Morten Hesseldahl Denmark

Morten Hesseldahl, born 1964, studied philosophy, but has also worked as a cartoonist. Previously editor at Gyldendal, editor-in-chief at Høst & Søn and Hans Reitzels Forlag, before becoming the director of the Bonnier group in Denmark. In 2005 he joined the board of the Danish Film Institute, was managing director of the newspaper Information, and is now head of cultural division of Danmarks Radio (Danish public television).

Hesseldahl's novels have been sold for translation to France and Norway.

New novel:

Blodet fra Solsortesletten
(Blood from the Battle of Kosovo) Modtryk, August 2011

Late one night an unusual burglar steps into a flat in Copenhagen where a man, tied to a bed, is bleeding to death.
Elsewhere in Copenhagen a single mother's life is falling apart after she has unwitting come into contact with a never settled-enmity which the war in the former Yugoslavia brought to Denmark.
There is evil in this world. Evil of the sort that cannot be explained away or excused, but which will invariably spread until it is stopped. And it is precisely that sort of evil which confronts the characters of this book.

Blood from the battle of Kosovo is the story of people who dream of finding a meaning in their existence, about potentially fatal nationalism, and about making the perfect cartoon album.

Natten er lige begyndt
(The Night is Young) Modtryk, 2009

On a cold December night a young Dane is kidnapped by FARC in the mountains of Columbia. His employee, a big Danish engineering company, is confronted with a demand for a huge ransom. The kidnapping leads to a chain reaction, and the CEO of the company is forced into dubious acts to save his life’s work. At the same time, a drawny investor with close connections to the Columbian drug scene gets involved in the affair and the situation develops in a dangeous direction. This also goes for a small group of activists who realise that the transition from theory to practice can be fatal. And that survival in a snow-covered Copenhagen is not only a question of political correctnes but of basic instincs.

Natten er lige begyndt is a thriller about the confrontation between cyniciscm and idealism and about all the things that are jeopardised when normal considerations are ignored and everybody goes for the big win.

Drager over Kabul
(Kites Over Kabul) Modtryk, 2007

Winner of the Harald Mogensen-Prize for best Danish thriller of the year 2007