This Should Be Written In Present Tense

Helle Helle

Original title: Dette burde skrives i nutid
Publisher: Samleren, Denmark, 2011
Genre: Novel
Pages: 158 pages

A young woman rents a place near the train station in the small town of Glumsø. Every day shecommutes to Copenhagen. Her parents think she is studying but she never turns up at the university.
She spends her time in the streets and alleys and in the amusement center, Scala, with the poet, Hase. She writes as well but not very successfully.
A lot of disturbing factors are at play, such as her past with Per Finland, her parents at her doorstep and the freight trains chugging through the night.

Foreign rights

Albanian: Ejal
Czech: Paseka
Dutch: Contact
Estonian: Eesti Raamat
Ethiopia: Amharic
Farsi: Farsi Publication
French: Buchet – Chastel
Greek: Lemvos
Italian: Scrittapura
Morocco: Esperanto Culture Worldwide
Norwegian: Forlaget Oktober
Romanian: Casa Cărţii de Ştiinţă
Serbian: Cekic
Slovak: Art Forum
Swedish: Norstedts
Turkish: Pinhan
UK: British English: Harvill Secker
USA: American English: Counter Point

Awards

Awarded the Golden Laurel Literary Prize 2011

Helle Helle makes us feel less alone.

Dawn Raffel, Oprah.com

Helle Helle (…) has enchanting gifts as a storyteller.

Jonathan Russell Clark, The New York Times

…overwhelms me in a very powerful way.
Weekendavisen

Helle Helle

Photo by Mikkel Carl

Helle Helle (b. 1965) is a graduate of the Danish Academy of Creative Writing and the author of a number of novels as well as two collections of short fiction. She is one of Scandinavia’s most original writers, with a career spanning three decades, from her debut Example of Life (1993) to her most recent novel, Hafni Says, published to rave reviews in 2023. Her books have been translated into 24 languages.