Published: 07 February 2012

Klaus Rifbjerg was born on 15 December, 1931, on the island of Amager (Copenhagen), the youngest child of two teachers. He grew up in a sheltered, liberal home and his literary work is marked by a repeated return to themes of childhood and youth. His first book of poetry, "Under Vejr med mig selv", was published in 1956 and was followed in 1958 by his well-received first novel, "Den kroniske uskyld" (1958). The novel is now a fixture of the school curriculum, has been filmed, and is considered as one of the classics of modern Danish literature. Rifbjerg is closely associated with the development of literary modernism in Denmark, often surprising his readership with his experimentation with new forms. He has now published almost 150 works across a range of genres: poetry, prose, plays, criticism, essays, diaries, manuscripts, film, radio and television plays and journalism.

Rifbjerg studied English literature in Copenhagen and at Princeton and in the early years of his literary career also worked as a journalist, in the film business and as the editor of the magazine "Vindrosen". He subsequently spent 10 years as the literary director of the Copenhagen Gyldendal publishing house. He has been a member of the Danish Academy since 1967. Rifbjerg died on 4 April, 2015.

Numerous prizes, including the Nordic Council's Prize, the Swedish Academy’s Nordic Prize and the Danish Academy’s Grand Prize.

Published: 29 September 2011

Danish poet and translator. Born in Aarhus, 1948, lives now in Hinnerup. Has released a large number of poetry collections and novels, most recently the poetry collection Arkader ("Arcades") in 2009. The poetry collection Livet foreslår ("Life suggests") was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2004. Besides Tomas Tranströmer's Collected Works his translations include Danish selections of poetry by Jaan Kaplinski, Paul Celan, Lars Norén and Tua Forsström.

Published: 18 February 2011

Author Karen Blixen, who wrote also under the name of Isak Dinesen, was born in 1885 at Rungstedlund, her family's estate to the north of Copenhagen. In 1914, she emigrated to Kenya together with her husband, Swedish nobleman Bror von Blixen-Finecke, who she divorced in 1924. Karen Blixen returned to Denmark in 1931 to once again live at Rungstedlund. Her first book Seven Gothic Tales was published in the USA in 1934 and became a huge success. It is however her book Out of Africa, 1938 that made her name known around the world (a American motion picture based on the book and with the same title came out in 1985). Blixen continued to write, in both English and Danish, until her death in 1962.  Much of her work was published posthumously.

In the early 1930's, during a difficult readjustment to living in Denmark, Karen Blixen prepared several stories, which she had been working on in Africa, to be sent to publishers. She offered the tales under the name Isak (meaning the laughing one) Dinesen, a name meant to sound like they were written by a man. She was afraid that, as a woman, her work would not be taken seriously.

She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1957.

Published: 10 February 2011

Born in Thisted in 1937. Died on 23 October, 2018.

1960-85 teacher, head master, chief of section in ministry of education, since 1985 free writer of faction (Nordic and Baltic history), fiction, poetry and translations mostly of poetry (Bellman, Petrarch, Jónas Hallgrimsson). Danish faction prize, Swedish and Finnish knighthood (for literary activity). President of the Conference of Literary Societies in Denmark.