Author Lecture with Niels Krause-Kjær

Niels Krause-Kjær on 'Ude for uden': Monday 1 February 2027, 19:00–21:00, Hovedbiblioteket, Skive. Tickets cost 200 kr.

About the lecture

Niels Krause-Kjær presents his award-winning novel "Ude for uden" - a personal story about Denmark during a period of profound change, when an entire way of life disappeared in a short time. The novel is rooted in a travel journal written by his father and fellow folk-school students over half a century, which Niels later discovered in the Danish National Archives.

The novel's protagonist is Erik, a young farmer who, after World War II, tries to build a future for himself and his family with his wife Lisbet. Their lives are marked by hard work, drought, and tragedy, while the farming culture they grew up in gradually dissolves and former heroes become villains in a new era. Years after Erik's death, his son Svend finds the travel journal - he now lives a completely different life in Copenhagen as a member of parliament under media scrutiny, with secrets that threaten his political career. Encountering the past hits him hard.

The lecture blends personal memories, history, and literary storytelling, inviting reflection on the relationship between countryside and city, post-war social development, and what modernity has cost and given. In 2025, Niels Krause-Kjær received the booksellers' literary prize, De Gyldne Laurbær, for "Ude for uden".

About the author

Niels Krause-Kjær (born 1963) is a full-time author today. Previously, he worked as a political journalist and hosted DR2 Deadline, and has also been a journalist at Jyllands-Posten, head of the journalism programme at the University of Southern Denmark, and press secretary for the Conservative Party's parliamentary group. He achieved his breakthrough with the novel "Kongekabale", which was adapted into a film in 2004, and has since written, among others, "Fandens forår", "Nedsmeltning", "Jagttegn", and "Mørkeland" (adapted in 2024).