Danish Academy is an independent organisation founded in 1960 by a circle of Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 intellectuals "to promote Danish esprit and language, especially within the field of literature". It has up to 20 members, currently 18, and is based at Rungstedlund

Rungstedlund

Rungstedlund, also known as the Karen Blixen Museum, is a country house in Rungsted on the Øresund coast just north of Copenhagen, Denmark, notable for its association with the author Karen Blixen, who lived there for most of her life...

, the former home of author Karen Blixen

Karen Blixen

Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke , , née Karen Christenze Dinesen, was a Danish author also known by her pen name Isak Dinesen. She also wrote under the pen names Osceola and Pierre Andrézel...

 who was one of the original members. The Academy runs a number of annual literary prizes including most notably its Grand Prize.

History

Danish Academy was founded on 28 November 1960

1960 in Denmark

-Incumbents:* Monarch – HM Frederik IX* Prime minister – H. C. Hansen , Viggo Kampmann-Events:* November 15 – 1960 Danish parliamentary election is held.* November 28 – Danish Academy is founded.-Births:...

 at the initiative of the author Karl Bjarnhof and the art historian Christian Elling with originally 12 members. Apart from Bjarnhof and Elling, they were Kjeld Abell

Kjeld Abell

Kjeld Abell was a Danish playwright and theatrical designer. Born in Ribe, Denmark, Abell's first designs were seen in ballets directed by George Balanchine at Copenhagen's Royal Danish Theatre and London's Alhambra Theatre....

, Karen Blixen

Karen Blixen

Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke , , née Karen Christenze Dinesen, was a Danish author also known by her pen name Isak Dinesen. She also wrote under the pen names Osceola and Pierre Andrézel...

, Hans Brix, Thorkild Bjørnvig, H.C. Branner, Agnes Henningsen, Tom Kristensen

Tom Kristensen (poet)

Tom Kristensen , was a Danish poet and novelist.-Life and work:Kristensen was born in London to Danish parents, but grew up in Copenhagen and was educated at the University of Copenhagen. Kristensen is considered one of the most colourful and artistic poets of his generation...

, Jacob Paludan, Paul V. Rubow and Knud Sønderby. On 28 February 1961 the number was increased to 16 and in 1964 it was changed to a maximum of 20. Jens Smærup Sørensen succeeded Jørgen Lund as secretary in 2006.

Current members

• Benny Andersen
  Benny Andersen
  Benny Andersen , is a Danish song-writer, poet, author, composer and pianist. He is the most widely read, most often sung and best loved of modern Danish lyricists, often associated with his collaboration with Povl Dissing. His collected poems have sold over 100,000 copies...
  
  
• Torben Brostrøm
• Suzanne Brøgger
• Sven Holm
• Klaus Høeck
• Pia Juul
• Per Kirkeby
  Per Kirkeby
  Per Kirkeby is a Danish painter, poet, filmmaker and sculptor.-Biography:1962 Studies at the Experimental Art School in Copenhagen; works in the School on painting, graphic arts, 8 millimeter films and performance pieces...
  
  
• Svend Åge Madsen
• Peter Laugesen
• Jørn Lund
  Jørn Lund
  Jørn Lund is a former Danish cyclist who competed in multiple Summer Olympics. He took part in the men's 100 km team time trial in the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games...
  
  
• Klaus Rifbjerg
  Klaus Rifbjerg
  Klaus Rifbjerg is a Danish writer. He has written more than 170 novels, books and essays.- Biography :Rifbjerg was born in Copenhagen and grew up on the island of Amager, a part of the city, the child of two teachers...
  
  
• Tage Skou-Hansen
• Jens Smærup Sørensen
• Frederik Stjernfelt
• Pia Tafdrup
  Pia Tafdrup
  Pia Tafdrup is a Danish writer; primarily a poet, she has also written a novel and two plays, as well as works for radio....
  
  
• Søren Ulrik Thomsen
  Søren Ulrik Thomsen
  Søren Ulrik Thomsen is a Danish poet. His debut was City Slang, 1981.-Life:Søren Ulrik Thomsen was born in 1956 in Kalundborg. He grew up in Store Heddinge, Stevns, south of Copenhagen, where he went to school together with another Danish poet, Jens Fink-Jensen from 1968 to 1972...
  
  
• Poul Erik Tøjner
  Poul Erik Tøjner
  Poul Erik Tøjner is a Danish museum director and art critic. Since 2000 he has been director of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark.-Biography:...
  
  
• Per Øhrgaard

Former members

F.J. Billeskov Jansen, Jørgen Gustava Brandt, Mogens Brøndsted, Inger Christensen

Inger Christensen

Inger Christensen was a Danish poet, novelist, essayist and editor considered the foremost Danish poetic experimentalist of her generation.-Life and work:...

, Paul Diderichsen

Paul Diderichsen

Paul Diderichsen was a Danish linguist who is known for his model of sentence structure in Danish which has been widely applied to describe the syntax of languages with fixed word order, such as the mainland Scandinavian languages. Diderichsen was professor of Danish at the University of...

, Otto Gelsted, Elsa Gress, Uffe Harder, William Heinesen

William Heinesen

Andreas William Heinesen was a poet, composer and painter from the Faroe Islands.- His Writing :The Faroese capital Tórshavn is always the centre of Heinesen's writing. He is famous for having once called Tórshavn "The Navel of the World". His writing focuses on contrasts between darkness and...

, Poul Henningsen

Poul Henningsen

Poul Henningsen , Danish author, architect and critic, was one of the leading figures of the cultural life of Denmark between the World Wars. In Denmark, he is often referred to as PH.-Early life and education:...

, Erik Knudsen

Erik Knudsen

Erik Kenneth William Knudsen is a Canadian actor. He is known for playing Daniel Matthews in Saw II and Robbie Mercer in Scream 4 and played Dale Turner in the CBS series Jericho.-Life and career:...

, Sven Møller Kristensen, K.E. Løgstrup, Steen Eiler Rasmussen

Steen Eiler Rasmussen

Steen Eiler Rasmussen was a Danish architect and urban planner who was a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and a prolific writer of books and poetry...

, Leif Panduro

Leif Panduro

Leif Thormod Panduro was a Danish novelist and dramatist. A dentist by profession, he began in his thirties to write stories about people who can't conform to society's rules for one reason or another. Rend mig i traditionerne is about an adolescent who finally ends up in an asylum because he...

, Ole Sarvig, Villy Sørensen

Villy Sørensen

Villy Sørensen was a Danish short-story writer, philosopher and literary critic of the Modernist tradition. His fiction was heavily influenced by his philosophical ideas, and he has been compared to Franz Kafka in this regard...

, Ole Wivel og Erik Aalbæk Jensen.