Translating Spaces – Danish fiction in the UK

Talk by Danish author Tine Høeg in conversation with Lolli Editions publisher Dr. Denise Rose Hansen.

The Material Texts research group at Engerom is delighted to invite interested scholars and students to join us for a stimulating talk on the production, translation, circulation and reception of Danish contemporary literature within the UK book scene. We will delve into the aesthetic considerations that shape Tine Høeg’s writing process and explore how these essential elements are recreated in the production of her translated works published by Lolli Editions. The discussion will focus on the challenges and nuances of creating and translating Høeg’s fiction, characterised by its fragmented prose, and how such universally relatable stories of adulthood, desire and loss, played out in quintessential Danish settings, are received by Anglophone readers.

Bios

Tine Høeg (b. 1985) explores the complexities of adult life, desire, and societal expectations through her unique literary style. Her characters grapple with the challenges of navigating adulthood, often giving in to uncontrolled urges that can be both destructive and shameful. With a critical eye, Høeg questions prevailing notions of motherhood, women's roles, and female desire, all while infusing her writing with humour and precise, lyrical language. Her writing defies easy categorisation, and in both her debut novel Nye rejsende from 2017 (New Passengers, 2020) and Tour de chambre from 2020 (Memorial, 29 June, 2023) poetry and prose blend together in the page, oscillating between the present, memories and dream scenarios in concise, self-aware text forms reminiscent of social media communication.

Denise Rose Hansen (b. 1989) is an arts researcher, writer, editor, translator and publisher. She studied Creative Writing with English Literature at the University of Westminster and received her MA in English from the University of Copenhagen and holds a PhD in English from UCL. Her research focuses on post-1945 British fiction, particularly 1960s writers’ relations with the art world and the novel as a space for aesthetic experiences. She was an AHRC-funded International Research Fellow at Yale Center for British Art in 2019, an Anglo-Danish Scholar in 2020–21, and a Visiting Fellow at the Literary Translation Archive at the University of East Anglia in 2022. In 2018, she received the International Award for Excellence for her outstanding research. She is the publisher of London-based Lolli Editions.