Søren Gyldendal (12 April 1742 – 8 February 1802) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

bookstore owner who founded

Gyldendal Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag A/S, usually referred to simply as Gyldendal () is a Danish publishing house. Founded in 1770 by Søren Gyldendal, it is the oldest and largest publishing house in Denmark, offering a wide selection of ...

which became Denmark's largest publishing house.

Biography

Søren Jensen Gyldendal was born at

Aars Aars or Års, () is a Danish town with a population of 8,474 (1 January 2022)Vesthimmerland, Denmark. Gyldendal attended Aarhus Katedralskole, graduated from the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

in 1766 and took the

examen philosophicum Examen philosophicum (Latin for ''philosophic exam''; abbreviated to ''Ex.phil.'') is, together with Examen facultatum, one of two academic exams in most undergraduate programmes at Norwegian universities. Whereas ''Examen facultatum'' aims at te ...

the following year. He acquired a bookstore and in 1770 he began his independent publishing house. Every year on the anniversary of his birthday, the Søren Gyldendal Foundation (''Søren Gyldendal Fonden'') awards a prize in his name, the

Søren Gyldendal Prize The Søren Gyldendal Prize (Danish: ''Søren Gyldendal-Prisen'') is a Danish literary award, which was established in 1958 by Gyldendal Publishing House. The prize is awarded annually on 12 April, the anniversary of the birthday of Søren Gyldend ...

(''Søren Gyldendal Prisen''). Since 2009, the prize has been DKK 200,000. Every second year a fiction writer is awarded and every second year the prize goes to a non-fiction author.

References

External links

Gyldendal Forlag website

Biographical details at Den visuelle slægtsbog

Søren Gyldendal's gravestone
1742 births 1802 deaths 18th-century Danish businesspeople Danish company founders People from Vesthimmerland Municipality Businesspeople from Copenhagen University of Copenhagen alumni {{Denmark-business-bio-stub