Mette Moestrup
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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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Translations


Sappho


Sapfo / Sappho. Translation. Co-translated from Ancient Greek with Mette Christiansen (Gyldendal, 2021)



Sappho: Sappho
Translation
Co-translated from Ancient Greek with Mette Christiansen
Gyldendal, 2021
Intro and reading (Danish) → Listen to Interview about Sappho for Golden Days, video, 2021
The book inspired for the opera performance Dripping Matter → see here

All surviving fragments of the tenth muse Sappho of Lesbos in a lyrical co-translation and adaptation by Mette Moestrup and classical philologist Mette Christiansen. With an afterword by Mette Moestrup.



Moestrup and Christiansen have succeeded in adapting Sappho’s verses in the spirit of the lyre, so you almost feeling like singing and dancing along.

♥♥♥♥♥ Politiken


Mette Moestrup and philologist Christiansen's version is up-to-date, and is carried by artistic sense and impassioned, scientific weight.

★★★★★ Jyllandsposten


New translation ignites linguistic sparks.                                                                                
Information

Mette Moestrup and Mette Christiansen have pulled off an almighty feat with their translation and adaptation of Sappho's fragments, emphasising the sensual and poetic voice of the ancient Greek poet.

Litteratursiden


Sappho’s words are bathed in a quivering intensity that brings them to life 2,600 years after they were written, and this is clearly felt in Moestrup and Christiansen’s rendition. […] I imagine this book will be the one remembered as the Danish Sappho.
                                                                                   
Weekendavisen



Broken Halves of a Milky Sun 


Broken Halves of a Milky Sun. Poetry. Translation from English (Gads Forlag, 2021)




Aaiún Nin: Broken Halves of a Milky Sun 
Poetry. Translation
Gads Forlag, 2021

Angolan poet Aaiún Nin's first collection of poetry tackles colonialism, violence against women and racism, as well as marking a troubling chapter in Danish literary history, as the young poet’s debut in Denmark coincided with their deportation from the country. The collection has since been published in several other languages.



Aaiún Nin’s poems have enormous energy; they present poetry as a democratic art form, as a political fight. And then Aaiún Nin’s poems have a tenderness to them too.

Information

A great poetic talent […] We need more books like this, more voices and bodies like this in Danish poetry.

♥♥♥♥ Politiken




Not Me


Not Me. Poetry. Translation from English (OVO Press, 2018)


Eileen Myles: Not Me
Poetry. Translation
Gads Forlag, 2021

The American poet icon Eileen Myles in Danish translation for the first time. Watch Myles respond to Mette Moestrup’s questions on Louisiana Channel →  her



Let me try to be blunt like Myles and say that I’m glad Ikke mig (Not Me) exists. Hopefully it can help shape, confuse and unite men and women (and everything in between) in a language of resistance: a political language that is also the language of desire, grieving and late summer love.

Information

                                                                           
                                                                           ♥♥♥♥♥ Politiken



The Bell Jar


The Bell Jar. Novel. Translation from English (Gyldendal, 2016)


Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar  
Novel. Translation
Gyldendal, 2016

The modern classic co-translated into Danish by Olga Ravn and Mette Moestrup, a.k.a. ‘The Sylvia Academy’.



The novel has been newly translated by poets Mette Moestrup and Olga Ravn, and you can tell that they have tended to and geeked out over the language.

Weekendavisen


                                                                        ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Politiken



A Storm Came from Paradise



Johannes Anyuru: A Storm Came from Paradise   
Novel. Translation
Gads Forlag, 2013

A poignant and beautiful novel telling the story of the author's father's journey as a pilot and refugee from Uganda to Sweden.




Spilt



Cecilie Løveid: Spilt
Poetry. Translation
Bebop, 2004

The Norwegian queen of poetry, Cecilie Løveid, in Mette Moestrup's translation.