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Ursula Andkjaer Olsen Foto:Rolando Diaz
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The poet Ursula Andkjær Olsen (born 1970, Copenhagen) studied Musicology and Philosophy, and from 1997 to 1999 attended the renowned Danish Authors’ School. The tension between music and poetry is present in all of her work, not just in the chamber operas “Miki Alone” (2002), Kunsten at vælge“ (The Art of Choosing, 2005) and “Alverden god Nat“ (Good Night to the World, 2014), or the cabaret concert “Himmel-Havn“ (Heaven-Harbour, 2007).
Even when Olsen’s poems appear in print, they are conceived fundamentally musically – sonically as well as graphically – in her open, precise, and often plurivocal form. Olsen’s texts transgress genres, open up a linguistic landscape between prose, verse and sound, that extracts its beauty out of the very fragility of those who speak within it. Olsen is interested at every level in the performative elements of poetry, the voice of her poems, their corporality. A reading from Ursula Andkjær Olsen is always more than a reading.
Since her debut in the year 2000 Olsen has published eight books of poetry, the majority with the influential Gyldendal publishing house, including an anthology of selected poems, but also collaborations with visual artists and a play. Together with her sister Julie Andkjær she also created the poetry app “Jeg pynter mig” (I’m getting dressed up).
Alongside numerous other awards, Olsen received for her work the Nordic Council’s Music Prize (2008), the Otto Gelsted Prize from the Danish Academy (2010), and the Montanas Literary Prize (2012).
Publications (selected)
Lulus sange og taler (Lulu’s songs and Speeches), Arena og Lindhardt & Ringhof 2000
Syndfloder (The Floods), Basilisk 2002
Atlas over huller i verden (Atlas of earthly holes), Gyldendal 2003
Ægteskabet mellem vejen og udvejen (The Marriage between way and way out), Gyldendal 2005
Skønheden hænger på træerne (Beauty grows on trees), Gyldendal 2006
Havet er en scene (The Ocean is a Stage), Gyldendal 2008
Have og helvede (Garden and Hell), Gyldendal 2010
SAMLET, (COLLECTED), Gyldendal 2011
Det 3. årtusindes hjerte (3rd millennium heart), Gyldendal 2012
den bedste af alle verdener (the best of all worlds – play), Korridor 2014