Olga Ravn

Her novel The Wax Child was longlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize. She is also a translator and has worked as a literary critic for Politiken and several other Danish publications.

Olga Ravn studied at Forfatterskolen and Aurehøj Gymnasium. The recorded working language is Danish, Swedish and English. The field of work recorded is prose, poetry and translating activity. Employment is recorded with Testrup Højskole and Gyldendal. Distinctions recorded are Michael Strunge Award.

• Name — Olga Ravn • Birth Name — Olga Ravn • Born — 27 September 1986 • Birthplace — Copenhagen, Denmark • Occupation — Poet, novelist • Language — Danish • Education — Forfatterskolen • Genres — * Literary fiction • science fiction • Years Active — 2008 – present • Website — olga-ravn.blogspot.dk

Olga Ravn was born and raised in Copenhagen, the daughter of singer Anne Dorte Michelsen and visual artist and designer Peter Ravn. In 2010 she graduated from the Danish School of Authors, Forfatterskolen, in that city.

Ravn published her first poem in the Copenhagen literary magazine Hvedekorn in 2008. Since then, her poetry has appeared in Konvolut 28/6, Trappe Tusind, Verbale Pupiller, Antologi 2010 and Forfatterskolens Afgangsantologi 2010. Her early poetry, described as "rhythmic, playful, sensual and image-rich", earned positive critical reception. In 2012 Ravn published her first collection of poetry, Jeg æder mig selv som lyng (I Eat Myself Like Heather). The collection explores how young women's bodies react to friendship, sex, and love. In 2013 the collection was translated into Swedish. In 2014 Ravn published a chapbook of poetry titled Mean Girl, consisting of coloured sheets of paper and glimmering scraps. Only 250 copies were released, each prepared with individual attention so that none were identical. Mean Girl (et utdrag), a selection of Mean Girl translated to Norwegian, was published by Flamme Forlag in 2015. Ravn was editor on the 2015 book of Tove Ditlevsen works Jeg ville være enke, og jeg ville være digter: Glemte tekster af Tove Ditlevsen (I Wanted to Be a Widow, and I Wanted to Be a Poet: Forgotten Texts by Tove Ditlevsen). In 2015 she published her first novel, Celestine, about a boarding school teacher's obsession with a ghost who has much in common with her. The main difference between the two, the teacher points out, is that she is not yet dead. In 2021, Ravn published The Employees: A workplace novel of the 22nd century. The novel is set aboard a spaceship on which a number of alien objects have been brought for research. The book is made up of reports by human and android crew members about these objects and their daily lives on the ship. This novel was shortlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize and in 2022 for the inaugural Ursula K. Le Guin Prize. Her fourth novel, The Wax Child, was published in Danish in 2023. The English translation, by Martin Aitken, was published in 2025. Narrated by a wax doll from the seventeenth century, the novel tells the story of the doll's creator, the historical Christence Kruckow, who was executed for witchcraft in 1621. The novel was a finalist for the 2026 Locus Award for Best Translated Novel.

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* • De ansatte (Gyldendal, 2018). The Employees, trans. Martin Aitken (2022) • Mit arbejde (Gyldendal, 2020). My Work, trans. Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell (2023) • Voksbarnet (Gyldendal, 2023). The Wax Child, trans. Martin Aitken (2025)

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