Inger Christensen

Inger Christensen was a Danish poet, essayist, and novelist, born in Vejle, Denmark, in 1935.

A number of Christensen’s poetry collections have been translated by Susanna Nied into English, including Azorno (New Directions, 2009); it (New Directions, 2006); Butterfly Valley: A Requiem (New Directions, 2004); and alphabet (New Directions, 2001). Light, Grass, and Letter in April, a collected translation of her first three poetry books, was published by New Directions in 2011. 

Christensen is also the author of the novels Natalja’s Stories and The Painted Room, both released in 2025 by New Directions and translated by Denise Newman. A posthumous collection of essays, The Condition of Secrecy, was also released by New Directions in November 2018.

Christensen died in Copenhagen in 2009.