Benedicte Huang on Jammers Minde

Benedicte Huang is an author and journalist who has created a new version of Jammers Minde - the famous prison diary of Princess Leonora Christina. In 1663, Leonora Christina was locked in the Blue Tower, accused of treason alongside her husband Corfitz Ulfelt, and remained imprisoned for nearly 22 years. She reportedly wrote the manuscript itself using a "quill made from a chicken feather sharpened with flint".

Huang discusses the process behind her translation of Leonora Christina's 17th-century Danish into language that modern readers can follow - without losing respect for the original. The text is far from dry: it contains meticulous observations of details, dirt on the floor, quarrelsome servants, violence and intrigue, and Leonora Christina's own condemnations of enemies to punishments such as "boils in unspeakable places". The book functions simultaneously as a diary, a defence and a literary masterpiece, and is considered Denmark's first novel.

The event opens with a historical quiz, and the winner takes home a signed copy of Jammers Minde.

Venue: Orange Scene