K.E. Semmel

Welcome

K.E. Semmel's work has appeared in Ontario Review, Washington Post, World Literature Today, Southern Review, Subtropics, Lithub, and elsewhere. His translations include books by Karin Fossum, Naja Marie Aidt, Jussi Adler Olsen, and Mathilde Walter Clark. He is a recipient of numerous grants from the Danish Arts Foundation and is a 2016 NEA Literary Translation Fellow. Completed novel manuscripts: THE BOOK of LOSMAN, IN THE COUNTRY OF MONSTROUS CREATURES, THE LAND OF KORA (middle grade). Currently seeking new agent. Twitter: @kesemmel

Watch the book trailer for Danish novelist Simon Fruelund's novella Civil Twilight, translated by K.E. Semmel:

Selected Works

Fiction, Translation

The Wall Between by Jesper Bugge Kold

Gripping and profoundly moving, The Wall Between is a haunting novel of the harsh realities of living under a repressive regime, the price of blind allegiance to ideology, and the moral complexity of personal culpability.

Translations

The Hermit by Thomas Rydahl

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award and an instant bestseller in Denmark, The Hermit is taking the international publishing world by storm. Acutely observed and psychologically penetrating, this is existential noir at its finest.

Winter Men by Jesper Bugge Kold

As the dark specter of the Nazis settles over Germany, two wealthy and educated brothers are suddenly thrust into the rising tide of war.

The Devil's Apprentice by Kenneth B. Andersen

Philip is a good boy, a really good boy. So he doesn’t understand why he’s suddenly in Hell, handpicked to be the Devil’s successor.

Rock, Paper, Scissors by Naja Marie Aidt

Naja Marie Aidt’s long-awaited first novel is a breathtaking page-turner and complex portrait of a man whose life slowly devolves into one of violence and jealousy.

Milk & Other Stories by Simon Fruelund

“Fruelund is a master of the short form, importing some designs from our own Raymond Carver, applying them to the interstices of the European everyday, and making them his own. The title story is a masterpiece in miniature.”

–Alan Cheuse, All Things Considered

The Caller by Karin Fossum

“Pranks can have lethal consequences, even when they seem harmless to start with... A poison bonbon that ranks with the best of Ruth Rendell.”

–Stephen King in Entertainment Weekly