuuk for several years. He holds degrees in Literature, Communications and Philosophy from The University of Southern Denmark and the University of Stockholm. In 2012 he published his first thriller, Odins labyrint (Odin’s Labrinth), followed by Thuleselskabet (The Thule Company) in 2014, and Gudspartiklen (The God Particle) in 2015. Pigen uden Hud (The Girl Without Skin) is his first crime novel and the first in a new series.
MADS PEDER NORDBO
Pigen uden hud (The Girl Without Skin) Politiken 2017, 340 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Politiken Literary Agency Rudi Urban Rasmussen, rudi.u.rasmussen@jppol.dk SOLD TO: 17 countries, including Australia/Text Publishing, Finland/Like, France/Actes Sud, Germany/Fischer Verlag, Italy/Einaudi Stile Libero, Netherlands/Ambo Anthos, Norway/ Norsk Gyldendal, Sweden/Albert Bonniers Förlag
15
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE
BOOKS IN BRIEF / NON FICTION
NON FICTION PHOTO: MIKKEL TJELLESEN
REALITY TRANSFORMED BY SORROW
MODERN GREEK TRAGEDY
NAJA MARIE AIDT
Når døden tager noget fra dig så giv det tilbage (Carl’s Book) Gyldendal 2017, 155 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Rogers, Coleridge & White Laurence Laluyaux, l.laluyaux@rcwlitagency.com SOLD TO: Germany/Luchterhand, Netherlands/ Querido, Norway/Gyldendal, Sweden/Bonniers, UK & Commonwealth/Quercus
16
NAJA MARIE AIDT was born in 1963 in Greenland and made her debut as a writer in 1991 with the poetry collection Så længe jeg er ung (While I’m Still Young). In 2006 she published her short story collection Bavian (Baboon), for which she received both the 2007 Danish Critics Prize for Literature and the 2008 Nordic Council Literature Prize. The English translation by Two Line Press won the 2015 PEN Translation Award. Among others, she has won the Herman Bang’s Memorial Fund Grant, the Martin Andersen Nexø Prize, the Beatrice Prize and the Danish Arts Foundation’s lifelong artistic performance grant.
memoir and drawings into a dramatic and personal account of the war. “Tom Buk-Swienty sure knows how to tell a war story!” – Kristeligt Dagblad TOM BUK-SWIENTY, born in 1966, has written several biographies and sold more than 500,000 books, including his most recent doublebiography about the young Karen ‘Tanne’ Blixen and her brother Tommy in 2016. His two-volume work on the Danish-Prussian war of 1864 provided his commercial breakthrough, and was made into an DR TV series. His awards include: Historical Publication of the Year, the Danish Authors’ Association’s Non-fiction Prize, the Søren Gyldendal Prize, the Berlingske Reader’s Prize, and the Weekendavisen Literature Prize.
TOM BUK-SWIENTY
A YOUNG MAN AND THE CHAOS OF WAR Denmark’s bestselling narrative non-fiction writer presents his most international project to date, with the gripping and moving first-hand account of a soldier’s life inside Nazi Germany. Hans Horn is a young, bright-eyed German, at the start of his life, in love and newly accepted into university, whose life drastically transforms under the Third Reich. What starts out as sunny, peaceful days as a soldier stationed in occupied Denmark, soon turns into the horrors of the Eastern Front, bombardments, and the bleakness of the infirmaries. Inspired by the discovery of the soldier’s 1,500 page illustrated journal, Buk-Swienty has turned the
Det ensomme hjerte (A Lonely Heart in the Third Reich) Politiken 2017, 488 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Copenhagen Literary Agency Esthi Kunz, esthi@cphla.dk PREVIOUS TITLES SOLD TO: Germany/Osburg Verlag, Norway/Gyldendal, Spain/Ediciones del Viento, US/W. W. Norton, UK/Profile Books
A SOLDIER INSIDE HITLER’S NAZIGERMANY
PHOTO: LES KANER
In March 2015 Naja Marie Aidt’s son Carl dies at 25 years old in a tragic accident. Når døden tager noget fra dig så giv det tilbage (Carl’s Book) reconstructs Aidt’s experience of shock, but in its form, the book also poses the question – how can one even start to approach the subject of writing about one’s deceased child? The book’s complex form enacts the processes of rupture, and the consequent reassembly of the pieces. There are short prose sections addressed to Carl, and intense passages in verse. There are fragments from the present that merge with flashbacks, and journal entries from the past and present. Quotes appear throughout from an array of literary voices, woven together with Naja Marie Aidt’s own voice.
“Naja Marie Aidt’s shattering elegy about her grown son’s death is a modern Greek tragedy—and a relentless account of grief’s deepest reality.” – Weekendavisen
BOOKS IN BRIEF / GRAPHIC NOVELS
GRAPHIC NOVELS
“I’m interested in understanding what it is that makes people decide to do something that they know is wrong. What thoughts and considerations lie behind the bad and criminal decisions of ordinary people?” – Johan Krarup Frank works at the office of immigration and processes applications for residency permits and passports. In the midst of an office culture steered by coffee breaks and early Friday drinks, Frank sits and handles asylum cases and family reunions. At the end of the day, Frank clocks out, and goes home, but one day a colleague’s suggestion of getting some cheap football shirts for his team stays with him until long after work. His colleague knows a Chinese restaurant owner, and he can get them a good deal, and there are
IMMIGRATION FOLLIES
PHOTO: JOHAN KRARUP
THE DOWNFALL OF THE ‘SOFT’ DANISH MAN
some people in China who can send cheap labor to Denmark – they just need the right permits. One favor precipitates another, and Frank’s good intentions are not enough to alert him when he has gone too far. JOHAN KRARUP, born in 1988, is a writer and illustrator, and has written a series of graphic novels, including Brune sider 1 & 2 (Brown Pages) (2003 and 2006), Joskefis (2004), Brunt (Brown) (2008), Mixed Double (2008), Pibemanden (The Man with a Pipe) (2008), Foxtrot no. 1 (2009), Pelle (2010), and Cliffs monologer (Cliff’s Monologues) (2014). He has been nominated twice for the Ping Award for ‘Best Danish Comic Book’ and for best webcomic.
JOHAN KRARUP
(writer & illustrator) Styrelsen (The Department) Forlaget Cobolt 2017, 222 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Forlaget Cobolt, Pernille Arvedsen, pernille@cobolt.dk
17
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE
BOOKS IN BRIEF / GRAPHIC NOVELS
“The story of Gregor Samsa just got seriously under my skin” – Litteraturlinjer
GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE METAMORPHOSIS
MONOCROMATIC KAFKA Author and illustrator Søren Jessen has transformed Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis into a visually captivating graphic novel. Done in black and white, the monochromatic shades vividly emphasize the atmosphere of claustrophobia and isolation that surrounds the character’s own life, the society around him, and the family on the other side of the door, who drift further and further away from him.
18
Since 1990, SØREN JESSEN, born in 1963, has worked full-time as an author and illustrator, publishing more than 50 books, including children’s books, and works for both young adult and adult readers. His most well-known publications are the two books set in his science fiction universe of Newropa, Det blå blod (Blue Blood) and Mag O’Neal. He is the recipient of a 3-year work grant from the Arts Council, and the Ministry of Culture’s Illustrator Prize.
SØREN JESSEN
Forvandlingen (The Metamorphosis) Forlaget Fahrenheit 2017, 127 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Forlaget Fahrenheit, fahrenheit@email.dk
FEBRUARY 2017 – JULY 2017
RECENTLY SOLD ABROAD FICTION
EUROMEDIA JONAS T. BENGTSSON SUS LONE THEILS DEN BLÅ DIGTERS KONE PASEKA HELLE HELLE DETTE BURDE SKRIVES I NUTID
BRAZIL EDITORA MOINHOS JOSEFINE KLOUGART STIGNINGER OG FALD
ZLIN KASPAR COLLING NIELSEN MOUNT KØBENHAVN
BULGARIA
ESTONIA
SVETLANA YANCHEVA PEDER FREDERIK JENSEN BANEDANMARK
VARRAK ERIK VALEUR LOGBOG FRA ET LIVSFORLIS KASPAR COLLING NIELSEN MOUNT KØBENHAVN MADS PEDER NORDBO PIGEN UDEN HUD
CHINA FLTRP DORTHE NORS SPEJL, SKULDER, BLINK KANTSLAG
CZECH REPUBLIC KNIHY DOBROVSKÝ MADS PEDER NORDBO PIGEN UDEN HUD BOG 2, BOG 3 SANNE BJERG FEJLTAGELSERNES BOG
FINLAND BAZAR KUSTANNUS OY SANNE BJERG FEJLTAGELSERNES BOG LIKE JONAS T. BENGTSSON SUS MADS PEDER NORDBO PIGEN UDEN HUD
FRANCE ACTES SUD MADS PEDER NORDBO PIGEN UDEN HUD BOG 2 ALBIN MICHEL JUSSI ADLER-OLSEN ALFABETHUSET BELFOND THOMAS RYDAHL DE SAVNEDE DELCOURT DORTHE NORS SPEJL, SKULDER, BLINK DENOËL JONAS T. BENGTSSON SUS GALLIMARD MORTEN RAMSLAND ÆG RAPHAËL DE SURTIS SØREN ULRIK THOMSEN RYSTET SPEJL JØRGEN LETH SPORTSDIGTE UDVALGTE DIGTE SOCIÉTÉ LIBELLA HELLE HELLE HVIS DET ER
VIES PARALLÈLES INGER CHRISTENSEN DET
GEORGIA KALEM/BENCEAJANS BASIN JOSEFINE KLOUGART NEW FOREST
GERMANY DTV ANNE-SOPHIE LUNDINGSØRENSEN HAPPY ENDING FISCHER MADS PEDER NORDBO PIGEN UDEN HUD BOG 2 HEYNE KASPAR COLLING NIELSEN MOUNT KØBENHAVN STEFFEN JACOBSEN ENHJØRNINGEN KEIN & ABER JONAS T. BENGTSSON SUS KOOKBOOKS METTE MOESTRUP DØ, LØGN, DØ
THOMAS RYHDAL De savnede (The Missing)
Drawing comparisons to the writing of Spanish crime writer Dolores Redondo, Thomas Rydahl sets his ‘Sunburnt’ Nordic Noir trilogy in the burning sun of Fuerteventura. In the second novel of his trilogy, the nine fingered detective Erhard, is drawn out of his hermit-like existence, as he deals with the case of a missing father. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Nordin Agency, Sofia Odsberg, sofia@nordinagency.se SOLD TO: Finland/Minerva, France/Belfond, Spain/Destino, Sweden/Bokfabriken
19
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE SANNE BJERG
Fejltagelsernes bog (The Book of Mistakes)
In this warm and colourful novel, Bjerg brings together a careful ‘agent of mistakes’ and an enterprising young football player, to create an adventure that both captures the heights of sports fervor in Barcelona, and tenderly portrays a lonely man finding his feet within his community. It is also about a plan to kidnap Lionel Messi. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Copenhagen Literary Agency, Esthi Kunz, esthi@cphla.dk SOLD TO: Czech Republic/Knihy Dobrovský, Finland/Bazar Kustannus Oy, Norway/Bazar, Sweden/Bazar
MATTHES & SEITZ JOSEFINE KLOUGART EN AF OS SOVER NEW FOREST SCHÖFFLING & CO. MORTEN RAMSLAND ÆG
GREECE KLIDARITHMOS PUBLICATIONS SARA BLÆDEL KVINDEN DE MELDTE SAVNET METAIXMIO DORTHE NORS SPEJL, SKULDER, BLINK THYRATHEN OLAV HERGEL FLYGTNINGEN
HUNGARY KOSSUTH JENS HENRIK JENSEN DE HÆNGTE HUNDE DE MØRKE MÆND DE FROSNE FLAMMER JESPER STEIN URO BYE BYE BLACKBIRD TYPOTEX IDA JESSEN EN NY TID DR. BAGGES ANAGRAMMER
ICELAND BÓKAÚTGÁFAN SÆMUNDUR KIM LEINE KALAK BJARTUR BÓKAFORLAG SARA BLÆDEL KVINDEN DE MELDTE SAVNET MADS PEDER NORDBO PIGEN UDEN HUD BOG 2
FORLAGID MERETE PRYDS HELLE FOLKETS SKØNHED ANNE METTE HANCOCK LIGBLOMSTEN SAGARANA JOSEFINE KLOUGART STIGNINGER OG FALD SALKA KASPAR COLLING NIELSEN MOUNT KØBENHAVN UGLA ELSEBETH EGHOLM SELVRISIKO
ISREAL ACHUZAT BAYIT DORTHE NORS SPEJL, SKULDER, BLINK
ITALY EINAUDI MADS PEDER NORDBO PIGEN UDEN HUD BOG 2 FAZI EDITORE SARA BLÆDEL DØDESPORET NEWTON COMPTON ELSEBETH EGHOLM SKJULTE FEJL OG MANGLER SELVRISIKO
KOREA MOONHAK SOOCHUP MORTEN BRASK WILLIAM SIDIS’ PERFEKTE LIV
LITHUANIA BALTOS IANKOS MADS PEDER NORDBO PIGEN UDEN HUD TYTO ALBA PETER HØEG FRØKEN SMILLAS FORNEMMELSE FOR SNE
20
MACEDONIA GOTEN GRUP DOOEL SKOPJE ALEN MESKOVIC UKULELE-JAM
MOROCCO EAST WESTERN FOR LITERATURE AND ARTS EXCHANGE KIM LEINE PROFETERNE I EVIGHEDSFJORDEN KRISTIAN BANG FOSS DØDEN KØRER AUDI HERE & THERE FOR GLOBAL CULTURE CONNECTION KAREN BLIXEN BABETTES GÆSTEBUD PETER HØEG DEN STILLE PIGE JENS ANDERSEN DENNE DAG, ET LIV
NETHERLANDS AMBO ANTHOS MADS PEDER NORDBO PIGEN UDEN HUD KOPPERNIK JONAS T. BENGTSSON SUS UITGEVERIJ OEVERS JOSEFINE KLOUGART EN AF OS SOVER KNUD SØNDERBY TO MENNESKER MØDES
NORWAY BAZAR SANNE BJERG FEJLTAGELSERNES BOG CAPPELEN DAMM NIVIAQ KORNELIUSSEN HOMO SAPIENNE SØREN ULRIK THOMSEN RYSTET SPEJL
DAVVI GIRJI LANA HANSEN SILA GYLDENDAL NORSK JONAS T. BENGTSSON SUS MADS PEDER NORDBO PIGEN UDEN HUD BOG 2 VIGMOSTAD & BJØRKE ANNE METTE HANCOCK LIGBLOMSTEN
POLAND CZARNA OWCA DORTHE NORS SPEJL, SKULDER, BLINK WYDAWNICTWO LOKATOR INGER CHRISTENSEN ALFABET
PORTUGAL PLANETA MADS PEDER NORDBO PIGEN UDEN HUD
ROMANIA EDITURA PARALELA 45 JONAS T. BENGTSSON SUS RAO JUSSI ADLER-OLSEN JOURNAL 64
RUSSIA EKSMO CHARLOTTE WEITZE HARZEN-SANGER SARA BLÆDEL DE GLEMTE PIGER JAKOB VEDELSBY SKYGGESPOR WEST-CONSULTING INGER CHRISTENSEN GRÆS LYS
RECENTLY SOLD KASPAR COLLING NIELSEN Mount København (Mount Copenhagen)
Mount København is a collection of 17 stories about what happens when a 3500 meter mountain is built in Copenhagen. Other than an increase in tourism, there are new climate zones, new species, and a complete revision of the natural order of things. A story about a sudden irrational situation and its effect on an otherwise orderly, homogeneous and manageable community. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Salomonsson Agency, Anna Carlander, anna@salomonssonagency.com SOLD TO: Czech Republic/Zlin, Estonia/Varrak, Germany/Heyne, Iceland/Salka, Norway/ Tigerforlaget
SERBIA
SWEDEN
PRESING HELLE HELLE DETTE BURDE SKRIVES I NUTID ŠTRIK DORTHE NORS SPEJL, SKULDER, BLINK KANTSLAG MINNA MANGLER ET ØVELOKALE
ALBERT BONNIERS FÖRLAG MERETE PRYDS HELLE FOLKETS SKØNHED JUSSI ADLER-OLSEN OG HUN TAKKEDE GUDERNE MADS PEDER NORDBO PIGEN UDEN HUD BOG 2 JOSEFINE KLOUGART NEW FOREST
VULKAN JUSSI ADLER-OLSEN SELFIES
BAZAR SANNE BJERG FEJLTAGELSERNES BOG
SLOVENIA
CHROMATA MORTEN CHEMNITZ INDEN APRIL
IKAR MADS PEDER NORDBO PIGEN UDEN HUD
SPAIN ANAGRAMA DORTHE NORS SPEJL, SKULDER, BLINK KANTSLAG DESTINO THOMAS RYDAHL DE SAVNEDE
HISTORISKA MEDIA IDA JESSEN EN NY TID DR. BAGGES ANAGRAMMER KARNEVAL PETER ØVIG KNUDSEN BLEKINGEGADEBANDEN 1-2
NATUR OCH KULTUR TOVE DITLEVSEN GIFT NORSTEDTS SUZANNE BRØGGER KORAL
TURKEY DOGAN KITAP LONE THEILS PIGERNE FRA ENGLANDSBÅDEN PALTO KIM LEINE PROFETERNE I EVIGHEDSFJORDEN
UK DEDALUS LIMITED WILLIAM HEINESEN DEN SORTE GRYDE LITTLE, BROWN BOOK GROUP NIVIAQ KORNELIUSSEN HOMO SAPIENNE
LEOPARD NIVIAQ KORNELIUSSEN HOMO SAPIENNE
USA ATLANTIC GROVE NIVIAQ KORNELIUSSEN HOMO SAPIENNE SKYHORSE STEFFEN JACOBSEN GENGÆLDELSEN SPUYTEN DUYVIL CECIL BØDKER VANDGÅRDEN
FILM RIGHTS
DENMARK M & M PRODUCTIONS JULIE BADURA DE DAGE MED DIG
NIVIAQ KORNELIUSSEN Homo Sapienne
Originally written in Greenlandic, HOMO SAPIENNE was nominated for the Politiken Literature Award as well as the Nordic Council Literature Award in 2015. Profiled in The New Yorker in January, 2017, Niviaq’s novel follows the lives of five young people in the ‘little big city’ of Nuuk, as they contront their identity and sexuality in modern-day Greenland. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Milik Publishing, Lene Therkildsen, forlag@milik.gl SOLD TO: Austria/Zaglossus, Canada (French)/La Peuplade, Czech Republic/Argo Publishers Norway/Cappelen Damm, Sweden/Leopard, UK/Little, Brown, USA/Atlantic Grove
21
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE
NONFICTION
BRAZIL EDITORA LETRAMENTO MEIK WIKING LYKKEN UNDER LUP NC EDITORA LTDA. SVEND BRINKMANN STÅ FAST
CZECH REPUBLIC GRADA PUBLISHING CAROLINE FIBÆK HORMONEL HARMONI
CHINA
HERDER JESPER JUUL DAGENS MAND OG FAR
INDONESIA RENEBOOK BØTTER & KOLIND UNBOSS
JAPAN SHOBUNSHA MEIK WIKING LYKKEN UNDER LUP
KOREA DASAN BOOKS SVEND BRINKMANN STÅSTEDER EPUBLIC MEIK WIKING LYKKEN UNDER LUP
YEEYAN MEIK WIKING LYKKEN UNDER LUP
SOAP MALENE ABILDGAARD & JULIE DEFOUR BYG, TEGN OG LÆR
FRANCE
NETHERLANDS
HACHETTE LIVRE, MARABOUT JESPER JUUL LIVET I FAMILIEN FAT DET NU FORÆLDRE!
XANDER UITG CHRISTIAN FROST ROLEX
GERMANY BELTZ JESPER JUUL SMIL VI SKAL SPISE ANETTE PREHN HJERNESMARTE BØRN DROEMER KNAUR SVEND BRINKMANN STÅ FAST FRECH VERLAG ARNESEN & WIVEL FLETNINGER
NORWAY CAPPELEN DAMM ANETTE PREHN HJERNESMARTE BØRN KATRINE BIRK TRYK OG GLAD GYLDENDAL NORSK SCHILLING & VØLVER HÅNDBOG FOR HALVGAMLE MÆND 2 ANJA TAKACS PERLEDYR JMS SIMONE THORUP ERIKSEN DIN BARNDOM
POLAND
TURKEY
MIND DARIUSZ SYSKA JESPER JUUL DAGENS MAND OG FAR SMIL VI SKAL SPISE LIVET I FAMILIEN DIT KOMPETENTE BARN
ARTI FARMA YAYINLARI MEIK WIKING LYKKEN UNDER LUP
WYDAWNICTWO PETER HØEG & JESPER JUUL EMPATI SVEND BRINKMANN STÅ FAST
ROMANIA EDITURA UNIVERS JESPER JUUL DIT KOMPETENTE BARN
RUSSIA ALPINA PUBLISHER SVEND BRINKMANN STÅ FAST
SERBIA
KALEM/GÜN YAYINCILIK JESPER JUUL KUNSTEN AT SIGE NEJ
UK POLITY SVEND BRINKMANN GÅ GLIP
USA IPI PRESS ANNE SOFIE HARDENBERG & PIA CHRISTENSEN BANG KAMPEN FOR EN FAR
WORLD RIGHTS RANDOM HOUSE PERNILLE TEISBÆK DRESS SCANDINAVIAN
LAGUNA JESPER JUUL AGGRESSION LIVET I FAMILIEN
SLOVENIA DIDAKTA PUBLISHING HOUSE PETER HØEG & JESPER JUUL EMPATI
SWEDEN LIBER AB JESPER JUUL PÆDAGOGISK RELATIONSKOMPETENCE RABEN & SJÖGREN ARNESEN & WIVEL FLETTEPIGERNES FAVORITTER ANJA TAKACS PERLEDYR
CHILDREN´S BOOKS
ARABIC DHIP / TAMER INSTITUTE MORTEN DÜRR ZENOBIA
AUSTRALIA / NEW ZEALAND THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW ZEALAND PRESS MORTEN DÜRR ZENOBIA
ANETTE PREHN
Hjernesmarte Børn – styrk dit barns hjerne for livet (og bliv selv klogere) (Brainsmart Parenting – strengthen your child’s brain for life (and improve your own IQ)
Get smarter about how the brain works, so that you can help your child get better at learning. As a parent herself, Anette Prehn uses humor and compassion, to explain to parents how the brain works, and what kind of logic will stop your child from becoming your biggest opponent. Anette Prehn is the director of Centre for Brain-Based Leadership and Learning. FOREIGN RIGHTS: People Group Agency, Louise Langhoff Koch, louise.langhoff@peoplespress.dk SOLD TO: Germany/Beltz, Norway/Cappelen Damm, Sweden/Natur och Kultur
22
RECENTLY SOLD MORTEN DÜRR Zenobia (Zenobia)
A short, poignant tale about the consequences of war, told with very little text and bold striking pictures. A large wave hits the boat carrying Amina, and she is thrown overboard. In the cold water her mind wanders, back to her life with her parents in Syria and the stories about Zenobia, the Warrior Queen from ancient Syria. “If Zenobia could…so can you!” Zenobia is the story Amina, and her flight from war. The author was recently nominated for the Orla Prize. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Morten Dürr & Lars Horneman, mortendurr@me.com SOLD TO: Arabic/Tamer Institute, Australia/New Zealand/The University of New Zealand Press, Croatia/Sandorf, France/Editions Marabout, Iceland/Bókadeild, Korea/Jiyangsa, Norway/ Fontini, Spain/Barbara Fiore Editora, Sweden/Nypon Forlag, USA/Seven Stories Press
BELGIUM
FAROE ISLANDS
MEXICO
SPAIN
LANNOO LENE KAABERBØL VILDHEKS 5
BÓKADEILD KATRINE MARIE GULDAGER FRANTZ BLIVER HELT STILLE ÆRMELINA VIL IKKE SIGE NOGET MORTEN DÜRR ZENOBIA
LEETRA FINAL SØREN LIND & HANNE BARTHOLIN HISTORIEN OM DIG
BARBARA FIORE EDITORA MORTEN DÜRR ZENOBIA
BFL ANDERS JOHANSEN HULLET
MIDDERNACHT PERS SØREN LIND & HANNE BARTHOLIN HISTORIEN OM DIG
CHILE EDEBÉ JACOB RIEWE & PETER BAY ALEXANDERSEN MIN Ø JØRGEN STAMP SKRID, SIGURD RÆSERANDEN OTTO OG KUFFERTEN LOM EDICIONES IILJA SCHERFIG & OTTO DICKMEISS FARFAR BIRDE POULSEN FRØ OG SKYGGE
CROATIA SANDORF MORTEN DÜRR ZENOBIA
CZECH REPUBLIC ALBATROS MEDIA LENE KAABERBØL SKAMMEREN 1 VILDHEKS 1-3
FRANCE EDITIONS MARABOUT MORTEN DÜRR ZENOBIA
GERMANY DRESSLER VERLAG KRISTINA AAMAND FOR ENDEN AF DIN PEGEFINGER
ICELAND UGLA MALENE SØLVSTEN RAVENENES HVISKEN 1, 2 OG 3
NETHERLANDS KOREA HUYN BOOKS SØREN LIND & HANNE BARTHOLIN HISTORIEN OM ALTING JIYANGSA MORTEN DÜRR ZENOBIA
NORWAY LILLE FORLAG METTE FINDERUP & ILL. ANNETTE CARLSEN LASSE-LEIF SERIEN
SWEDEN NYPON FORLAG KÅRE BLUITGEN SJALEN TØRKLÆDET KIM FUPZ AAKESON & RASMUS MOGENS OG MAHDI KIM DALSGAARD ALF OG HAJEN ALF PÅ RUMTUR
TURKEY BEYAZ BALINA MERLIN MANN TAYNIKMA BD 1-16
UKRAINE NEBO BOOKLAB PUBLISHING LENE KAABERØL VILDHEKS 1-2
USA SEVEN STORIES PRESS MORTEN DÜRR ZENOBIA
SØREN LIND & HANNE BARTHOLIN HISTORIEN OM DIG (The Book About You)
A philosophical little picture book, for everyone from three years old to 100. Before you were a little baby, you were no larger than a dot in your mother’s stomach, and before you were a dot, you were just an idea. Somebody thought it would be fantastic to have someone like you in the world. This is the third book in the trilogy, that began with the book, Historien om absolut ingenting (The Story about Absolutely Nothing) (2012). FOREIGN RIGHTS: ABC Forlag, info@abc-forlag.dk SOLD TO: Mexico/Leetra Final, Netherlands/Middernacht Pers
23
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE
Peter Adolphsen’s speculative fiction novel follows the spread of a strange sexual fervor in Copenhagen, as the population is infected by an alien organism. Both a strange fable, and at the same time an entirely logical fantasy, Rynkekneppesygen (M.I.W.D) is thrilling, entertaining, and eerily plausible.
Some may refer to your novel as ‘science porn’, or ‘soft sci-fi’. These genres imply that there is a pornographic element to it, but was that your intention? No, it’s not a pornographic novel. I read once that a pornographic image or text can be rated according to its P-value (Porn Value), which can be very easily measured: it is the ability of said image or text to increase blood flow to the genitals. The P-value of my book is quite low. It’s easy to write porn, but very difficult to write about sex, and not be involuntarily ridiculous. It’s been about 25 years since I started writing, and I guess by now I’m ready to do what I consider the most difficult thing in literature, which is to write about sex.
Some of your previous works have been experimental. How have you experimented this time? I have a childish joy in short-circuiting basic symbols, and in the reversal of archetypes in our culture. The whole framework of the book is based on that of a Hollywood script, and exploits all these theories about how to construct a story, but what happens is that I kill off my main character at the end of the first act: so, I fail spectacularly. As Westerners, we are very trained in decoding Aristotle’s three-act structure. I find it interesting to use this preexisting framework.
Your descriptions are wonderfully detailed in biological terms, at times almost clinical. How do science and fiction work together for you as a writer? I’ve always liked science. Quantum physics, for example, is so weird! I like reality in the sense that it’s very freakish, and as a writer of fiction I can use that. The basic idea of my book is so strange, that in order to achieve the famous ‘suspension of disbelief’, I have to sort of sneak past the reader, disguising it with real, hard facts. On the one hand, the story takes place in Copenhagen, and everything is very real, and on the other, there’s an alien from space. There’s a cast list in order of appearance, and it’s set in first, second, and third acts. There’s so much that indicates that this is a work of art, and if I can do all of this, and still get away with it, then the reward is even bigger for me as a writer.
AN ADULT 24
PHOTO: ISAK HOFFMEYER
INTERVIEW – PETER ADOLPHSEN
One critic has described your previous writing as, ‘hyper-realism with a touch of Robinson Crusoe’. How would you position yourself as a writer? In the past what I’ve written could be categorized not as fantasy but more in the fantastic vein, like Borges. I like the idea aspect. I’m a fan of César Aira, Georges Perec, Philip K. Dick, and most recently Kazuo Ishiguru’s The Buried Giant. These writers all have great ideas, first and foremost, and they write well. I’m already onto my next project. I would also like to tackle the fantasy genre somehow, and tie it up once and for all.
EPIDEMIC
25
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE
INTERVIEW – PETER ADOLPHSEN
‘
An alien, curled up in a cryptobiotic slumber, floated through the universe carried by the solar wind of tens of thousands of stars. It was a microscopic animal, 0.1 millimeters long, semitransparent, a kind of teddybear-like woodlouse with a head on either end. One day in May in the year 2019, it got caught in Earth’s gravitational field and fell onto its surface, more precisely onto the midriff of a young woman by the name of Winnifred (people just called her Winnie) Hemmingsen, who was lying in the morning sun on the southwestern point of Amager near Copenhagen. The alien trundled down her bellybutton and in the dark recesses of this sweaty and slightly hairy cave, it found conditions reminiscent of its distant home planet. It awoke from hibernation, unfurled itself, and stuck its two sharp tongues into her skin. Shortly after, when Winnie turned on her side and reached for the thermos she had brought along, it was already too late: Until her death two short months later, these tiny creatures bred on her bare skin and, as a consequence, made her exponentially more wrinkly and more horny with each passing day. Winnie Hemmingsen was the first victim claimed by what would officially be called ‘M.I.W.D.’, that is the Mite Induced Wrinkle Disease, but colloquially would come to be known as the ‘wrinkly fuck disease’.
EXCERPT FROM THE NOVEL’S PROLOGUE Translated by Sophia Hersi Smith
PETER ADOLPHSEN, born in 1972, attended the Danish Academy of Creative Writing from 1993-95, where he later also taught in 2008-2010. At 24, he made his debut with Små Historier (Small Stories). In 2003, he published Brummstein (Brummstein), and the same year, received the Danish Arts Foundation’s 3-year stipend. In 2006 he published Machine (Machine), followed by an experimental piece, En million historier (A Million Stories). In
26
collaboration with Ejler Nyhavn, he published a book of verse in 2009 titled Katalognien (Katalognien) and in 2013, a science fiction novel, titled År 9 efter Loopet (Nine Years After the Loop). He has been nominated for the Montana Literary Prize, the Danish Critics’ Prize, and the Impac Award, and most recently in 2014, he was awarded the Niels Klim Prize. Adolphsen is profiled this year at the Louisiana Literary Festival.
PETER ADOLPHSEN
Rynkekneppesygen (M.I.W.D.) Gyldendal, August 2017, 248 pages FOREIGN RIGHTS: Copenhagen Literary Agency, Monica Gram, monica@cphla.dk PREVIOUS TITLES SOLD TO: Denmark/ Samleren, Germany/Carl Hanser Verlag/Nagel & Kimche, France/Gaïa, Isreal/Simtaot Books, Italy/Fazi, Netherlands/Cossee, Norway/ Tiden Norsk Forlag, Serbia/VBZ Beograd, Spain/Lengua de Trapo, Sweden/Alfabeta, USA/MacAdam/Cage, WER/ Harvill Secker/ Amazon Crossing
CALENDAR OF PRIZES There are many factors involved when publishers decide to acquire a foreign title, and prizes can sometimes play a significant role in terms of the type of book or market they represent and how they are selected. The Nordic Council Prize, the August Prize in Sweden, and the Brage in Norway are among the most recognized prizes in Scandinavia. Here, Danish Literary Magazine offers an overview of awards given to Danish authors (not including prizes for children’s literature).
JANUARY
MARCH
MONTANA LITERARY PRIZE (MONTANAS LITTERATURPRIS)
WEEKENDAVISEN’S LITERATURE PRIZE (WEEKENDAVISENS LITTERATURPRIS)
THE GOLDEN LAUREL/ THE BOOKSELLERS’ AWARD (DE GYLDNE LAURBÆR)
PREVIOUS WINNERS: Vibeke Grønfeldt, Dorrit Willumsen, Christina Hagen The jury seeks alternative stories from a wide spectrum of genres, of the highest literary quality. The award is 100,000 DKK.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: Flemming Rose, Pia Fris Laneth, Tom Buk-Swienty Nominees are selected by book reviewers, and the newspapers’ readers vote for the winner. The prize is 100,000 DKK.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: Merete Pryds Helle, Jesper Stein, Sara Blædel The award voted for by all Danish bookshops. The winner is usually one of the bestsellers among Danish books.
THE BEATRICE PRIZE (BEATRICE PRISEN)
POLITIKEN’S LITERATURE PRIZE (POLITIKENS LITTERATURPRIS)
PREVIOUS WINNERS: Sidsel Falsig Pedersen, Laus Strandby Nielsen, Lone Hørslev The prize is awarded annually by the Danish Academy to a literary author, either for poetry or prose. The award is 50,000 DKK.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: Merete Pryds Helle, Maria Gerhardt, Jens Andersen Nominees are selected by book reviewers, and the newspapers’ readers vote for the winner. The prize is 200,000 DKK.
27
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE
APRIL
MAY
THE DANISH CRITICS PRIZE FOR LITERATURE (KRITIKERPRISEN)
THE GLASS KEY (GLASNØGLEN) – SCANDINAVIAN CRIME AWARD
THE BLIXEN LITERARY AWARD (BLIXENPRISEN)
PREVIOUS WINNERS: Rasmus Nikolajsen, Ursula Andkjær Olsen, Harald Voetmann Selected by members of the Danish Literature Critics Association. A prize of 30,000 DKK.
PREVIOUS DANISH WINNERS: Ane Riel, Thomas Rydahl, Erik Valeur The best Nordic crime from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: Iben Mondrup, Ida Jessen, Kamilla Hega Holst Created in 2015 by the two Danish authors’ societies, the Blixen Award honors 14 different categories within the industry, in addition to the Literary Novel Award of 100,000 DKK.
Albert Bonniers Förlag in Sweden acquired Folket’s Skønhed (Human Beauty), and Daniel Sandström, Literary Director, describes the many factors that led to the acquisition: “the fact that it won not only The Golden Laurel but also the Politiken’s Literature Prize, said something; the fact that it was a novel that had received a lot of praise from reviewers but was also reaching out to readers was equally important to me. We received the book from literary agent Nya Guldberg, and after that we had good readings of the novel, and then things began to fall into place: I started to see why this book was a phenomenal success in Denmark.”
Denmark, and as such it is a much needed correction to the sunny myths of the progressive and rational welfare state that defined 20thcentury Scandinavia. To a Swede, it feels both exotic and familiar.”
Albert Bonniers Förlag on Folket’s Skønhed (Human Beauty) / Winner of the 2016 Golden Laurel and Politiken’s Literature Prize
“To me, Folkets Skønhed is an epic story of modernity, of family, and the price an individual must pay when subjecting herself to the demands of society and of others. It covers much of the same ground as Elena Ferrante, but with a significant Scandinavian feel to it – it is a brutal and heartfelt novel that makes you aware of the untold lives in modern
28
Set in mid-twentieth century Scandinavia, Folkets skønhed is a sweeping family saga seen from the perspective of a young girl called Marie. Marie grows up in rural poverty on the small island of Langeland. Her childhood is marred by violence and incest, her youth interrupted by WWII. Despite the hardship of her surroundings, Marie is a sensitive girl with a hunger for beauty, and when her father buys a painting that turns out to be by van Gogh, it opens a window for her into a better world. Albert Bonniers Förlag publish almost 100 titles a year. They are also the publisher of Granta Sweden. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Lindhardt og Ringhof, Nya Guldberg, nya.guldberg@lrforlag.dk SOLD TO: Iceland/Forlagíd, Sweden/Albert Bonniers Förlag
CALENDAR OF PRIZES
JUNE
NOVEMBER
DANISH RADIO BROADCASTING CORPORATION’S NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD (DR ROMANPRISEN)
THE DEBUTANT PRIZE (DEBUTANTPRISEN)
Two other book prizes include the Zinklar Prize (short stories), this year won by Pia Juul, and the Isak Dinesen prize for an author and their portrayal of a character of the opposite sex. This year’s winner was Jens Christian Grøndahl, for his Tit er jeg glad (I’m Often Happy).
PREVIOUS WINNERS: Christina Hesselholdt, Ida Jessen, Iben Mondrup In collaboration with Danish Radio, nominees are voted for by 54 book clubs from across the country, and the winner is chosen by a selected jury. The award is 25,000 DKK.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: Niels Henning Falk Jensby, Morten Pape, Yahya Hassan Awarded to a debut fiction author and presented at Bogforum, Copenhagen’s Book Fair. The winner is chosen by a jury from the publishing industry. The award is 50,000 DKK.
Hayakawa Publishing Corporation on Harpiks (Resin) / Winner of The Glass Key 2016
Tokyo based Hayakawa Publishing Corporation, one of the leading publishers in Japan, specialize in foreign non-fiction and fiction, with a list that includes authors such as Thomas Rydahl, Stieg Larsson, Jussi Adler-Olsen, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Stephen W. Hawking. Over the years, they have acquired several Glass Key winners, most recently in 2016, Ane Riel’s Harpiks (Resin). Hiroshi Hayakawa, president and Chief Executive Officer at Hayakawa, says that for Japanese mystery fans, the Glass Key award has come to signify a mark of quality, and that the award attracts a certain number of readers, especially those who are fans of Scandinavian mystery fiction.
emotion, and we think the novel will appeal to both mystery readers and literary fiction fans alike.” Hiroshi Hayakawa is the recipient of 1998 Ellery Queen Award presented by the Mystery Writers of America, for his longtime contribution to the mystery publishing industry.
In his search for new Scandinavian fiction, he says he is particularly interested in “the shadowy side of welfare-oriented, modern day utopian societies as in Denmark or other Scandinavian nations.” He chose to acquire Harpiks he says, “because it is a beautifully written novel, full of heart wrenching
Harpiks is the story of carpenter Jens Haarder, who lives an isolated life on a little, pine-covered island with his family. Haarder’s life doesn’t unfold has planned though, as loss upon loss gradually breaks him. His mania for collecting becomes increasingly obsessive and grotesque, and his daughter Liv must fervently struggle to free herself from her father’s view of the world.
FOREIGN RIGHTS: Copenhagen Literary Agency, Esthi Kunz, esthi@cphla.dk SOLD TO: Czech Republic/Knihy Dobrovský, Estonia/Eesti Raamat, Finland/Aula & Co., Germany/ btb/Random House, Japan/ Hayakawa, Norway/Aschehoug (at auction), Slovakia/Premedia, Sweden/Modernista
29
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE
SUPPORT SCHEMES THE DANISH ARTS FOUNDATION’S COMMITTEE FOR LITERARY PROJECT FUNDING WORKS TO PROMOTE DANISH LITERATURE AT HOME AND ABROAD AND HELPS FACILITATE LITERARY EXCHANGE PROJECTS BETWEEN DENMARK AND OTHER COUNTRIES.
INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH PROGRAMME Support may be provided to foreign publishers, heads of festivals and the like who want to acquire an insight into contemporary Danish literature and visit Danish publishers, festivals etc., to strengthen networks and dialogue between the Danish and international literary partners. There is no application deadline, and applications will be processed as quickly as practicable.
SAMPLE TRANSLATION FUND Foreign translators, theatres, and publishers may apply for support to finance sample translations of Danish literature. There is no application deadline, and applications will be processed as quickly as practicable.
TRANSLATION FUND
APPLICATION GUIDELINES, DEADLINES AND ELECTRONIC APPLICATION FORMS MAY BE OBTAINED AT DANISHARTS.DK
CONTACT:
THE DANISH ARTS FOUNDATION’S COMMITTEE FOR LITERARY PROJECT FUNDING LITT@SLKS.DK WWW.DANISHARTS.DK 30
Support is provided to foreign publishing houses and theatres that publish works translated from Danish. Support is provided for translation costs of fiction, non-fiction works of general cultural interest, comics/graphic novels, children’s and YA literature and theatre plays translated by professionals. Support is also provided for production costs in relation to illustrated works. There are two annual application deadlines.
NORDIC TRANSLATION FUND: INTER-NORDIC TRANSLATIONS The fund is open to Nordic publishers wishing to publish a work translated from Danish to a Nordic language. Support for translations into Danish must be sought from within the country in which
SUPPORT SCHEMES
SAMPLE TRANSLATION FUND
INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH PROGRAMME
TRANSLATION FUND
THE DANISH ARTS FOUNDATION SUPPORT SCHEMES
DANISH LITERATURE ABROAD
the respective work was originally published. The funds for Nordic translations are distributed on behalf of Nordic Culture Point’s Culture and Art Programme under the Nordic Council of Ministers. Internordic production grants can be applied for under the fund for Translation and Production. There are three annual application deadlines.
NORDIC TRANSLATION FUND
LITERARY EXCHANGE FUND
translators of Danish literature in connection with residencies in Denmark. There is no application deadline, but trips must not have started at the time the application is made. Applications will be processed as quickly as practicable within a month.
DANISH LITERATURE ABROAD LITERARY EXCHANGE FUND Support may be provided to defray travel expense in connection with a Danish author’s / illustrator’s participation in literary festivals, readings and publication events abroad, if there is a formal invitation to promote a publication. Support may be provided to foreign authors travelling to Denmark on the same basis. In addition travel grants can also be awarded translators of Danish literature to a meeting with the Danish author. Danish authors and illustrators can apply for travel costs in connection with residencies abroad and
Subsidies for literary events and marketing Danish literature abroad. Applications for subsidies are accepted from foreign publishers, diplomatic representations abroad, cultural institutions and others who wish to promote and increase knowledge about Danish literature outside Denmark. Applications are processed as quickly as possible within four weeks. Projects with a budget of more than 25,000 DKK must expect a longer processing time of approximately three months from the time of application.
31
THE DANISH ARTS FOUNDATION WORKS TO PROMOTE ART IN DENMARK AND DANISH ART ABROAD. THE DANISH AGENCY FOR CULTURE AND PALACES IS THE ADMINSTRATIVE ARM OF THE DANISH ARTS FOUNDATION. www.danisharts.dk
MORE LITERARY NEWS FROM DENMARK
ORGANISATIONS DANISH WRITERS OF FICTION AND POETRY
THE DANISH WRITERS ASSOCIATION
was founded in 1991 and has approximately 200 members.
is Denmark’s oldest professional association for writers and translators. It was founded in 1894 and has approximately 1350 members. The association includes the Danish Translators Association. df@danskforfatterforening.dk / www.danskforfatterforening.dk
kontor@skoenlit.dk / www.skoenlit.dk
THE DANISH PLAYWRIGHTS’ AND SCREENWRITERS’ GUILD (founded in 1906) is an association for theatre, radio, television and film scriptwriters. It has approximately 300 members. admin@dramatiker.dk / www.dramatiker.dk
THE DANISH BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION is a trade association for Danish booksellers. The association has approximately 380 members and represents 90 % of all Danish booksellers. ddb@bogpost.dk / www.boghandlerforeningen.dk
THE DANISH PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION (founded in 1837) is a trade association for individuals and firms involved in the publishing industry. The association accounts for approximately two-thirds of the overall turnover from Danish publications, including multimedia. danskeforlag@danskeforlag.dk / www.danskeforlag.dk
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY Danish Arts Foundation’s Committee for Literary Project Funding
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
TEXT AND INTERVIEW
CONTACT US
Annette Bach aba@slks.dk
Solvej Todd
Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces / Literature H.C. Andersens Boulevard 2 1553 Copenhagen V Denmark Tel. +45 3373 3373 litt@slks.dk
DESIGN EDITORS
NR2154
Marie Starup msta@slks.dk Søren Beltoft sbe@slks.dk
Cassie Matias on Unsplash
COVER IMAGE
PRINT Green Graphic
DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY THE DANISH ARTS FOUNDATION’S COMMITTEE FOR LITERARY PROJECT FUNDING. THE MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED TWICE A YEAR. DANI SHARTS.DK
MORE LITERARY NEWS FROM DENMARK
SUBSCRIBE TO DANISH LITERARY NEWSLETTER ON DANISHLITERARYMAGAZINE.DK