Dennis Jürgensen (born 3 February 1961) is one of the most popular
Danish writers for kids and young adults. A study among Danish kids from 11 to 18 years showed that 90% knew who Jürgensen was and th
fanclubhas many members.
Writing style
Jürgensen is mostly a writer for the youth but as he has said himself some of his books should be considered to be for adults. He has written in almost any genre but his most preferred genres are
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures.
The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
,
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
and
horror or a combination of those three. But he has also written crime-books, books about love and realistic novels.
Humor is an ongoing feature, a thing he focuses a lot on. One of his idols,
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
, once said his biggest wish was that someone would die of terror after reading his book. To that Jürgensen has remarked that his biggest wish is that someone will laugh so hard from reading his book that people in the
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...
will turn around and look at him.
Personal life and career
He grew up in
Brønshøj
Brønshøj, part of the municipality of Copenhagen, forms, together with Husum, the administrative city district (''bydel'') of Brønshøj-Husum, in Denmark.
History
The first mention of the village Brønshøj (Brunshoga), is in a letter dated ...
near
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
(today he's living in
Rødovre
Rødovre () is a town in eastern Denmark, seat of the Rødovre Municipality, in the Capital Region of Denmark, Region Hovedstaden. The town's population 1 January 2019 was 39,907, and in addition 145 persons had no fixed address, which made up a ...
), he was doing okay in school with the exception being
Danish. He drifted around after taking his exam in 1978 and tried unsuccessfully to send manuscripts to various publishers. But during the summer of 1981
Kristian Tellerup from the publishing company
Tellerup answered to one of his scripts, Love at First Hiccup, a youth-novel about love and of course a lot humor. It was published the same autumn and was an enormous success and has since been reprinted 20 times. It was later put to the screen in 1999 and became a big success in
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
. Since then he has written more than 50 novels and made three feature films, for example an adaptation of his ''Kærlighed ved første hik'', starring
Robert Hansen
Robert Christian Boes Hansen (February 15, 1939 – August 21, 2014), also known as the Butcher Baker, was an American serial killer active in Anchorage, Alaska, between 1972 and 1983, abducting, raping and murdering at least seventeen wome ...
and
Sofie Lassen-Kahlke
Sofie is a feminine given name and a surname. Notable bearers of the name include:
Given name
* Sofie Albinus (born 1972), Danish tennis player
* Sofie Bernhoft (1870–1966), Norwegian actress
* Sofie Börjesson (born 1997), Swedish handballer
* ...
.
Jürgensen doesn't often make appearances on mainstream media. However, on 22 August 2014 he was guest on the radio programme Syvkabalen on national radio
Radio24Syv
Radio24syv (English: "Radio 24 seven") was a Danish public service radio station sending talk radio. The radio station was financed by public money through mandatory licence fees, but was privately owned by Berlingske Media and PeopleGroup. The ...
, where he openly elaborated on his work as an author and motivations.
Bibliography
These are the Danish titles of the books that have been printed.
*''Kærlighed ved første hik'' (1981)
*''Er du blød mand'' (1982)
*''Balladen om den forsvundne mumie'' (1982)
*''Brædder til Draculas kiste'' (1983)
*''Djævelens hule'' (1983)
*''Bøvsedragens hemmelighed'' (1984)
*''Jord i hovedet'' (1984)
*''Grønne øjne'' (1985)
*''Blodspor i Transsylvanien'' (1986)
*''Flyskræk'' (1986)
*''Gargoylens gåde'' (1986)
*''Stormesteren'' (1987)
*''Bøvl med bandagerne'' (1988)
*''Knusumkranium (Krøniker fra kvæhl 1)'' (1988)
*''Vampyrtroldene (Krøniker fra kvæhl 2)'' (1988)
*''Æzurvin slår til (Krøniker fra kvæhl 3)'' (1988)
*''Midnatstimen'' (1989)
*''Dystopia'' (1989)
*''Heksens ansigt (Krøniker fra kvæhl 4)'' (1990)
*''Lusingandos fælde (Krøniker fra kvæhl 5)'' (1990)
*''Jeg, en nørd'' (1990)
*''Snevampyren'' (1991)
*''Sorte Ragn rider igen'' (1991)
*''Kadavermarch'' (1991)
*''Tingen i cellen'' (1992)
*''Mirakler udføres'' (1992)
*''Benny og Brian med ketchup og sennep'' (1993)
*''Monstret i kælderen'' (1993)
*''Relief'' (1993)
*''Måske'' (1994)
*''Ikke en fjer bedre'' (1995)
*''Sidste time'' (1995)
*''Mørkeleg'' (1996)
*''Benny og Brian møder den sorte julemand'' (1996)
*''De hængte mænds hus'' (1997)
*''Et grimm’t eventyr'' (1997)
*''Uhyret i brønden'' (1998)
*''Gylperen'' (1999)
*''Hår(d)'' (1999)
*''Maskiner sanser ikke hud'' (Machines don't Sense Skin) (2000)
*''De kom fra blodsumpen 2'' (with Patrick Leis) (They Came from the Blood Swamp 2) (2001)
*''Evighedens port (Drømmetjenerne 1)'' (Gate of Eternity, The Dream Waiters 1) (2002)
*''Mandators Kappe (Drømmetjenerne 2)'' (The Cape of Mandators, The Dream Waiters 2) (2004)
*''Ondskabens Dimension (Drømmetjenerne 3)'' (The Dimension of Evil, The Dream Waiters 3) (2005)
*''Den Gyldne By (Drømmetjenerne 4)'' (The Golden City, The Dream Waiters 4) (2006)
*''Kadaverjagt'' (Hunting Corpses) (2006)
*''Sagen om de japanske dræbergardiner (Spøgelseslinien 1)'' (The case of the Japanese Killer Curtains, Ghost Hotline 1) (2003)
*''Sagen om det blodige vampyrtrick (Spøgelseslinien 2)'' (The case of the Bloody Vampire Trick, Ghost Hotline 2) (2004)
*''Sagen om Ugledrengens afklippede klo (Spøgelseslinien 3)'' (The case of the Owl Boy's Cut Off Hook, Ghost Hotline 3) (2007)
*''Dæmonen i hælene'' (Daemon by the Heels) (2007)
*''Sagen om det galoperende maleri (Spøgelseslinien 4)'' (The case of the Galloping Painting, Ghost Hotline 4) (2008)
*''Sagen om den brændende klovn (Spøgelseslinien 5)'' (The case of the Burning Clown, Ghost Hotline 5) (2008)
*''Tunnelmanden'' (The Tunnel Man) (2010)
*''Kælderkrigerne'' (The Cellar Warriors) (2010)
*''Løbende Tjener'' (Running Waiter) (2014)
Books about Dennis Jürgensen
*''Drager, damer & dæmoner - en guide til Dennis Jürgensens univers'', M. F. Clasen, Tellerup, 2002
See also
*
Anders Westenholz, another Danish writer of
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures.
The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
and other
fantastic
Fantastic or Fantastik may refer to:
Music
* ''Fantastic'' (Toy-Box album)
* ''Fantastic'' (Wham! album)
* '' Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1)'', an album by Slum Village
* '' Fantastic, Vol. 2'', an album by Slum Village
* ''Fantastic'' (EP), an EP by ...
literature.
References
External links
The homepage of the publishing company TellerupThe official fan club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jurgensen, Dennis
1961 births
Living people
Danish children's writers
People from Rødovre