Danish Literary Magazine by Slots- og Kulturstyrelsen

DANISH ARTS COUNCIL

DANISH LITER ARY MAGA ZINE SPRING

2013

The main aim of the magazine is to inform foreign publishers, literary agents and translators about trends in Danish literature and publicise sources of literature funding available from The Danish Arts Council. For details about the work of the Danish Arts Council please visit www.danisharts.dk & www.kunst.dk

TEXT & TRANSLATION All articles in this edition are written by Lotte Kirkeby Hansen, a journalist with an M.A. in literature. The articles are translated by Barbara Haveland.

COVER illustration Helle Vibeke Jensen (born 09.09.1960) is a Danish illustrator and designer who took a degree in fashion design from the Danish Design School in 1988. Her work includes picture books, illustrated books, educational material, posters, rugs and designs for both indoor and outdoor exhibitions. In 2004 she was awarded the Danish Ministry of Culture’s Illustrator Prize for the picture book HØR HER STÆR! (LISTEN STARLING!), written by Louis Jensen. And in 2011 she received the Danish Arts Foundation’s three-year working scholarship. Helle Vibeke Jensen employs collage techniques, drawings and photography and picks up ideas for her work on her travels and in workshops held all over the world. See www.hebiinu.com and hellevibekejensen.dk

Danish Literary Magazine is Published by The Danish Arts Council’s Comittee for Literature www.kunst.dk

Editor-in-Chief Annette Bach aba@kulturstyrelsen.dk

Editor Lars Sidenius lsi@kulturstyrelsen.dk

Editorial Assistant Søren Beltoft sbe@kulturstyrelsen.dk

Design NR2154

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Contact us Kulturstyrelsen / Literature H.C. Andersens Boulevard 2, 1553 Copenhagen V, Denmark Tel. +45 3373 3373, litteratur@kunst.dk

Contents p. 4

NEWS FROM DENMARK p. 8

SØREN AABYE KIERKEGAARD p. 12

BOOKS IN BRIEF p. 18

Suzanne brøgger p. 20

Erling Jepsen p. 22

RECENTLY SOLD p. 30

Morten Søndergaard p. 32

Classics in new garb p.38

AWARDS p. 42

SUPPORT SCHEMES p.44

ORGANISATIONS

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

NEWS DENM

Fiction

Everyday dramas and families – particularly of the dysfunctional variety – feature largely in this spring’s crop of new fiction. The Danish family from the 1950s in

Suzanne Brøgger’s novel Til T (To T) can’t so much as manage to go for a picnic in the woods or serve tea for Granma and Grandpa when they come round, and the roles of parents and children are totally reversed in a book which is as much a cultural critique as it is a family drama (see also p. 18).

Erling Jepsen 4

too tackles family secrets, repressed feelings and parental ineptitude in Min sønderjyske farm (Out of Jutland), the story of young Allan, who breeds rabbits and struggles to come to terms with his parentage – not least on the paternal side (see also p. 20). The family theme is also taken lovingly in hand by

Katrine Marie Guldager in Den ny tid (The New Age), the third volume in her chronicle of several generations of a family from the Danish provincial town of Køge. Guldager’s trilogy began with the novel Ulven (The Wolf) and continued with Lille hjerte (Little Heart) which was acclaimed by one ecstatic critic as ‘something quite unique in modern Danish literature”.

Dennis Gade Kofod puts a twist on the classic kitchen sink drama in his novel Genfærd (Ghost) by taking his grieving central character into the realms of magic and the absurd: Frederik checks in to a hotel – a place with a strange and mysterious air about it, fraught with bewildering secrets and baffling family relationships. Minna, the woman in

Dorthe Nors’s romantic (tragi-)comedy Minna mangler et øvelokale (Minna Needs a Rehearsal Room) also finds life pretty bewildering. Here we are introduced to a woman who is trying to get back on her feet and reconcile herself to

NEWS FROM DENMARK

FROM MARK the things she feels are missing in her life – such as a rehearsal room in which to compose her paper sonatas in peace, a child (but her boyfriend just broke up with her) and, generally speaking, a reason for living. Poet

Niels Frank makes his fictional debut with Nellies bog (Nellie’s Book), an account of a family visit to the United States in which he describes the things his fictional character Nellie experiences along the way in a mixture of modern and antiquated language, of Danish, American and dialect.

Svend Aage Madsen

experiments with style and form in his latest novel Pigen i cementblanderen (The Girl in the Cement Mixer), in which a small town in the Danish provinces provides the setting for a mysterious suicide, a murky family history and a succession of crimes, some past, some present and some invented – elements used in these stories to explore the question of when a crime is really a crime. There is no shortage of crimes – of a clearer, more tangible sort – in

Simon Pasternak’s Dødszoner (Death Zones), set in White Russia in July 1943, at the time of the German massacre of civilians there. Two boyhood friends, Manfred and Heinrich, are serving with the German army. Manfred thrives in the moral

morass, while Heinrich finds it harder to steer a course through the Nazi system and still maintain his reason and his honour. Both of them become caught up in the investigation of the murder of SS General Felix Steiner, Manfred’s mentor; and Heinrich embarks on a journey into the dark heart of an impenetrable moral wasteland. Simon Pasternak has previously, together with his fellow author Christian Dorph, written three crime thrillers – Om et øjeblik i himlen (In a Moment in Heaven), Afgrundens rand (Edge of the Abyss) and Jeg er ikke her (I’m Not Here).

Crime fiction Although malicious tongues would have it that the crime wave is starting to subside, there is no lack of new crime novels on the Danish market.

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

Leif Davidsen

Steffen Jacobsen

has won a host of prizes for his thrillers and since 1984, when his first novel appeared, his books have been translated into fifteen languages. Now comes a new thriller from Davidsen’s hand, Patriarkens hændelige død (The Accidental Death of the Patriarch). The novel is set in Russia, in Putin’s own, very unique, version of a democracy. In Moscow two deaths occur on the same day: the Patriarch of all Russia passes away peacefully in his sleep and shortly afterwards a Dane, Gabriel Lassen, is beaten to death in a back court. On the surface there is no connection between these two deaths – but back in Denmark Gabriel’s twin brother comes by information that seems to point the other way. The action in

Trofæ (Trophy), which follows the fortunes of Elizabeth Caspersen, the wealthy Danish heiress to a worldwide industrial empire. In her late father’s safe Elizabeth finds a DVD of a cynical, well-organised manhunt which culminates in the death of a young man. She hires an ex-soldier to identify both victim and executioner, only for him also to become embroiled in a manhunt – one in which he ends up as the prey. In the new novel from

Morten Hesseldahl’s latest crime novel, his fourth, also takes place in a number of different countries. In En tid til at dø (A Time to Die) a disgraced Danish army chaplain comes home from the war in Afghanistan to a half empty bedsit, an uncertain future and, not least, to his brother, who has his life all mapped out. He also has distinctly shady plans, though, of intervening in a crisis in the Central African country of Abu Sidre. The former chaplain becomes caught up in this game of intrigue, much against his will, when his brother disappears and a blonde assassin shows up on a remote Danish island. There is a fourth novel too from

Robert Zola Christensen it is the central character, scientist Theis, whose is dispatched on a hunt. Is i blodet (Ice in the Blood) is a scientific crime novel which depicts the in-fighting between researchers in Greenland and Alaska, where Theis is faced with the mass death of the entire crew of a Greenland research and a missing girlfriend whom he absolutely has to find. Newcomer

Jakob Melander on the other hand, stays within the bounds of Denmark in Øjesten (The House that Jack Built). Melander achieved the distinction of having this, his first novel, sold to several countries even before it appeared in Denmark. Øjesten is a critically acclaimed crime novel from the streets of Copenhagen, where a macabre murder shocks the whole city. This killing, later to become known as the Sandman case, proves

to be linked to events that took place during the Second World War. Øjesten is the first volume in a projected series featuring Detective-Sergeant Lars Winkler (see also Recently Sold). Spring also sees the appearance of new titles on the historical crime front, including two new titles from

Martin Jensen namely volumes four and five in his series on Winston, Halfdan and Alfilda, snoops and henchmen to King Canute. These latest two books in Jensen’s series set in England during Viking times are entitled Den tredje mønt (The Third Coin) and Sværdets bid (Sword Edge). See also Books in Brief for more information on new Danish crime fiction.

Children’s books A number of Denmark’s best known and most respected writers of adult fiction have also turned their hands to children’s books, among them

Katrine Marie Guldager who has just published two new books in her series on Little Miss Fine – Frøken Fine skal til fødselsdag (Little Miss Fine Goes to a Birthday Party) and Frøken Fine har været på ferie (Little Miss Fine’s Holiday). Both of these concern her relationship with her best friend Bitte, which is not always quite the way Little Miss Fine would like it to be. These books are ideal for reading aloud or as early readers.

NEWS FROM DENMARK

Jens Christian Grøndahl has also written a children’s book, his very first, entitled Med bedstemor i tidens labyrinth (Travelling with Granny through the Maze of Time) (see also Books in Brief), while

Ida Jessen & Hanne Bartholin continues their successful collaboration with the fourth book in their picture-book series for the very young about Carl the elephant – Da Carl havde det sjovt (When Carl Had Fun). In the Carl books Jessen and Bartholin present stories of little everyday dramas as they are experienced by the young readers themselves. In this latest title Carl is home alone with his Dad. They are going to have a lovely day together, just the two of them, but first Dad has to do some work, read the paper, talk on the phone and do the shopping ... Ubiquitous, awardwinning author

Jakob Martin Strid

(see also Literary prizes in this issue) has also taken elephants as his subject, in his picture books about Mimbo Jimbo. In the latest title in this series – Mimbo Jumbo i Norge (Mimbo Jimbo in Norway) – the little blue elephant and his friend Mimbo Jumbo the hippo, go to visit a very nice little girl called Nina, who lives in Norway.

Renée Toft Simonsen has previously written books for older children, including the popular Karla series. Just out from her is a new book for the very small, Tiberius Tudefjæs laver muskler (Tiberius Cry-baby Muscle-builder) in which Tiberius runs into trouble at school when some of the big boys threaten to beat him up. But how is he to defend himself when he doesn’t have any muscles? Among this spring’s offerings for older readers we find PSSST!, a graphic novel for girls in their tweens which looks at the subject of identity from various angles: Who am I? Why am I the way I am? What do I want to do with my life? In twelve independent chapters

Annette Herzog & Katrine Clante

introduce the reader to twelve-year-old Viola and her thoughts and ideas on life, death, friends, family, loneliness, personal appearance and popularity. In the Young Adult category there is a stark and powerful first novel from

Conrad Fields In Minusmand (Minus Man) he tells the story of two friends, Tobias and Ali who find themselves one day on opposite sides in a violent conflict. In Minusmand Fields has written a tale about identity, friendship and love – and about an underclass that is seldom addressed in fiction. In Komatøs (Coma Chick), a novel for older teenagers,

Ronnie Andersen also gets to grips with the grimmer side of life. Fourteen-year-old Maj leads a nomadic existence with her mother, who has a serious drink problem. Maj is so sick and tired of her life that when she falls into ice-cold water she cannot find the strength to fight for it and ends up in a coma.

Suzanne Brøgger is published by Gyldendal. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency. Erling Jepsen is published by Gyldendal. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Leonhardt & Høier Literary Agency. Katrine Marie Guldager is published by Lindhardt og Ringhof. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Lindhardt og Ringhof. Dennis Gade Kofod is published by Rosinante. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency. Dorthe Nors is published by Rosinante. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency. Niels Frank is published by Gyldendal. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency. Svend Aage Madsen is published by Gyldendal. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency. Simon Pasternak is published by Gyldendal. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency. Leif Davidsen is published by Lindhardt og Ringhof. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Leonhardt & Høier Literary Agency. Morten Hesseldahl is published by Modtryk. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Leonhardt & Høier Literary Agency. Steffen Jakobsen is published by People’sPress. FOREIGN RIGHTS: People’sPress. Robert Zola Christensen is published by Gyldendal. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency. Jakob Melander is published by Rosinante. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency. Martin Jensen is published by Klim, FOREIGN RIGHTS: Klim. Katrine Marie Guldager (children’s books) is published by Carlsen. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Lindhardt og Ringhof. Jens Christian Grøndahl (children’s books) is published by Carlsen. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Lindhardt og Ringhof. Ida Jessen & Hanne Bartholin are published by Høst & Søn. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency. Renée Toft Simonsen is published by Politikens Forlag. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Politikens Forlag. Jakob Martin Strid is published by Gyldendal. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency.Annette Herzog & Katrine Clante are published by Høst & Søn. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency. Conrad Fields is published by Gyldendal. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency. Ronnie Andersen is published by Høst & Søn. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency.

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

Being human

May 5th 2013 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Danish theologian, philosopher and writer Søren Aabye Kierkegaard. The bicentennial will be celebrated all over the world, not least in Denmark where Siri Hustvedt, Slavoj Žižek and Gianni Vattimo will be among the speakers at a major international conference. 8

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard

“The Great thing is not to be This or That; but to be oneself, and this any Man can do, if he so wishes” Søren Kierkegaard, Enten-Eller (Either-Or)

What is a human being? And how does one become oneself? These are just a couple of the existential philosophical questions that occupied Søren Kierkegaard. According to him, to become who we are we have to actively do something. The responsibility rests with us. And the work of becoming the person we want to be should be done with passion. Kierkegaard tries to get us to think about who we are. He tries to show us what to do if we don’t like the individual we perceive, to save us from simply adopting the image of the person others think we should be. But this is a responsibility from which we tend to flee. Then as now. And it is, among other things, his way of wrestling with these problems that makes Søren Kierkegaard such a classic and eternally relevant thinker. In his writings he homes in on points that never cease to be topical, as can be seen from the interest in his work, which may not have had such a huge impact in his own day, but which has gradually built up a strong and stable following. Søren Kierkegaard’s philosophy of existence, which places the individual at the centre of things, has been the inspiration for much of modern European existentialist thinking – for Sartre, Camus, Heidegger, Adorno, Barth and Bultmann. Kierkegaard himself was influenced by the German idealists – Kant, Hegel and Schopenhauer – as well as by Plato, Socrates and the whole of the ancient school of idealism.

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard died on November 11th 1855. His was a short life, but one in which he managed to produce an impressive number of works, including Enten-Eller (Either-Or) (1843), Philosophiske Smuler (Philisophical Fragments) (1844), Begrebet Angest (The Concept of Anxiety) (1844), Kjerlighedens Gjerninger (Works of Love) (1847) and Sygdommen til Døden (The Sickness unto Death) (1849). Since 1994 Gads Forlag has been working with the Danish Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre on an edition of his collected works. This has now been completed – all fifty-five volumes of it – and the finished work will be presented to the University of Copenhagen as part of the bicentennial celebrations. Elsewhere in the world fresh shoots are also springing from the Kierkegaardian loam, with translations under way in the following languages: English, French, Dutch, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Latvian, Portugese, Rumanian, Spanish, Czech, German and Hungarian. The English, French and German projects are concentrating on the translation of all of Kierkegaard’s journals, notebooks and miscellaneous papers; the Spanish project is devoted to his published works; elsewhere it is a matter of translations of individual works.

Read more about the Danish Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre – which also holds translation seminars – at www. skc.dk, and about the national and international celebration of the Kierkegaard bicentennial at www.sk2013.ku.dk

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

“

I came by Regine Olsen’s letters only through a stroke of pure luck. No one, publically or in academic circles, knew they existed. But after a talk I had given on Søren Kierkegaard an elderly couple came up to me and asked if I was also interested in his one-time fiancée, Regine, because they had a bundle of letters belonging to her – correspondence between her and her sister Cornelia during the years 1855 to 1860, when Regine was living in the Danish West Indies with her husband. It is hard to underestimate exactly how much Regine meant to Kierkegaard. Her significance to his life and his work is far greater than first imagined. He dedicates his entire body of work to his father and to Regine, the person who really brings out the writer in him and the great inspiration for an untold number of his stories about love - both consummated and unconsummated. And it was Regine, not least, who gave him insight into the nature of erotic love. The bond between Kierkegaard and Regine was very close. Their fascinating love story is proof that Platonic love can be every bit as intense as sexual love. They were never able to break free of one another, even though they were only officially engaged for a year. Regine remains an engima in his life, one to which he continually returns, analyzing and interpreting it. He breaks off the engagement in 1841 and for the next fourteen years, until she leaves for the Danish West Indies, they do not speak. Although they meet often. They have their regular routes on which their paths wordlessly

cross. On the day of her departure Regine seeks out Kierkegaard in the street and blesses him: a moving scene in the heart of Copenhagen, in which the man of many words is speechless, in which the woman takes the initiative, in which the non-theologian blesses the theologian. Little attention is paid by scholars to Regine after the point when Kierkegaard breaks off their engagement, and hardly any at all from the time of his death, but she herself does not die until 1904, so she lives to see the modern world. Her letters have afforded me the unique opportunity to say something about her as an independent woman. What sort of person is she? What is going on in her mind? It surprised me to find her so open in her letters, although she had to choose her words very carefully since letters would have been passed round the whole family back then. She has often been presented as a pretty little china doll, a mere ornament, but her letters show her to be a reflective, amusing individual with her own range of emotions, her own dreams, opinions and riddles. Regines gåde (The Mystery of Regine) is a long meditation on the nature of love. On loving someone who is dead and gone, on being limited in the ways one can express one’s love. There is a passion and a spirit in these letters that has moved me; a search for an explanation, for answers to existential relationships, to one’s relationship with oneself, with God, with death and with this man Kierkegaard. In Regine’s letters we are presented with an individual of great sensibility and a refreshing streak of self-irony.

” A meditatio the nature o Joakim Garff, (born 1960), scholar and writer, has previously written the critically acclaimed biography of Søren Kierkegaard, SAK, which has been translated into a number of languages. See also Books in Brief.

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard

With the publication of his book Regines gåde (The Mystery of Regine) on Søren Kierkegaard’s erstwhile fiancée, Regine Olsen, Joakim Garff can now call himself the world’s only ‘reginologist’

n on of love

Books i DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

A Modern Robinsonade

Multi-narrative novel about the artistic temperament

A blackbird trills a liquid song and all the living creatures in the world fall into a trance. This is the starting point for the latest book from Peter Adolphsen, in which every human being and every animal is – so it seems – caught in the midst of whatever move they were making when the world came to a halt. Each one repeats this same action again and again, as if in a loop, all except Mark. He is one of the ‘survivors’ who does not loop and can do as he pleases: indulge himself, both materially and sexually. But he gradually grows bored with this and as time goes on he becomes more and more interested in what actually happened when the blackbird trilled its song and in finding other survivors. In År 9 efter Loopet (Year 9 After the Loop) Peter Adolphsen (born 1972) has written an off-beat, ultra-modern Robinsonade garnished with women, weapons and a sprinkling of quantum physics. Adolphsen made his literary debut in 1996 with the critically acclaimed Små historier (Small Stories) and followed this up in 2000 with Små historier 2 (Small Stories 2) and in 2007 with En million historier (A Million Stories). He has also published two novels, Brummstein (2003) and Machine (2006).

“A body of work that speaks of remarkable growth and development.” So wrote Weekendavisen’s reviewer in 2009 of Julia Butschkow’s novel Apropos Opa, and prophesied a sure and solid place for Butschkow on the literary heights. In her latest work, Aber dabei, she picks up the threads of her breakthrough novel in an account of mental illness and a fragile artistic temperament narrated by the various people associated with a senior consultant on a psychiatric unit in Copenhagen. The consultant cares for the sick while his wife stays home and dreams of writing. But she is short on subject matter. And so she is forever asking her husband about his patients –e.g. about the lawyer who talks nonstop and propositions both staff and fellow patients. Julia Butschkow (born 1978) published her first work, the poetry collection Lykkekomplex (The Happiness Complex), in 1997, but her real breakthrough came in 2009 with the novel Apropos Opa, which was nominated for the Danmarks Radio Fiction Prize. More recently she has published the collection of short stories Der er ingen bjerge i Danmark (There Are No Mountains in Denmark) (2011).

Peter Adolphsen

Julia Butschkow

År 9 efter Loopet (Year 9 After the Loop), Samleren 2013, 96 pp. Previous titles sold to: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States. Foreign rights: Leonhardt & Høier Literary Agency, Anneli Høier, anneli@leonhardt-hoier.dk

Aber Dabei, Samleren 2013, 170 pp. Previous titles sold to: The Netherlands, Norway. Foreign Rights: Gyldendal Group Agency, Sofie Voller, sofie_voller@gyldendalgroupagency.dk

in brief BOOKS IN BRIEF

Essays from the author of Lucca

Love and destiny

According to the French newspaper Le Monde Jens Christian Grøndahl is “one of the greatest living Danish writers”. Grøndahl’s works – including the novels Lucca (1998), Et andet lys (An Altered Light) (2002) and Før vi siger farvel (Before We say Goodbye) (2012) - have been published in more than thirty countries. Now comes a new book from Jens Christian Grøndahl, a collection of essays on art and literature where he considers the links between life and work, between tradition and modernity, referring in the process to Saul Bellow, Marcel Proust, Odysseus, Patrick Modiano and Wim Wenders. Jens Christian Grøndahl (born 1959) published his first book in 1985. In the years since then he has produced almost a score of titles within various genres. In 2013 he will be venturing into what is, for him, totally new territory when he makes his debut as a children’s writer with a read-aloud book for children of early primary school age. In Med bedstemor i tidens labyrint (Travelling with Granny through the Maze of Time) we are introduced to Nina, a little girl who travels back through time with her grandmother to Copenhagen at the time of the Second World War. Illustrated by Lars Gabel.

”A superb spring read”, “A fascinating, beautifully written book”. So said the press of Morten Brask’s fictional biography of one of the world’s greatest geniuses, William Sidi’s perfekte liv (The Perfect Life of William Sidi), published in 2011. Now comes a new novel from Brask’s hand, this time a realistic contemporary novel about the beginnings of love and its end, about living with both intense happiness and deep sorrow – and about making a decision, leaving the world behind and starting afresh. That is what the first-person narrator of Brask’s En pige og en dreng (A Girl And A Boy) is destined to do when he loses his young twins after years of loving and battling with his darling Maya. He does not share her burning desire to have children and build a family and this eventually casts a shadow over their love for one another – until the day when the children, a boy and a girl, are born. Morten Brask (born 1970) has written seven books, including three works of fiction. He made his debut as a writer of fiction in 2007 with the novel Havet i Theresienstadt (The Sea in Theresienstadt) (2007) which was nominated for the Prix du Roman Fnac in 2011.

Mo r te n

Brask

En pige og en dreng R

M A N

P O L I T I K E N S

Jens Christian Grøndahl Den sibiriske måne (The Siberian Moon), Lindhardt og Ringhof 2013, 160 pp. Previous titles sold to: More than thirty countries. Foreign Rights: Roger, Coleridge & White Literary Agency, London. info@rcwlitagency.com Med bedstemor i tidens labyrint (Travelling with Granny Through the Maze of Time), Carlsen 2013, 112 pp. Foreign Rights: Lindhardt og Ringhof, Susanne Gribfeldt, susanne.gribfeldt@lindhardtogringhof.dk

F O R L A G

Morten Brask En pige og en dreng (A Girl And A Boy), Politikens Forlag 2013, 225 pp. Previous titles sold to: France, Greece, Italy. Foreign Rights: Lars Ringhof Agency, Esthi Kunz, esthi@ringhof.dk

Books i DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

3x Kierkegaard

2013 sees the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Danish philosopher and writer Søren Aabye Kierkegaard. Several books are being published to mark the bicentennial (see also p. 8-11 in this magazine). Joakim Garff, scholar and author of a major Kierkegaard biography from 2000, SAK – Søren Aaby Kierkegaard. En biografi (SAK – Søren Aabye Kierkegaard. A Biography) has just published a book about Regine Olsen, the woman to whom Kierkegaard was at one time engaged. Garff has come into possession of over a hundred hitherto unknown letters written by Regine during her years in the West Indies with her husband Johan Frederik Schlegel when he was Governor-General out there. These letters, which form the basis for his new book, Regines gåde (The Mystery of Regine), show her to be a woman of flesh

and blood, opinions and desires, and shed fresh light on one of the most puzzling love affairs in Danish history. In his fictional biography of Søren Kierkegaard, Stig Dalager paints an existential, psychological picture of the world-renowned philosopher on his deathbed, looking back on his life and on those people who have touched it, while Oscar K. (see also p. 32-37 in this magazine) presents his own unique and utterly subjective view of Søren Kierkegaard’s life in an illustrated novel which revolves around the central themes of death and sex, mother and father fixations, normality and absurdity, and in which the Danish philosopher is brought into the present by a young female quantum physicist. Illustrated by Rasmus Svarre.

Joakim Garff

Historien om Kierkegaards forlovede og Schlegels hustru

Joakim Garff

Stig Dalager

Oscar K.

Regines gåde (The Mystery of Regine), Gads Forlag 2013, 500 pp. Previous titles SOLD TO: Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, United States. Foreign Rights: Leonhardt & Høier Literary Agency, Anneli Høier, anneli@leonhardt-hoier.dk

Øjeblikkets evighed (The Eternity of the Moment), Lindhardt og Ringhof 2013, 208 pp. Previous titles SOLD TO: France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom. Foreign Rights: Lindhardt og Ringhof, Susanne Gribfeldt, susanne.gribfeldt@lindhardtogringhof.dk

Københavnerfortolkningen (The Copenhagener Interpretation), Jensen & Dalgaard 2013, 104 pp. Previous titles SOLD TO: Canada, Ireland, Norway, Russia, Sweden. Foreign Rights: Jensen & Dalgaard, jensen@jensenogdalgaard.dk

in brief BOOKS IN BRIEF

r dE

Love first and foremost

When and why did we become afraid of aggression? An excellent, and very big question, and one which Jesper Juul, author of Dit kompetente barn (Your Competent Child), asks himself in his new book Aggression. Et nyt og farligt tabu? (Aggression. A New and Dangerous Taboo?). Juul focuses specifically on pre-school children and school children, an alarming number of whom are being sent from nurseries and schools to all manner of therapists simply for expressing anger or frustration. And yet no research to speak of is being conducted into the question of aggression. It is our own personal perception of what constitutes over-aggressive – and hence unacceptable - behaviour that is changing; a development which, according to long-time family therapist Jesper Juul, does great damage, both psychologically and socially, to our children. Because, if we do not teach them to relate to and recognise their own aggressive tendencies and differentiate between the constructive and the destructive sorts while they are still young, they will be even more aggressive and selfdestructive in their teens.

Jan Sonnergaard laid down several rules for himself when writing his latest book. One was that he had to stay for at least three months in each of the places in which his stories were set and finish them ‘on location’. Another was that he had to be completely familiar with every spot mentioned in the stories, from the seediest brothel to the most expensive Michelin-starred restaurant. Out of this has come a book that deals, first and foremost with love, and not just with romance and being in love, but with jealousy and violence, charity and altruism, infidelity and betrayal. Jan Sonnergaard (born 1963) made his major breakthrough in 1997 with the short story collection Radiator, which won him the status of leading spokesman for the new raw Nineties realism. He went on to complete a trilogy of short story collections with Sidste søndag i oktober (Last Sunday in October) (2000) and Jeg er stadig bange for Caspar Michael Petersen (I’m Still Afraid of Caspar Michael Petersen) (2003). In 2009 Jan Sonnergaard published his first novel, Om atomkrigens betydning for Vilhelm Funks ungdom (On the Significance of Nuclear War on Vilhelm Funk’s Youth).

Jesper Juul

so großartige neue Erzählungssammlung von alice Munro, einer der bedeutendsten autorinnen der gegenwart. himmel und hölle: neun geschichten, scheinbar alltäglich-harmlos wie ein Kinderspiel und doch von beklemmender abgründigkeit. immer sind es verstrickungen des gefühls,

aggression

die seltsamen, oft komischen Sehnsüchte

aggression

des menschlichen herzens und die leisen Katastrophen, die Munro mit ihrem feinen gehör für zwischenmenschliche Misstöne aufspürt. und fast immer sind es die leben von Frauen, die, wie in einem vexierspiegel verschiedenen Blickwinkeln ausgesetzt, in den widersprüchlichen Möglichkeiten ihres Schicksals erkundet werden – wie in der geschichte mit dem vielsagenden Titel hasst er mich, mag er mich, liebt er mich,

Jesper Juul

hr. en r , ge-

Forbidden aggression

hochzeit von dem seltsamen Schicksal

warum sie für uns und unsere Kinder notwendig ist

einer ältlichen hausangestellten, die, von zwei biestigen Teenagern auf fatale weise in die irre geschickt, dank ihrer willenskraft ihrem verkümmerten dasein eine höchst überraschende wendung zu geben vermag. Schicksalhafte gefühlsbeziehungen, verdrängte Schuld, die heimlich weiterwirkt, unentdeckte, jedoch in ahnungen stets gegenwärtige Familienrätsel, trügerisch unauffällige Momente

S.Fischer

Jesper Juul

Jan Sonnergaard

Aggression. Et nyt og farlig tabu? (Aggression. A New and Dangerous Taboo?), Lindhardt og Ringhof 2013, 175 pp. PREVIOUS TITLES SOLD TO: Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Rumania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United States. Foreign Rights: Leonhardt & Høier Literary Agency, Monica Gram, monica@leonhardt-hoier.dk

Otte opbyggelige fortællinger om kærlighed og mad og fremmede byer (Eight Edifying Stories of Love, and Food and Foreign Cities), Gyldendal 2013, 512 pp. Previous titles sold to: Germany, Hungary, Iceland, the Netherlands, Serbia. Foreign Rights: Leonhardt & Høier Literary Agency, Monica Gram, monica@leonhardt-hoier.dk

Books i DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

Danish crime series

It’s good to see new titles this spring from a number of Danish crime writers, all adding to their respective series with style and assurance. Here we have, for example, Lene Kaaberbøl, presenting the second volume of her projected trilogy on the Cadaver Doctor, entitled Det levende kød (Living Flesh). In a backyard in the small French provincial town of Varbourg a grisly discovery is made: the badly mutilated body of a young Italian prostitute. But Madeleine Karno, the cadaver doctor’s assistant, does not buy the yellow press’s conjectures that a new Jack the Ripper is at work. She does not believe that the mutilation of

the victim was entirely random – with the greatest precision someone has removed the young woman’s womb and the unborn baby she had been carrying. Susanne Staun, on the other hand, concerns herself with a more modern, but no less grim world in the third volume in her series on forensic pathologist Maria Krause whose friend and colleague, Little John, has just hung himself. Or did he? Was it an accident? Or murder? Or suicide? The answer is to be found in Helt til grænsen (To The Limit), the sequel to Døderummet (The Death Room) (2010) which won the Harald Mogensen Prize for best crime novel of the year and

Lene Kaaberbøl

Susanne Staun

Det levende kød (Living Flesh), Modtryk 2013, 300 pp. Previous titles sold to: More than twenty countries. The Kadaverdoktoren (Cadaver Doctor) titles have so far been sold to Italy, Norway, Spain, United States. Foreign rights: Lars Ringhof Agency, Esthi Kunz, esthi@ringhof.dk

Helt til grænsen (To The Limit), Gyldendal 2013, 314 pp. PREVIOUS TITLES SOLD TO: Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden. Foreign Rights: Gyldendal Group Agency, Sofie Voller, sofie_voller@gyldendal.dk

in brief BOOKS IN BRIEF

Hilsen fra Rexville (Greetings From Rexville) (2011). There is a new title, too, from Jussi Adler-Olsen, who has reached volume five of his series on Department Q and Detective Inspector Carl Mørck. Marco Effekten (The Marco Effect) follows the fortunes of Marco, a young boy led into a life of crime at an early age by his Uncle Zola, a man regarded in many circles as highly undesirable. As Department Q is drawn deeper and deeper into the investigation of Zola, Carl Mørck finds himself caught up in a web of crime and corruption that stretches all the way from the Danish Ministry of Justice to Africa. Eget ansvar (At Your Own Risk) is

the title of Elsebeth Egholm’s seventh crime novel featuring journalist Dicte. This time, however, Dicte is not working alone. She is helped by the central character of Egholm’s last two thrillers, De tre hundes nat (Three Dog Night) (2011) and De døde sjæles nat (Dead Souls), namely Peter Boultrup, the son whom Dicte’s Jehova’s Witness parents forced her to give up for adoption when he was born. The relationship between these two has never been easy, but when Dicte’s daughter Rose – Peter’s half-sister – is kidnapped, they both set out to find her, each working from their own angle.

E LS E B ETH

”Jussi Adler-Olsens skildring af livet i buret er simpelthen åndenødsfremkaldende helt frem til den spektakulære slutning – grænseoverskridende.” – Weekendavisen

jussi adler-olsen – Politiinspektør Bent Isager-Nielsen til Ekstra Bladet

”Endnu et pletskud”

★★★★★

– Ekstra Bladet

★★★★★ ”Man kunne godt udtrykke et forsigtigt håb om, at de henlagte sager med Mørck og co. kunne gå hen og blive en serie. Potentialet er fuldt til stede.” – Jyllands-Posten

”Suveræn”

★★★★★ ”Romanen er konstant underholdende. Grusom beskrivelse af en kvindes mareridt.”

★★★★★

PRESSEN OM KVINDEN I BURET, FØRSTE BIND I SERIEN OM AFDELING Q

”I to år har Adler-Olsen (...) været fremtiden inden for den skandinaviske krimigenre.” – Der Spiegel 06

– Tidligere chefpolitiinspektør Per Larsen til Ekstra Bladet

PRESSEN OM FASANDRÆBERNE, ANDET BIND I SERIEN OM AFDELING Q

★★★★★ ”Adler-Olsen skriver originale krimier, der på trods af deres dystre anliggender har en – Jyllands-Posten befriende humor.”

”Jussi Adler-Olsens thriller holder stilen hele vejen til den opsigtsvækkende og i særklasse voldelige finale.” – Weekendavisen

”Fasandræberne er original og vellykket. (...) Adler-Olsen er en dygtig plotkonstruktør, men også en stærk skildrer af personer, steder og miljøer.” – Politiken

10 11

” Med andet bind i serien om Afdeling Q har Jussi Adler-Olsen skrevet en benhård thriller (…) Den er kun for folk med stærke nerver.” – Wiener Zeitung

EGET A N SVAR 13

★★★★★ ”Uhh, hvor kan Jussi Adler-Olsen skrue gode historier sammen! (…) Høj spænding og knivskarpe karakterer med kant.” – Ekstra Bladet

★★★★★ ”Jussi Adler-Olsens historier om Afdeling Q er noget af det bedste i dansk krimi i disse år.” – Jyllands-Posten

★★★★★ ”Fandeme godt. En flaskepost med mareridt. – Fyens Stiftstidende Velbekomme!”

★★★★ ”Med tredje bind om Afdeling Q i almindelighed og Carl Mørck og Assad i særdeleshed bekræfter Jussi Adler-Olsen sin position som en af landets bedste krimiforfattere.” – Politiken

PRESSEN OM JOURNAL 64, FJERDE BIND I SERIEN OM AFDELING Q

MARCO EFFEKTEN

★★★★★★ “Danmarks krimikonge. Fjerde bog om Afdeling Q er årets bedste danske krimi.” – Ekstra Bladet ★★★★★ ” … hæsblæsende og brandspændende melodrama af internationalt format.” – Politiken

★★★★★ ”Jussi Adler-Olsen skriver velgørende anderledes dansk krimi. Tak for det.” – Jyllands-Posten

F O R L A G 21

★★★★★ ”Hvis Danmark kun havde én krimiforfatter, måtte han P –OFyens L I Stiftstidende T I K E N gerne hedde Jussi Adler-Olsen.”

EGH

krimith riller

ELSE

E G ET ANSVAR

MARCO EFFEKTEN

PRESSEN OM FLASKEPOST FRA P, TREDJE BIND I SERIEN OM AFDELING Q

omslag: eyelab.dk

jussi adler-olsen

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – Ekstra Bladet ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – JydskeVestkysten ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – Dagbladenes Bureau ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – Jyllands-Posten ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – Frederiksborg Amts Avis

06/12/12 12:02 23

MAT COVER. Print order: �CMYK ➋ Partiel lak

Elsebeth Egholm

Marco Effekten (The Marco Effect), Politikens Forlag 2012, 505 pp. Previous titles sold to: More than thirty countries. Foreign rights: Politikens Forlag, Nya Guldberg, nya-guldberg@jppol.dk

Eget ansvar (At Your Own Risk), Politikens Forlag 2013, 432 pp. Previous titles sold to: France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, United Kingdom. Foreign Rights: Lars Ringhof Agency, Esthi Kunz, esthi@ringhof.dk

Jussi Adler-Olsen

25 26

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

Family drama and cultural critique

A picnic on a warm summer day. A set of grandparents coming for tea. To most people these might seem like pretty straightforward situations. But not for the family in Suzanne Brøgger’s latest book Til T (To T).

The adults can’t push themselves to do anything, neither to get themselves out of the house nor to find enough tea-cups – and don’t even talk about the tea, which they need to go out and buy because they don’t have any. And when are they supposed to find the time to commit suicide (mother) or go off to Asia and save the world (stepfather)? The family’s three children stand in the wings, observing the parents whom they are far too young to look after, although they do their very best to, and so nothing happens. They never do go on that picnic, or make that tea. These two little, insignificant – but very concrete – incidents take

place one summer in 1958, and in Suzanne Brøgger’s hands they are developed into an associative train of thought which in turn evolves into a fable, one that puts the whole ghastly set-up at a humorous, allegorical distance. Because the members of this family are all named after characters from the tales of Winnie-the-Pooh – although

SUZANNE BRØGGER

“

If Tigger wasn’t so worried about Kanga’s instability he would be able to see the chaos as an adequate response to the family as a stage for play-acting. Nowhere in the world can you ‘make believe’ as much as you can in a family. A place of work? You can resign. A friendship? You can end it. Neighbours? You can move. But in a family you’re forced to be hypocritical, otherwise all hell will break loose. And a child can’t be the one to drop the bomb and be responsible for the divorce, failure, homelessness and all the other mess that this brings in its wake. At this dramatic level the family is a fantasy in which everyone invests. If one member of the cast were suddenly to stop acting their part or stop applauding, the illusion would collapse and the family be ruined for all the others. And yet none of them is aware that they are taking part in a joint performance, one that is only apparent to outsiders. Every family has an inbuilt resistance to knowing what is actually going on: complex strategies, designed to ensure that everyone remains equally oblivious of the fact that they are all in the dark. Extract from Til T (To T)

this doesn’t change the fact that they are all at loggerheads, their relationships with one another coloured by a climate of secrecy and repression; or that their family is teetering on the brink of the precipice and none of them is capable of handling the freedom that goes hand in hand with modern family life - in which no one seems able to agree on anything. Suzanne Brøgger (born 1944) can celebrate forty years as a writer in 2013. She published her first book, Fri os fra kærligheden (Deliver Us From Love), in 1973 and she has been a distinctive voice in Danish

literature and debate ever since, not least thanks to works such as Kærlighedens veje & vildveje (Love’s Highways and Byways) (1975) and Crème Fraiche (1978), but also to more than twenty-five other titles spanning a wide range of genres and including the family chronicle Jadekatten (The Jade Cat) (1997) and, most recently, the essay Jeg har set den gamle verden forsvinde – hvor er mine ørenringe? (I Have Seen the Old World Vanish – Where Are My Earrings?) (2010). Suzanne Brøgger’s writing walks the line between fiction and reality, between novel, essay and memoir. Brøgger herself calls

”

Til T (To T) her fictional debut, her ‘jade kitten’, reverting as it does so squarely to first principles, picking up a thread from the family theme of Jadekatten, thus picking up also from where she started: with a protest against the stage-managed sort of love that Suzanne Brøgger has described and attacked from countless angles in her many works.

Suzanne Brøgger Til T (To T), Gyldendal 2013, 207 pp. Previous titles sold to: Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency, Sofie Voller, sofie_voller@gyldendalgroupagency.dk

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

people of Southern Jutland, and especially “ thoseTheliving to the west of Gram had a special sense

of the transience of this world and were forever reminding one another of ‘that life was no joke’. When they raised their glasses in the local pub, for example, they would say: ‘Cheers, while we’re friends.’ Because you never knew when somebody might say the wrong thing – remember that fight last Saturday night? When fortune smiled on them, whether they had had a win on the pools or received a long awaited inheritance, they would say: ‘Aye, well, life could be worse.’ But even this was said with a pensive note in the voice and a face that betrayed no hint of happiness. There could even be a certain anxiety and wistfulness bound up with this recognition of the beauty of life, because no one knew how long such a thing might last. Or whether one deserved it. Extract from Min sønderjyske farm (Out of Jutland)

Allan Jensen is thirteen years old. He has a farm in Jutland, at the foot of Gramby Hill, in the very south of Denmark, bordering on Germany. Here he breeds rabbits, while his sister reads the works of Karen Blixen, who had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills, where she grew coffee. And there all similarity ends. 20

Because there is nothing exotic or decadent about Allan’s youth and childhood in the Danish provinces in the 1960s. His family is about as dysfunctional as it can possibly be, skeletons tumble out of every closet if you so much as brush against them. Why does no one want to have anything to do with his father? Why doesn’t his sister live at home? Why does his mother put up with it all? These questions run through Allan’s mind as he sees to himself and his rabbits; as he grows and enters puberty – and as he dreams of being far, far away, from Gramby Bakke and his family.

”

You can believe whatever you want to believe, Allan tells himself and attempts to escape into a bubble of dreams and fiction. But he is forced to recognise that somehow he has to come to terms with his parents: “I had to face the fact that my Dad was my real Dad. All things considered it could have been a lot worse. In the rabbit world there were males and females that ate their own young. You shouldn’t ever breed from those, folk said, there was something wrong with their genes. At least I hadn’t been eaten, nor had my brothers and sisters.” Min Sønderjyske Farm (Out of

Erling Jepsen

A Tale of Fathers and Rabbits Jutland) is a singular, bittersweet and at times grotesque depiction of a tiny community, a family and the boy Allan who fights the good fight with his rabbits, with his father and with his own, quite universal, coming-of-age loneliness. Erling Jepsen pulls no punches in his scathing exposé of the mentality of a small provincial town and within a family that has turned secretiveness and denial into a very distinct art form. Erling Jepsen (born 1956) made his debut as a playwright in 1977 and had his big breakthrough as a novelist in 2002 with Kunsten

at græde i kor (The Art of Crying in Unison). This was made into a film – The Art of Crying – which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2008. Since that first literary success Jepsen has produced a string of other works, among them the novels Frygtelig lykkelig (Terribly Happy) (Borgen 2004), which has also been made into a film, Med venlig deltagelse (Our Most Sincere Condolences) (Borgen 2006) and Hovedløs sommer (Headless Summer) (People’s Press 2011), the dramatised version of which has just had its premier at Det Kongelige Teater in Copenhagen.

Erling Jepsen Min sønderjyske farm (Out of Jutland), Gyldendal 2013. 272 pp. Previous titles sold to: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, France, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Leonhardt & Høier Literary Agency, Anneli Høier, anneli@leonhardt-hoier.dk

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

Recent sol a 22

RECENTLY SOLD

tly ld abroad SEPTEMBER 2012 JANUARY 2013

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

Danish Fiction

ARMENIA Guitank Publishing Anna Grue Dybt at falde

BRAZIL Alaude A.J. Kazinski Søvnen og døden Cosacnaify Karen Blixen Babettes gæstebud

CANADA

BookThug Morten Søndergaard Et skridt i den rigtige retning

CHINA Big Apple Jussi Adler-Olsen Journal 64

CROATIA

Nemo Lotte & Søren Hammer Svinehunde

Algoritam Alen MeškoviC´ Ukulele-Jam

Record Martin Jensen Edbryder

CZECH REPUBLIC

Record Martin Jensen En bondes ord Record Martin Jensen Kongens hunde

Albatros/Plus Martin Jensen Edbryder Albatros/Plus Martin Jensen En bondes ord

BULGARIA

Albatros/Plus Martin Jensen Kongens hunde

Emas Jussi Adler-Olsen Kvinden i buret

Czech Radio Anders Bodelsen Gaven

Janet 45 Publishing Carsten Jensen Vi, de druknede

Czech Radio Anders Bodelsen En hård dags nat

Czech Radio Thorkild Hansen Det lykkelige Arabien

Sinisukk Sara Blædel Kald mig prinsesse

Host Jussi Adler-Olsen Marco Effekten

FAROE ISLANDS

Host Lotte & Søren Hammer Ensomme hjerters klub Host Søren & Lotte Hammer Pigen i Satans mose

EGYPT Animar Jakob Ejersbo Eksil Animar Jakob Ejersbo Revolution Animar Jakob Ejersbo Liberty Animar Lotte & Søren Hammer Svinehunde Animar Lars Husum Mit venskab med Jesus Kristus

Smith Leif Davidsen Min broders vogter

FINLAND Gummerus Jussi Adler-Olsen Flaskepost fra P WSOY Anne Lise MarstrandJørgensen Hvad man ikke ved

FRANCE Actes Sud Lotte & Søren Hammer Ensomme hjerters klub Autrement Anders Bodelsen Hændeligt uheld Autrement Anders Bodelsen Rød september

ESTONIA

Buchet Chastel Helle Helle Dette burde skrives i nutid

Eesti Raamat Karen Blixen Vinter-eventyr

Buchet Chastel Janne Teller Kom Le Cherche Midi Elsebeth Egholm Vold og magt Éditions de l’Aube Dan Turèll Mord-serien 1-12

Karen Blixen Winter’s Tales, published in 1942, contains some of Karen Blixen’s most famous stories. The Danish provinces provide the backdrop for tales of a more tragically wistful tone from Blixen, who delves right back into the childhood and youth of her central characters in search of the answer to the question of what it is that shapes a person’s identity. Karen Blixen, author of such works as Seven Gothic Tales and Out of Africa, has been translated into more than thirty languages.

Éditions Grèges Morten Nielsen Krigere uden våben Éditions d’Ormesson Hanne-Vibeke Holst Kronprinsessetrilogien JC Lattès A.J. Kazinski Søvnen og døden

RECENTLY SOLD

Danish Fiction

JAPAN

Jakob Melander Even before publication a lot of interest was being shown in first-time author Jakob Melander’s psychological thriller Øjesten (The House that Jack Built) and it had already been snapped up by a number of foreign publishers. Awarding it five stars out of a possible six, one enthusiastic reviewer called it a ‘cool Copenhagen crime novel’. In Melander’s novel a Second World War romance has disastrous consequences, the reverberations of which are felt even in modern-day Copenhagen, where a horrific murder, later to be known as the Sandman case, shocks the whole city.

Hayakawa A.J. Kazinski Søvnen og døden

LATVIA Jumava Hans Henrik Møller Burgundia

THE NETHERLANDS A.W. Bruna Lotte & Søren Hammer Pigen i Satans mose De Geus Christian Jungersen Du forsvinder

Robert Laffont Kristian Bang Foss Døden kører Audi

Piper Hanne-Vibeke Holst Undskyldningen

Animus A.J. Kazinski Søvnen og døden

GERMANY

Suhrkamp Anne Lise MarstrandJørgensen Hvad man ikke ved

ICELAND

btb Verlag Jóanes Nielsen Brahmadellerne btb Verlag Leonora Christina Skov Førsteelskeren Carl’s Books/ Bertelsmann Kristian Bang Foss Døden kører Audi

Weltbild Jussi Adler-Olsen Journal 64 Weltbild Jussi Adler-Olsen Washington dekretet

Bjartúr Naja Marie Aidt Sten saks papir Draumsyn Kim Leine Profeterne i Evighedsfjorden

De Geus A.J. Kazinski Søvnen og døden De Geus Jesper Stein Uro Karakter Jakob Melander Øjesten Meulenhoff Kaaberbøl & Friis Nattergalens død

GREECE

Forlagiđ Jussi Adler-Olsen Journal 64

Club Bertelsman Jussi Adler-Olsen Journal 64

Ekdoseis Kaaberbøl & Friis Drengen i kufferten

Forlagiđ Jussi Adler-Olsen Marco Effekten

NORWAY

Heyne Verlag Steffen Jacobsen Trofæ

Ekdoseis Therese Philipsen Den man elsker

Uppheimar Sara Blædel De glemte piger

Aschehoug Jussi Adler-Olsen Alfabethuset

Heyne Verlag A.J. Kazinski Søvnen og døden

Livanis A.J. Kazinski Den sidste gode mand

ITALY

Aschehoug Jussi Adler-Olsen Marco Effekten

Kiepenheuer & Witsch Jesper Stein Uro

Livanis A.J. Kazinski Søvnen og døden

Luchterhand Naja Marie Aidt Sten saks papir

HUNGARY

Metrolit Alen MeškoviC´ Ukulele-Jam

Animus Jussi Adler-Olsen Flaskepost fra P Animus Jussi Adler-Olsen Journal 64

Neri Pozza Jakob Melander Øjesten

Prometheus Jussi Adler-Olsen Marco Effekten

Aschehoug Jussi Adler-Olsen Og hun takkede guderne

Sonzogno Anne Lise MarstrandJørgensen Hvad man ikke ved

Aschehoug Jussi Adler-Olsen Washington dekretet

ISRAEL

Aschehoug Jakob Melander Øjesten

Kinneret Kaaberbøl & Friis Drengen i kufferten

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

Danish Fiction

Dorthe Nors

Aschehoug Jakob Melander De berusedes vej

“Beautiful faceted, haunting stories … Dorthe Nors is fantastic … a rising star of Danish letters.” So wrote Pulitzer prizewinner Junot Díaz of the Kantslag (Karate Chop) stories which have been published in various American magazines. The publication rights for the complete Karate Chop collection have now been sold – coinciding neatly with the appearance of a new book from Dorthe Nors: a novel entitled Minna mangler et øvelokale (Minna Needs a Rehearsal Room).

Gyldendal Norsk Forlag Kristian Bang Foss Døden kører Audi Gyldendal Norsk Forlag A.J. Kazinski Søvnen og døden Heinesen Josefine Klougart Stigninger og fald Juritzen Forlag Thorstein Thomsen Sne på hendes ansigt Oktober Helle Helle Dette burde skrives i nutid Oktober Helle Helle Forestillingen om et ukompliceret liv med en mand Schibsted Elsebeth Egholm Tre hundes nat Schibsted Jesper Stein Uro

SPAIN Ediciones B Lene Kaaberbøl Kadaverdoktoren Maeva Erik Valeur Det syvende barn Pamies Julie Hastrup En torn i øjet Siruela Sara Blædel Grønt støv

POLAND

Siruela Sara Blædel Kald mig prinsesse

Amber A.J. Kazinski Søvnen og døden

SWEDEN

Sonia Draga Kaaberbøl & Friis Et stille umærkeligt drab

RUSSIA AST Relese Erik Valeur Det syvende barn

SOUTH KOREA Hyundaemunhak Erik Valeur Det syvende barn

Bonniers Jussi Adler-Olsen Alfabethuset Bonniers Jussi Adler-Olsen Marco Effekten Bonniers Jussi Adler-Olsen Washington dekretet Ellerströms Pia Tafdrup Salamandersol Forum Anne Lise MarstrandJørgensen Hvad man ikke ved Forum A.J. Kazinski Søvnen og døden

Forum Erik Valeur Det syvende barn Norstedts Jesper Stein Uro Rámus Morten Søndergaard Et skridt i den rigtige retning

TURKEY Aspendos Kaaberbøl & Friis Drengen i kufferten Yapi Kredi Publishing Inger Christensen Udvalgte digte

UNITED KINGDOM AmazonCrossing Martin Jensen Edbryder AmazonCrossing Martin Jensen En bondes ord AmazonCrossing Martin Jensen Kongens hunde Harvill Helle Helle Dette burde skrives i nutid Nordvik Press Klaus Rifbjerg Den kroniske uskyld

UNITED STATES AmazonCrossing Martin Jensen Edbryder AmazonCrossing Martin Jensen En bondes ord AmazonCrossing Martin Jensen Kongens hunde AmazonCrossing Erik Valeur Det syvende barn Atria Lene Kaaberbøl Kadaverdoktoren Graywolf Press Dorthe Nors Kantslag Two Lines Press Naja Marie Aidt Bavian

RECENTLY SOLD

Danish Non-FICTION

ESTONIA

JAPAN

NORWAY

SPAIN

TEA Publishers Jon Feilberg & Mogens Andersen Danmarks dyr og planter

Cross Media Publishing Co. Ltd. Boris Kreilgaard Management by Football

Arneberg Forlag Peter Høeg, Jesper Juul (et. al) Empati

Cultura Ciclista Lars Steen Pedersen Riis

TEA Publishers Jens H. Petersen I svampenes rige

Patmos Marie Melchior Når livet er en fest

FINLAND

THE NETHERLANDS

Talentum Pernille Tranberg & Steffan Heuer Fake it!

Damon Joakim Garff SAK

Tammi Lars Gejl Kend fuglen

GERMANY Beltz Verlag Jesper Juul Smil, vi skal spise Christian Verlag Isabellas store bog om køkkenhaven Murmann Pernille Tranberg & Steffan Heuer Fake it!

Forte Uitgevers Jesper Juul Bonusforældre KNNV Jens H. Petersen I svampenes rige Kosmos Uitgevers Christian Bitz & Arne Astrup Verdens bedste kur Tirion Lars Gejl Fugle felthåndbogen Tirion Lars Gejl Kend fuglen

Cappelen Damm Pia Bech Rydahl & Pernille W. Lauridsen Tweens Cappelen Damm WulffMorgenthaler WuMo Julehæfte Fagbokforlaget Svend Brinkmann Det diagnosticerede liv Lille Måne Thomas Rode Andersen Stenalderkost – 87 palæoopskrifter til det moderne menneske Pædagogisk Forum Jesper Juul Aggression

POLAND Mind Dariusz Syska Jesper Juul Her er jeg! Hvem er du? Mind Dariusz Syska Jesper Juul Pædagogisk relationskompetence

SWEDEN Historiska Media Rasmus Dahlberg 100 års katastrofer Studentlitteratur Svend Brinkmann Det diagnosticerede liv Syneidos Charlotte Bech Bliv naturligt gravid Wahlström & Widstrand Jesper Juul Aggression

UNITED KINGDOM Oxford University Press Nudansk Ordbog 1 Princeton University Press Lars-Henrik Olsen Dyr & Spor

UNITED STATES North Atlantic Books Jes Bertelsen Nuets himmel Princeton University Press Jens H. Petersen I svampenes rige

Joakim Garff “Garff has a voice of his own – an informal style and conversational tone”. So said John Updike, writing in The New Yorker on publication of the English translation of SAK – Søren Aabye Kierkegaard. En biografi (SAK – Søren Aabye Kierkegaard. A Biography). Joakim Garff’s impressive work from 2000 has been translated into eight languages and now, to tie in with this year’s Kierkegaard bicentennial, a new revised version is being published. Joakim Garff has also just published Regines gåde (The Mystery of Regine), which tells the story of the strange love affair between the Danish philosopher and his betrothed, Regine Olsen.

Princeton Architectural Press LLC Jørn Utzon Arkitekturens tilblivelse og virke Sterling Thomas Rode Andersen Stenalderkost – 87 palæoopskrifter til det moderne menneske

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

Danish CHILDRENS BOOKS

BRAZIL

Janne Teller

Geracao Editorial Maren Weischer Sådan begyndte Verden

”A teenage novel of Nobel prize standard” is how one Swedish critic described Janne Teller’s award-winning novel from 2000. Intet (Nothing) – a story about everything and nothing, about a plum tree and the kids of class 7A, who no longer know whether anything is worth doing – gets to grips with a number of the really big existential questions of life. Publication rights have been sold to more than twenty countries, including Germany, where more than 200,000 copies have been sold since it was published there in 2010.

Lemos Elin Bing Lige noget for mig

CHINA Guangzhou Brigt Book Publishing Co. Ltd Cecil Bødker Silas og den sorte hoppe King in Culture Flemming Quist Møller Cykelmyggen Egon King in Culture Jakob Martin Strid Mimbo Jimbo King in Culture Jakob Martin Strid Mimbo Jimbo har det sjovt King in Culture Jakob Martin Strid Mimbo Jimbo laver kunst King in Culture Jakob Martin Strid Mimbo Jimbo og de store elefanter

CZECH REPUBLIC Stabenfeldt Charlotte Glahn (red.) Heste er det allerbedste

FAROE ISLANDS Bókadeild Føroya Lærarafelags Bent Haller Grænsebørn Bókadeild Føroya Lærarafelags Janne Teller Intet

Bókadeild Føroya Lærarafelags Kim Fupz Aakeson & Niels Bo Bojesen Vitello ridser en bil Bókadelid Kim Fupz Aakeson & Niels Bo Bojesen Vitello vil have en far

FINLAND Stabenfeldt Charlotte Glahn (red.) Heste er det allerbedste

GERMANY Arena Verlag Sabine Lemire 365 ting du kan lave med dit barn Boye Verlag Jakob Martin Strid Da lille Madsens hus blæste væk Hanser Janne Teller Fortællinger Jacoby & Stuart Bárður Oskarsson Den flade kanin Stabenfeldt Charlotte Glahn (red.) Heste er det allerbedste

Morten Dürr Amir is fed up with school. He can’t be bothered copying letters, and he doesn’t like the alphabet, so he makes up his own, with drawings instead of letters. But his Mum and Dad don’t understand this alphabet so they can’t read his notes – nor can they find him – on the day that he suddenly goes missing. Amirs alphabet (Amir’s Alphabet) is the fourth book in writer Morten Dürr’s series on ‘new Danish’ children. These books, illustrated by Peter Bay Alexandersen, are suitable for reading aloud to children in the younger classes and for older children to read themselves.

Thienemann Ida-Marie Rendtorff Kloden under vand 1-3 Urachhaus Verlag Bodil Bredsdorff Min slagsbror

HUNGARY Kolibri Jakob Martin Strid Den utrolige historie om den kæmpestore pære

RECENTLY SOLD

Danish CHILDRENS BOOKS

Stabenfeldt Charlotte Glahn (red.) Heste er det allerbedste

Front Forlag Lars Bøgeholt Pedersen Edderkopper

JAPAN

Front Forlag Morten Dürr Den anden Freja

Fukuinkan Shoten Publishers Inc. Ib Spang Olsen Mosekonens bryg

Front Forlag Peter Gotthardt Elverdronningens børn 7-8

Fukuinkan Shoten Publishers Inc. Ib Spang Olsen Det lille lokomotiv

Front Forlag Peter Gotthardt Den magiske falk 3-4

LATVIA Jumava Sissel Bøe & Peter Madsen Troldeliv 8

Mangschou Benni Bødker Infernus 1-2 Mangschou Ida-Marie Rendtorff Kloden under vand 1-3

NORWAY

Samlaget Lene Kaaberbøl Vindheks 3-6

Aschehoug Lars Bøgeholdt Pedersen FC fodboldvenner 1-2

Stabenfeldt Charlotte Glahn (red.) Heste er det allerbedste

RUSSIA KompasGid Janne Teller Intet

SOUTH KOREA Hyeonamsa Co. Ltd. Jakob Martin Strid Den utrolige historie om den kæmpestore pære

SWEDEN Berghs Förlag Kim Fupz Aakeson & Niels Bo Bojesen Vitello bygger en monsterfælde

Nypon Kåre Bluitgen Tørklædet Nypon Morten Dürr Amirs alphabet Opal Lars Bøgeholdt Pedersen FC fodboldvenner 1-2 Rabén & Sjögren Lene Kaaberbøl Vildheks 3-6 Stabenfeldt Charlotte Glahn (red.) Heste er det allerbedste

SWITZERLAND

Ekholm & Tegebjer Peter Madsen & Thierry Cappezone Tegn og Fortæl

Éditions La Joie de Lire Kim Fupz Aakeson Jeg begyndte sådan set bare at gå

Hjulet Kim Fupz Aakeson & Cato Thau Jensen Farmanden

TURKEY

Cappelen Damm Kirsten Sonne Harild Pony & Co 1-5

Günisigi Publishing Janne Teller Intet

Maren Weischer Sådan begyndte verden (How The World Began) is the story of science told for children. It describes how the universe came into being with the Big Bang and how it evolved from the first stars; how the world began and how life first formed on Earth; how mankind developed into the people we are today, into families – and into the very child who, in clear and instructive words and pictures, is given here a scientific explanation of the beginning of all things.

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

C ontact imm e diat

Danish poet Morten Søndergaard can now also call himself a pharmacist.

In a quite unique poetry project he has produced a word pharmacy consisting of ten ‘medicaments’, contained within ten pill boxes, each one representing a different word class or part of speech: Inside each box is a poem disguised as an information leaflet explaining how to take the medicine and how to deal with side-effects or overdosage. One is also urged

to contact a poet immediately should one experience even the slightest ill effects when using the prescribed part of speech! Morten Søndergaard himself describes his project as a democratic work aimed both at linguistic connoisseurs and those who are just starting to learn the ways of words – schoolchildren, for example. WordPharmacy is an actual, physical object available

MORTEN SØNDERGAARD

ontact a po e t diat e ly

as a travel set or an honest-togoodness medicine cabinet. It has been translated into English, German, French, Russian, Norwegian, Welsh and Greek. Morten Søndergaard (born 1964) broke onto the Danish literary scene in 1992 with the collection of poems Sahara i mine hænder (Sahara in my Hands) and has twice been

nominated for the Nordic Council Prize for Literature. His latest poetry collection Fordele og ulemper ved at udvikle vinger (The Pros and Cons of Developing Wings) (2013) takes his work with word classes a stage further in a more lyrical form, with each section of the book relating in different ways to one of the ten parts of speech.

Morten Søndergaard Ordapotek (WordPharmacy). PREVIOUS TITLES SOLD TO: Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Norway, Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom, Wales. FOREIGN RIGHTS: Gyldendal Group Agency, Sofie Voller, sofie_voller@gyldendalgroupagency.dk

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

CLASSICS IN NEW GARB

Classics in new garb Can you imagine Goethe’s young Werther as a graffiti artist? Hamlet in sunglasses and black T-shirt? Or Don Quixote astride a tractor called Rosinante with Sancho Panza riding alongside on an old moped? Ask writer Oscar K. and illustrators Dorte Karrebæk and Lilian Brøgger this and the answer will be a loud, resounding yes. Because these three have, in fact, used (almost) every trick in the book, so to speak, in their work on the new Illustrated World Literature series. It is the Danish Teachers’ Association’s own publishing house, Dansklærerforeningens Forlag, which, with a boxed set of six fully illustrated classics, has allowed a slice of world literature to escape from the sealed chamber it normally inhabits. The aim of the series is to introduce young readers to such diverse works as Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Cervantes’ Don Quixote, Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, Voltaire’s Candide: Photo: Timme hovind

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE or, the Optimist and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In a fine balance between words and pictures these canonised, not to say almost sacred texts, have been taken lovingly in hand and brought up to date by writer and illustrators. Does this show a shameless disregard for our literary heritage? Or a refreshing lack of over-reverence for the classic works, one which is possibly necessary if they are to be rendered accessible to modern-day children and young people? And what use, if any, to kids today is the tale of a prince or an impoverished petty nobleman from the early seventeenth century, a hapless optimist from the eighteenth century or a failed student from the

nineteenth century? Is this simply a case of adults trying to spoon-feed them a bygone cultural ideal?

Illustration: Lilian Brøgger

Illustration: Dorte karrebæk

One of the people behind the series, chairman of the Danish Teachers’ Association Jens Raahauge, explains that the initial idea for it sprang from the firm belief that the classic literary works have something relevant to say to any reader, of any time, about absolutely fundamental social situations: that young Werther’s lovesickness is universal and something with which tender, unrequited hearts in 2013 can easily identify; that in a world of cultural clashes and conflicts Hamlet can provide the fodder for a discussion on how to act when

one’s family or friends have been hurt or wronged; that Don Quixote’s inability to differentiate between fact and fiction has direct bearing on the modern teenager’s world of computer games and reality shows. Armed with this conviction they push off with a number of what Jens Raahauge describes as ‘appetizers’. The point is not to tempt readers into reading complete works in their original languages; not that they absolutely have to understand all of the background or be given in-depth explanations. The point is to make young readers want to come up with the explanations themselves, to make world literature accessible to all young people and to show them that it can be interesting

“In vain I reach my hands out for her in the morning, in vain I feel for her at night in my bed when a happy, innocent dream has fooled me into believing that she is near, that I am holding her hand, covering it with a thousand kisses. When, half-dazed with sleep, I reach out for her and wake with a heavy heart, I weep inconsolably over my bleak future.” (Extract from The Sorrows of Young Werther) 34

CLASSICS IN NEW GARB

Illustration: Lilian brĂ¸gger

(and fun) to get to know the great figures of literature. The language style of the original works has been retained in these retellings, just as the characters and the problems confronting them stay true to the originals. The modern element is provided primarily by the illustrations - and the layout, which has been played with and experimented with in such a way that the pictures act as a bridge between the classic texts, so rooted in tradition, and young modern readers: a new generation which, with these six illustrated and freshly interpreted classics, is presented with its very own versions of some great works of world literature.

Illustration: Lilian brĂ¸gger

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

Illustration: Dorte karrebæk

“Hamlet is alone, despising himself for still not having avenged his father’s death. Is he a coward? Why does no one call him a villain or bash his head in? He is a miserable wretch who cannot act, but only talk and talk, because he is a pigeon-livered rascal who cannot even burn with rage over the wrong that has been done – if he did, all the hawks in the country would have picked clean the bones of that treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain Claudius! Revenge! Revenge!” Extract from Hamlet 36

CLASSICS IN NEW GARB

“This gentleman read so much and slept so little that his brain dried up completely and his wits along with it. In the end nothing in the world was as real to him as the inventions and fancies of the knights. And he made up his mind to go out into the world and do all the things that he had read about in his books. He would become a knight errant and right all the wrongs in the world, expose himself to peril and danger and win honour and fame. And perhaps, he thought to himself, be made an Emperor as a reward.” (Extract from Don Quixote)

Illustration: Lilian Brøgger

Illustration: Dorte karrebæk

About the Illustrated World Literature (Classics) series Oscar K., alias Ole Dalgaard, has allied himself with illustrator Lilian Brøgger to produce retellings of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther and Cervantes’ Don Quixote. Along with illustrator Dorte Karrebæk he has given the same treatment to Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, Voltaire’s Candide: or, the Optimist and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The

boxed set also includes a volume on reading world literature. This book, entitled Don Erudito and also written by Oscar K., is not however illustrated. All of these titles are published as a set by Dansklærerforeningens Forlag. Publishing rights have so far been sold to Norway, Russia and Sweden, while Oscar K.’s other works have, in addition, sold to Canada and to Ireland. Oscar K.

and Dorte Karrebæk have also collaborated on a retelling of the Bible, Biblia Pauperum Nova, published by Forlaget Alfa work, described by the newspaper Politiken as ‘nigh on flawless’, which was nominated for the 2012 Politiken Prize for Literature.

For information on foreign rights please contact Dansklærerforeningens Forlag, forlag@dansklf.dk

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

A nne C a t h r ine Rie b ni t z s k y

LEIN KIM E

J ak o b M a r t in Strid

Prizes and nominations for the prophets – Kim Leine

Photo: Anne-Sophie Fischer Kalckar

2012 has been Kim Leine’s year. With Profeterne i Evighedsfjorden (The Prophets of Eternal Fjord), his mammoth novel about the wide realm of Denmark in the late eighteenth century – stretching from the streets of Copenhagen to the trading posts of Greenland - won him brilliant reviews, a solid position on the bestseller lists and a host of award nominations. And now they are showering down on him – the awards, that is. First the Danish Booksellers’ own prize, the Golden Laurels, then the Weekendavisen Prize for Literature, voted for by the newspaper’s readers and finally the daily Politiken’s prize. So, only six years after publication of his first book, Kim Leine now joins the exalted ranks of writers such as Jens Christian Grøndahl,

Helle Helle, Christian Jungersen and Jakob Ejersbo. As the literary critic for Weekendavisen said when presenting the award: “Readers adore Kim Leine. Possibly because at a time when so much anaemic literature is being published he is heretic enough to tell a grand, sweeping story.” And this spring may well bring more prizes Leine’s way. He is also nominated for the Nordic Council Prize for Literature and for the 2013 Berlingske Tidende Readers’ Book Award. It comes as no great surprise that Kim Leine should have gained such ascendancy with his novel about a meeting of cultures, for good and ill - a book that has been described as “a masterpiece and a milestone”. It tells the story of a young Norwegian, Morten Falck, who studies theology

AWARDS

Ursula Andkjær Olsen

za u o S e d S u ne mid tSch en Mads in Copenhagen then takes up a post in Greenland. But he finds it difficult to adapt to life there, especially when a rebellion breaks out among the Christian Greenlanders and he finds himself torn between following the Greenlandic dreams of freedom and enforcing the laws of Denmark. Kim Leine (born 1961) made his literary debut in 2007 with the novel Kalak, following this with Valdemarsdag (Valdemar’s Day) in 2008 and Tunu in 2009.

Profeterne i Evighedsfjorden (The Prophets of Eternal Fjord), Gyldendal 2012, 525 pp. Previous titles sold to: France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Rumania, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States. Foreign Rights: Gyldendal Group Agency, Sofie Voller, sofie_ voller@gyldendalgroupagency.dk

First Novel Award to former soldier – Anne-Cathrine Riebnitzsky

Photo: Sara Skytte

“Absolutely brilliant” – this was the verdict of the chairman of the judges, on awarding the BogForum First Novel Award to Den Stjålne vej (The Stolen Road) by Anne-Catherine Riebnitzsky. “That Anne-Cathrine Riebnitzsky gives us such insight into her characters - even the villains - is quite an achievement.” In this, her first novel, Riebnitzsky describes the dramatic events experienced by three individuals during the war in Afghanistan. One of these is

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

Den stjålne vej (The Stolen Road), Politikens Forlag 2012, 320 pp. Foreign Rights: Politikens Forlag, Nya Guldberg, nya-guldberg@jppol.dk

Jakob Martin Strid’s Den utrolige historie om den kæmpestore pære (The Incredible Story of the Enormous Pear) has been warmly received by readers and critics alike. In words and wonderful pictures this tells the story of two friends who find a seed that grows overnight

into an enormous pear. Even before the ink was dry on the illustrations this book had been snapped up by several international publishers and since then Jakob Martin Strid (born 1972) has been awarded the Danish Crown Prince and Princess’s Award for his work as a children’s writer, a career that got off to a flying start in 1999 with the publication of Mustafa’s kiosk (Mustapha’s Kiosk). In their motivation of the award the Crown Prince and Princess cited, among other things, the unique quality of Jakob Martin Strid’s work, its humour and relevance and the “quirky and easily recognisable style that constitutes the essence of the colourful stories we know from Mustapha’s Kiosk, Lille frø (Little Seed), Min mormor’s gebis (My Grandma’s False Teeth) and – this year – Den utrolige historie om den kæmpestore pære (The Incredible Story of the Enormous Pear). With his subtle eye for the key topics of our times he succeeds in combining wisdom with an occasionally reckless, but always gentle wit.” Den utrolige historie om den kæmpestore pære (The Incredible Story of the Enormous Pear), Gyldendal 2012, 99 pp. Previous titles sold to: China, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Rusland, Sweden, United Kingdom. Foreign Rights: Gyldendal Group Agency, Louise Langhoff Koch, louise_ langhoff_koch@gyldendalgroupagency.dk

“A huge step forward for Danish poetry” – this was just one of many compliments paid to Ursula Andkjær Olsen’s seventh collection of poetry, Det 3. årtusindes hjerte (The Heart of the 3rd Millenium), for which she was awarded this year’s Montana Prize for Literature. This collection has been hailed as a new departure in Olsen’s writing. Here, in stringent, monumental form, she reworks painful experiences of separation and union and introduces them into a sphere that is as political as it is human. You are in me as I am all the world, fruit of the garden. And warmth, protection, food and transport So we must be parted before we can meet, we are as one, and so must come apart. That we may meet. I am all you are, I am warmth, protection, food

Photo: Rolando Diaz

Crown Prince and Princess’s Award to children’s book – Jakob Martin Strid

Poet receives Montana Prize – Ursula Andkjær Olsen

Photo: Morten Holtum

Malika, a modern, well-educated woman who secretly teaches other women to read. On the home front she is struggling to come to terms with the fact that her husband has taken another wife – a girl of just thirteen who regularly meets Javeed, a boy from the street who has been raped by a policeman and whom Malika sets out to help. Anne-Cathrine Riebnitzsky (born 1974), is a graduate from the Danish Writers’ School, but she is also a Russian language officer with the Danish Army who worked at the Danish embassy in Moscow before being sent to Afghanistan, first as a soldier and later as an advisor to the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has previously written a work of non-fiction entitled Kvindernes krig (The Women’s War) about the lives of women in Afghanistan. In 2011 the First Novel Prize was awarded to Erik Valeur for his crime novel Det Syvende Barn (The Seventh Child).

AWARDS

Photo: thomas-a.com

Prize for book on Blixen – Sune de Souza SchmidtMadsen

Foreign Rights: Pia Juul: Tiderne Skifter, Claus Clausen, tidernskifter@tiderneskifter.dk Kristian Bang Foss, Harald Voetmann: Gyldendal Group Agency, Jenny Thor, jenny_ thor@gyldendalgroupagency.dk

Nominees for the Nordic Council Prize for Literature

Photo: Gonzalo Baró

En lille bog om Blixen (A Little Book About Blixen), Lindhardt og Ringhof, 233 pp. Foreign Rights: Lindhardt og Ringhof, Susanne Gribfeldt, susanne.gribfeldt@lindhardtogringhof.dk

The Danish Critics’ Guild has nominated the following three titles for its 2012 Critics’ Prize. According to the press release issued by the members of the Guild, these three are all notable for their great literary merit. The nominees are Pia Juul for the short story collection Af sted, til stede (Out of Place, In Place), Tiderne Skifter 2012, Kristian Bang Foss for the novel Døden kører Audi (Death Drives an Audi), Gyldendal 2012, and Harald Voetmann for the novel Kødet letter (The Flesh Lifts), Gyldendal 2012.

Photo: KAROLINA ZAPOLSKA

The 2012 Georg Brandes Prize was presented to En lille bog om Blixen (A Little Book About Blixen) by Sune de Souza SchmidtMadsen. “This guide to Karen Blixen’s universe and her brilliant gift for storytelling is the most beautiful introduction anyone could have.” So said the reviewer in the newspaper Politiken on the publication of this book, which weaves the different strands of Karen Blixen’s persona - the artist, the woman and the myth - into a vivid account of her amazing life and the captivating tales to which it gave rise.

Photo: Morten Holtum

Nominees for Critics’ Prize

Det 3. årtusindes hjerte (The Heart of the 3rd Millenium), Gyldendal 2012, 213 pp. Foreign Rights: Gyldendal Group Agency, Sofie Voller, sofie_voller@ gyldendalgroupagency.dk

This year’s Danish nominees for the Nordic Council Prize for Literature are Josefine Klougart and Kim Leine. Young Josefine Klougart (born 1985) is nominated for the second time for her novel Én af os sover (One Of Us Is Sleeping), Rosinante 2012. Klougart’s previous books have been sold to Norway and Sweden. Kim Leine (born 1961), broke onto the literary scene in 2007 with the autobiographical novel Kalak, and made his big breakthrough to a much wider audience with Profeterne i Evighedsfjorden (The Prophets of Eternal Fjord), Gyldendal 2012, which has been awarded the 2012 Golden Laurels, the Danish bookseller’s prize for the best book of the year, and the 2012 Weekendavisen Prize for Literature. Foreign Rights: Gyldendal Group Agency, Sofie Voller, sofie_voller@gyldendalgroupagency.dk

DANISH LITERARY MAGAZINE

Support ScHemes The Danish Arts Councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Committee for Literature works to promote familiarity with 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 wants to acquire an insight into contemporary Danish literature and visit the Danish publishers, festivals ect., to strengthen network 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 Support is provided to foreign publishing houses that publish works translated from Danish. Support is provided to works of fiction, general works of non-fiction, comics/graphic novels, and childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s literature translated by professional translators. There are four annual application deadlines.

Nordic translation Fund: inter-Nordic translations

Application guidelines, deadlines and electronic application forms may be obtained at danisharts.dk

Support may only be sought for the translation of works from Danish. Support for translations into Danish must be sought from within the country in which the respective work was originally published. The funds for Nordic translations are distributed on behalf of the Art and Culture Program of Nordic Culture Point under the Nordic Council of Ministers. There are four annual application deadlines.

Travel grants for translators Professional translators may apply for travel grants in connection with specific translation projects as well as for supplemental linguistic and cultural training. There are four annual application deadlines.

SUPPORT SCHEMES

SAMPLE Translation Fund International research programme

General funds

Translation Fund

DANISH ARTS COUNCIL SUPPORT SCHEMES

NORDIC Translation Fund

Travel grants for translators

Promotion grants Literary exchange fund

Literary exchange fund

General funds

Support may be provided to defray travel and hotel expenses in connection with a Danish author’s participation in literary festivals, readings and publication events abroad, if there is a formal invitation. Support may be provided to foreign authors travelling to Denmark on the same conditions. In addition, foreign translators of Danish literature may apply for support to defray travel expenses in connection with shorter stays in Denmark. There is no application deadline, and applications will be processed as quickly as practicable.

Normally, support is only provided for events, publications, and seminars in Denmark. In exceptional cases, however, the Danish Arts Council’s Committee for Literature may subsidize the publication abroad of Danish works in translation and events, that have a special focus on Danish literature. In a pilot project the Danish Arts Council’s Committee for Literature has earmarked special funds to cover the cost of printing and production for foreign publishers wishing to publish Danish illustrated children’s books in translation. Publishers can apply for a set grant of 1,000 euros. There are two annual application deadlines.

Promotion grants Foreign publishers can apply for grants for the promotion of Danish literature abroad. There are four annual application deadlines.

Contact: The Danish Arts Council’s Committee for Literature, litteratur@kunst.dk, www.kunst.dk

The Danish Arts Council works to promote art in Denmark and Danish art abroad. The Danish Literature Centre is the adminstrative arm of The Danish Arts Council’s Committee for Literature. www.danisharts.dk

Organisations Danish Writers of Fiction and Poetry

The Danish Writers Association

was founded in 1991 and has approx. 200 members

is Denmark’s oldest professional association for writers and translators. It was founded in 1894 and has approx. 1350 members. The association includes the Danish Translators Association.

kontor@skoenlit.dk / www.skoenlit.dk

The Danish Playwrights’ and Screenwriters’ Guild (founded in 1906) is an association for theater, radio, television and film scriptwriters. It has approx. 300 members. admin@dramatiker.dk / www.dramatiker.dk

df@danskforfatterforening.dk / www.danskforfatterforening.dk

The Danish Publishers Association

is a trade association for Danish booksellers. The association has approx. 380 members and represents 90% of all Danish booksellers.

(founded in 1837) is a trade association for individuals and firms involved in the publishing industry. The association accounts for approx. 2/3 of the overall turnover from Danish publications, including multimedia.

ddb@bogpost.dk / www.boghandlerforeningen.dk

danskeforlag@danskeforlag.dk / www.danskeforlag.dk

The Danish Booksellers Association

Danish Literary Magazine is published by The Danish Arts Councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Committee for Literature. The magazine is published twice annually: for the London Book Fair in April and for the Frankfurt Book Fair in October. danishlit e rary magazine. dk