Honors and awards
- Bottari Lattes Grinzani’s literary award 2015, Italy (winner)
- Edoardo Kihlgren først Prize for European Literature 2014, Italy (winner)
- Premio Letteraria Fano 2014, Italy (shortlist)
- Prix du roman Fnac 2011, France (shortlist)
- Prix du roman Chapitre européen 2011, France (shortlist)
- The Danish Art Council’s Three year grant 2011 (winner)
- Various grants 1998 –
Childhood
I spent my childhood in the vibrant city of Copenhagen. My mother, Mette Brask, was the fifth generation of lawyers and mainly worked in the parliament, while my father, Peter Andersen, worked as an economist. My grandfather, (Gunnar Andersen) a painter, spent most of his career doing the illustrations for banknotes for the National Bank of Denmark.
One great-grandfather, Ole Maage, was an engineer who ventured to Siberia in search of gold – and in 1918 lost it all during the Russian revolution and fled to Denmark with his family. In 1961 he published his memoirs Levemand i Sibirien (A brogadoccio in Siberia).
In 1987, I was among the winners in a short story competition. Shortly followed by other competitions and contributions to the anthologies Beginnings and Erotic stories.
Youth
During my high school and university years, I contributed articles, features, and short stories to some newspapers and magazines.
While working on my master’s thesis on antisemitic Nazi film Propaganda at University of Copenhagen (free download here), I co-authored a non-fiction book titled The Jew and the Aryan – in the Nazi film propaganda, in 1995.
I graduated the same year with a Master of Arts in Film Science and History.
At 25, I embarked on a seven-month journey through Indonesia and Northern Australia. This trip, marked by significant events such as two near-drowning incidents that caused a year long PTSD. I also visited to the last headhunters on Seram Island and the Komodo dragons. I co-wrote the travelogue Journey in the rainy Season.
From 1997 to 2000, I worked as a director of documentaries and informational videos. One of these received a Golden Award at the ITVA Festival 1998.
Loss of children
In 2000, after suffering the devastating loss of my twins, Alma & Thor, I decided to change my career path. I began by creating satirical books, resulting in the publication of The Schnaps Parliament 2001 and The Schnaps Parliament 2002.
Following this, I co-founded the communications agency Tabula Rasa where I mainly worked with storytelling.
Faction
Blondanett – an escort´s Diary (2005) was based on interviews and daily dictaphone-recordings of a Danish prostitute. The purpose of the book was to portray the life and thoughts of a mature woman, who gave up her life and job as a nurse to become a callgirl.
Holocaust novel
In 2006 I moved to Mozambique to write my first novel, The Sea in Theresienstadt, which tells the story of a Danish Jew in the German concentration camp Theresienstadt. The book was published in Denmark by Politikens Forlag in 2007 and later in France by Presses de la Cité in 2009. It was honored with nominations for the Prix du Roman Fnac and was shortlisted for the Prix Chapitre du Roman Européen. In France alone, the book sold approximately 44,000 copies.
Book on the the smartest person on the planet
In 2011, I published The perfect Life of William Sidis, a novel based on the life of the renowned child prodigy William Sidis (1898-1944), who is estimated to have had an IQ of 250-300.
This novel has been published in several countries: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, France, Italy, and South Korea. It has also been sold to Turkey and Spain.
The Perfect Life of William Sidis received some accolades. In 2014, it was awarded the Italian Edoardo Kihlgren First Prize for European Literature and was nominated for the Premio Letteraria in the category of Best Novel Translated into Italian. The novel won the Italian literary award Premio Bottari Lattes Grinzane in 2015, and I was honored to receive the Danish Art Council’s “Three-Year Grant.”
Autofiction
In 2013, came the novel A girl and a boy inspired by the loss of my twins.
The novel has been printed in 25.000 copies. In 2014, the book was published in Norway and Russia.
Biography
2014 Tomorrow I stop came out. It is a biography of the Danish Tv-personality, Anja Fonseca, who secretly suffered from bulimia.
2015 the non-fiction e-book Films of Evil – The nazi antisemitic Film Propaganda was published.
Victims of violence
2016 the novel The Victims was published, a psychological thriller that delves into the aftermath of a violent attack on a couple. Drawing inspiration from real-life interviews with survivors of violence, the narrative explores the complex emotions of revenge and forgiveness as the protagonists navigate the aftermath of trauma.
In the years 2016-2019, I published a few comical young adult novels using different pseudonyms.
Magic realism
In 2021 A fragile earthquake came out. It can be described as a dystopic and magic realistic novel about the end of the world.
Current project
I am currently working on a biographical-historical trilogy about a real life famous German family during the first and second world war.