Born in 1949 and living in Copenhagen, Brunse is a writer and one of the most respected literary translators in Denmark. Shakespeare has a predominant place in his oeuvre, he is currently working on a complete new translation of all the plays and sonnets; but he has also translated classic and contemporary works from German and Russian, among many others Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks, Goethe’s Wahlverwandtschaften, Peter Weiss’ Ästhetik des Widerstands, and Andrej Belyj’s Peterburg.

Brunse has been awarded several literary prizes for his translations, including a life-long grant from The Danish Arts Foundation and the Übersetzerpreis der Kunststiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen.