Stig Dalager


Stig Dalager is a Danish writer. He is the author of 65 literary works of all kinds, mostly novels and plays, of which several have been translated or staged internationally.

Biography

Dalager was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the post-war period of the 1950s, a time of painful remembrances of the Second World War, continued economic restrictions, and a growing optimism about the future. His parents were grocers throughout the 1950s and 1960s, until his father was struck by Parkinson's disease. Dalager describes his radically changing family structure as he and his two younger brothers moved with their parents to the provincial town of Herning in Jutland, near to where his father had been raised. There Dalager graduated from high school, after which he attended the University of Århus, where he received his master's degree and a Ph.D. in comparative literature. It was also there that he became involved in the student movement of the 1970s. With his then fiancée, Anne Marie Mai, he wrote several books on literature, including a two-volume study of Danish women writers from the Middle Ages to contemporary times, Danske kvindelige forfattere 1-2.
In 1982, Dalager left the University of Copenhagen to live as a writer, which he has continued to do since. He has written poetry, fiction, drama, filmscripts and essays. Several of his poems and novels have been translated into other languages, and he has seen his plays staged in Moscow, New York City, Berlin, and other cities.
The poetry cycle Århus-elegi of 1986 was his poetic breakthrough. His most recent collection, Den tynde væg, was published in 2016.
Three of his latest prose-works were the novels Journey in Blue published in 2004, The Labyrinth in 2006 and Land of shadows in 2007. Dalager's 2017 novel Kvinde i et århundrede about the Elisabeth of the Palatinate, and his 2020 Kaos og verden about Trump's America and AI are his most recent to have been published.

Prose

  • Hærværksforeningen og andre noveller, 1980
  • Bergomi, novel, 1984
  • Jon, novel, 1986
  • Glemsel og erindring, novel, 1992.
  • Davids bog, novel, 1995.
  • Fanget, detective novel, 1998.
  • Tilfældige forbindelser, stories, 1998.
  • En dukkes histories, stories for children, 2000.
  • Øvelser i ensomhed, novel, 2000.
  • To dage i july, novel, 2002,
  • Opgøret med det entydige, essays, 2002.
  • Tilfældige forbindelser, prose trilogy, 2002–03.
  • Rejse i blåt, novel, 2004.
  • Labyrinten, novel, 2005.
  • Land of Shadows, novel, 2007.
  • Slowly Comes the light, novel, 2009
  • The Long Day, novel, 2011
  • The Blue Light, novel, 2012
  • Eternity of the Moment, novel, 2013
  • Journey without End, novel, 2015
  • Woman in a Century, novel, 2017
  • The last days of the Rabby, tale, 2017
  • Kaos og verden, novel 2020
  • En verden af forbindelser, a prose trilogy, 2022

    Plays

  • Monolog for ung mand, radio play/ monologue, 1982
  • En aften i Hamburg, play 1983–85
  • Nat i Venedig, play, 1987, trans. Washington D.C., 1992
  • Nat med sne og kærlighed, radio play, 1987
  • Morgen i Århus, radio play, 1988
  • Mesteren og Margarita, play, 1991
  • Herre og skygge, play, 1992, trans.
  • En historie om forræderi, play, 1992.
  • Jeg tæller timerne, monologue,
  • Længsler og skygger, play, 1995.
  • Drømmen, play, trans. 1999.
  • En halv times kærlighed, play, 2001.
  • Ansigter, dia-monologue for an Israeli and Palestinian woman, New York, Copenhagen, 2005.
  • Family Night, play, 2005
  • American Elektra, play, premiere in Beijing and Copenhagen 2007.
  • Evening Light, play, 2012
  • Journey in Light and Shadow, play, 2017
  • Hammarskjöld, monologue about Dag Hammarskjöld, world premiere in Copenhagen, May 2022, and in New York 2023

    Filmscripts

  • I fremmed havn film, 1990
  • Ved havet, TV film, 1991
  • Møde i natten, TV film, 1991
  • Mørke og forsoning, documentary film from the West Bank and Israel, 2003
  • "Land of shadows", script for film adaptation of Land of shadows
  • "Journey in Blue", script for film adaptation of ''Journey in Blue''

    Libretti

  • Kærlighed og forræderi, opera libretto for Niels Marthinsen, 1997.

    Poetry collections

  • Opløsningstiden
  • Lindholmen station
  • Provinsidyl
  • Århus-elegi
  • Vinter
  • Ansigt og årstid
  • Hjernen er en rød station
  • Floden under huset
  • Wienerdage
  • Og du skal vågne igen
  • Himlen åbner sig.
  • Ildfluerne danser, 2012
  • Den tynde væg, 2016

    Essays

  • Opgøret med det entydige. Essays and articles, 2000
  • Ansøgning om at være menneske. Essays and articles, 2009
  • Nedtælling for humanismen. Essays and articles, 2018