METTE MOESTRUP (MeMo) is a poet and writer. Her practice includes
translation, performance, multimedia art, collaborative works and essay writing.
She has published five poetry collections, most recently To the Most Beautiful
(English translation, 2024). Her critically acclaimed works have been translated
into several languages and she has received a number of awards, including
Montana’s Literature Prize, the Aarestrup Medal, the Beatrice Prize
and the Danish Arts Foundation's Lifetime Honorary Grant. She is also
a member of the Danish Academy. She lives in Copenhagen.
Contact → mettemoestrup@mail.dk
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New colletions of poems out May 27th 2025!
Butterfly Nebula is a large, sensuous and thought-provoking collection of poems about metabolism, visions and disease. In seven interwoven parts, Mette Moestrup writes red-glittering, ritual and hymn-like poems about the butterfly-shaped gland that controls metabolism. She has had an autoimmune metabolic disorder for seven years. From this physical experience, she sings about the metabolism that connects all species. And laments the broken metabolism between homo sapiens and earth. There are wild and virtuoso leaps from the small stones on the beach to the butterfly-shaped nebula that gives the book its name. There are transformational communities and healing seances. Insomnia songs, blood divinations. And a red UFO! In Mette Moestrup’s new collection of poetry, euphoria is mixed with evil laughter and deep sorrow. And tenderness is mixed with mystery. Guess riddles, follow clues, get lost – in Butterfly Nebula anything can happen.
BUTTERFLY NEBULA was published in May 2025 and has received overwhelmingly positive reviews. It has been called a “poetic and galactic masterpiece,” “a poetic masterpiece,” “an incomparable work,” a “poetic tour de force,” “a manic majestic ode” with “sublime” and “visionary” poetics, ‘joyful’ language, and “images of a unique magical power.” You can see more press quotes, stars, and hearts here on the website under Books.
I have already performed with Butterfly Nebula at Louisiana Literature, Oslo International Poetry Festival, Cafe Opera in Bergen, and numerous different venues in Denmark. And I am looking forward to more events and festivals in 2025 and 2026 in Denmark, Norway, Germany and Switzerland. Coming up is, among other things, the big poetry festival POETICA in Cologne in ‘26. More calendar updates will follow later.
Wonderful interview with beautiful photos here
AND here are som links to reviews (all in Danish)
She writes joyfully and playfully about her own illness - Five hearts in Politiken
Mette Moestrup delivers a wild and scientific tribute to metabolism - Information
She paints with blood and wants her readers to be naked and taste strawberries - Five stars in Jyllandsposten
The poet of the thyroid gland - Weekendavisen
Bravo, Mette Moestrup, bravo - Bogblogger (fri adgang)
When the thyroid gland becomes a critique of the world - POVinternational (free access)
Metabolic and red-glittering - Atlas (free access)
Blood turns almost black when it coagulates - Lyrikere.dk (free access)
Wild poetry collection connects illness, astronomy, and climate crisis - Sundhedkultur.dk (free access)
Moestrup's visionary poetics - Bernur (på svensk) (fri adgang)
AND I have posted some links to interviews, radio and TV here on the website under Interviews