In the summer of 1998, Louis Jensen was
awarded the prestigious Danish H.C. Andersen prize. It was a good choice of a children's writer who in less than 12 years has changed Danish children's literature and fitted it with seven league boots. Louis Jensen is the old fairy
tale author in new clothes.
Apart from some short stories, Louis
Jensen first set out with the four books about The Crystal Man. The
first book appeared in 1986. It is a modern fairytale, a thought-provoking and
in-yer-face series about driving through Denmark on an old motorbike; about
growing up and coming home again. Written in a language which is perfectly simple, sad,
solemn and gutsy, Louis Jensen is not a funny man, but he has an eye for both
high and low absurdities.
Since 1986 Louis Jensen has written a
number of modern, magical stories which both make the heart beat and bring you
out in a cold sweat. Somewhere inside all of them is a piece of H.C. Andersen's
‘The Snow Queen.’ They are about daring to believe. This is most evident
perhaps in 'The Skeleton on Wheels'. It is about a boy who dares to
believe that his dog can come back to life. As he bowls along the highway with
shining eyes, with the animal's skeleton on a board with fitted wheels, he
doesn't doubt for a second that idoF can turn into Fido again!'The Skeleton
on Wheels' is one of the new classics of Danish Children's Literature. And
this is how it begins: 'When Martin has had his dog for three days, his father
and mother kill it. - It came running all by itself.'
Louis Jensen is trained as a town planning
architect and lives in Arhus, Jutland. He is a competent chess player, an
enthusiastic sailor, and he is also famous for his fine herb garden. But makes a living writing Children's books.
He still investigates the Town with an expert air in
Et hus er et ansigt (A House is a Face), a picture
book for older children. It consists of a series of brief situations in the
light and shade of the town. Father and son walk around looking at cornices and
roofs, clouds and drainpipes. All of it is told by the boy, who learns and
listens and thinks his own
thoughts. On the left hand side of each story there are black and white
photographs by Jens Lindhe, one of our very best photographers in this genre.
The book is given life and tension with this blend of cool knife-sharpness and
rounded childish wisdom. It is a clever book with equally' clever'
photographs. Louis Jensen himself once said in an interview: 'It comes to me
in pictures, and when I'm lucky they come in the right order.'
