Copenhagen Noir

NAJA MARIE AIDT (b. 1963) is one of Denmark’s most acclaimed lyricists and short story writers; her latest collection, Bavian (2006), received the Critics’ Award and the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize. In 2008, Aidt moved from Copenhagen to Brooklyn, New York.

JONAS T. BENGTSSON (b. 1976) published his debut novel Amina’s Letters in 2005, and has since written a novel about brothers, Submarino (a 2010 film by Thomas Vinterberg), which like his story in this volume takes place partly in the Northwest district, Bengtsson’s home ground for many years.

CHRISTIAN DORPH (b. 1966) and SIMON PASTERNAK (b. 1971) have attracted considerable attention in the Danish crime fiction community with their novels In a Moment in Heaven (2005), The Edge of the Abyss (2007), and I’m Not Here (2010), which have been translated into six languages.

AGNETE FRIIS (b. 1975) and LENE KAABERBØL (b. 1960) debuted in Danish crime fiction with The Suitcase Boy (2008)-the first book in a series featuring the Red Cross nurse Nina Borg. Kaaberbøl has been for many years an internationally best-selling fantasy writer. Friis is a journalist and also a fantasy writer.

HELLE HELLE (b. 1965) is the author of various short stories and novels, including the acclaimed novels Down to the Dogs (2008) and Rødby-Puttgarden (2005). The latter won the Critics’ Prize. Helle Helle lived in Vanløse from 1988-1993 while employed at Bakken (an amusement park north of Copenhagen) as an information girl clad in a green uniform with shoulder padding; later she attended Copenhagen’s Writer’s School.

BENN Q. HOLM (b. 1962) is a Copenhagen writer best known for the novels Hafnia Punk (1998), Album (2005, adapted into a TV series in 2008), and Copenhagen’s Mysteries (2008).

GRETELISE HOLM (b. 1946), author and national commentator, has in recent years achieved much success as a writer of crime fiction, inside and outside of Denmark.

LENE KAABERBØL (b. 1960) and AGNETE FRIIS (b. 1975) debuted in Danish crime fiction with The Suitcase Boy (2008)-the first book in a series featuring the Red Cross nurse Nina Borg. Kaaberbøl has been for many years an internationally best-selling fantasy writer. Friis is a journalist and also a fantasy writer.

MARK KLINE (b. 1952) has translated the fiction and poetry of a number of contemporary Danish writers. He has had many short stories published, and for years he has been a bluegrass musician in Denmark. He and his wife live in the South Harbor section of Copenhagen.

KRISTIAN LUNDBERG (b. 1966) is a lyricist and writer from over there-Sweden-where he has gained notoriety with his crossover and extremely experimental crime series about his hometown, Malmø, a city on the edge of dissolution as an axis for borderless crime in the new Europe. Policeman Nils Forsberg is at the center of the books, which include Eldätaren (The Fire-Eater, 2004), Grindväktaren (The Gatekeeper, 2005) and Malmømannen (The Malmø Man, 2009).

BO TAO MICHAËLIS (b. 1948) received his master’s degree in comparative literature and classical culture from the University of Copenhagen, where he now teaches. He is a cultural critic at the Danish newspaper Politiken, and has written books on crime fiction, Raymond Chandler, and Ernest Hemingway; and papers about Dashiell Hammett, Paul Auster, and several other American writers.

SEYIT ÖZTÜRK (b. 1980) won second prize in a writing contest for “new Danes,” for his short story “Where I’m Sitting Now,” which appeared in the anthology New Voices (2007). Öztürk is of Turkish descent, and has lived most of his life in Valby, more recently moving to Nørrebro.

SIMON PASTERNAK (b. 1971) and CHRISTIAN DORPH (b. 1966) have attracted considerable attention in the Danish crime fiction community with their novels In a Moment in Heaven (2005), The Edge of the Abyss (2007), and I’m Not Here (2010), which have been translated into six languages.

KLAUS RIFBJERG (b. 1931) has been a major fixture in Danish literature over the past fifty years. He was born and raised in Amager, in Eberts Villaby.

GUNNAR STAALESEN (b. 1947), a Norwegian author residing in Bergen, is known and loved for his Bergen trilogy (First Blush of Dawn, High Noon, and Evening Song) and several volumes of crime fiction starring private detective Varg Veum.