I was born in 1970 and I hold a degree in literature and art history from the University of Aarhus. I’m the author of the novels “Soul” (2001), “Stormesteren” (2003) and “Ann Lie” (2005) and in 2008 I published a collection of short stories entitled “Kantslag” (Karate Chop). In 2010 I published “Dage” (Days); a novella, and after that came the novella Minna needs rehearsal space (Minna mangler et øvelokale), 2013. The novel Mirror, Shoulder, Signal was published in 2016, and in 2017 it was a Man Booker International finalist.
It was short stories that paved the way for the international success. The stories from Karate Chop were translated one by one and appeared in American literary magazines from 2009 – 2012. In 2012 the entire collection was bought by Graywolf Press in collaboration with the New York based magazine, A Public Space. My story The Heron appeared in the New Yorker (Sept. 9th issue 2013) and I was the first Dane ever to have short fiction in the magazine. In May 2015 another story “The Freezer Chest” also appeared in The New Yorker.
Karate Chop was published by Graywolf Press in 2014 and the American reviews were overwhelming (see praise for Karate Chop and Minna Needs Rehearsal Space here). The book has since been bought by the UK, Germany, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway, Romania, Turkey, The Netherlands, Spain, Hungary, Serbia and China.
The two novellas Minna Needs Rehearsal Space and Days have been bought by Graywolf Press and was published in The United States June 2016 under the new title So Much for that Winter. Minna Needs Rehearsal Space is also bought by Pushkin Press, U.K., Cappelen Damm, Norway, Ordfront, Sweden, Strik, Serbia and Podium, The Netherlands.
I write both in Danish and in English (Danish for fiction, English for essays) and my essays have appeared on BBC Radio 4, in The Guardian, Vi läser, Electric Literature, A Public Space, The Literary Hub – and many more places.
In 2011 I recieved the Danish Arts Agency’s Three Year Grant. And in 2014 I received the Per Olov Enquist Literary Prize. In 2017 Mirror, Shoulder, Signal was a Man Booker International finalist.
Mirror, Shoulder, Signal was published in Denmark, 2016. So far it has been sold to The United States (Graywolf Press), The United Kingdom (Pushkin), Germany (Kein&Aber), Sweden (Ordfront), Norway (Cappelen Damm), The Netherlands (Podium), Hungary (PARK), Italy (Bompiani), France (Delcourt), The Czech Republic (Argo), Greece, (Metaixmio), Israel (Achuzat Bayit), Poland (Czarna Owca), Serbia (Štrik), Spain (Anagrama), Croatia (Fraktura) and China (FLTRP). It’s a book about a woman who in the middle of her life insists on learning how to drive, and it’s a story about longing to go back to a place that no longer exists. About emancipation – and being stuck.
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