Do you have a favourite place in and around Copenhagen?
“I have lived in central Copenhagen for 30 years, and I am very fond of my neighbourhood gardens, Ørstedsparken, which have playgrounds and a cosy café. Torvehallerne is another lovely place and I like to buy vegetables there as well as plants for my balcony, my small garden up high. When summer arrives, I love the beach life on Bellevue north of Copenhagen, as well as Amager Strand. Dyrehaven is another wonderful place for a trip to the woods/ picnic, and it’s popular among Copenhageners. It reminds me of Tiergarten in Berlin.”
Who’s your favourite Danish writer?
“My musical tastes are very broad, but if I were to recommend a writer who can truly write his way into the heart, it would be Pontoppidan. When he calls a short story ‘Idyl’ (‘idyll’), it is anything but; rather it is a sharp critique of society in Denmark in the late 1800s.”