By Theis Ørntoft, as told to Karoline Markholst and translated by Hazel Evans

Theis Ørntoft on avoiding writer’s block

“Part of the novel is set in 1967, and we follow Ernst the banker. But I’d never written historical fiction before. What would happen?

Often, when a novelist gets stuck, it’s because they don’t know enough about their subject. I did a fair bit of preparation, which meant that when I started writing, it wasn’t that difficult to rewind fifty years. Maybe it helped that Ernst was based on my own grandfather, or that he also lived in Silkeborg in 1967, where my mum is from.

He’d just died when I started writing EARTHLY, and I’d been talking a lot to my mum over the phone about what he looked like in the sixties, what kind of suits he wore, what time he woke up in the morning, what he did on the weekends, etc.

I like having information to work with – it’s like the bedrock from which the rest of the story can grow.”

Theis Ørntoft on role models

“When I was young, my mum introduced me to Inger Christensen’s poetry collection IT, but I didn’t really understand it. Today, I can see that it wasn’t just because I was too young, but also because the collection is about everything.

Her writing is so ontological, which I may have been inspired by on some level without realising it – it’s this dream of writing that is both concrete and abstract at the same time.

Henrik Pontoppidan has had a great impact on me with his two novels LUCKY PER and THE REALM OF THE DEAD. Then there’s Johannes V. Jensen, who has this strangely demonic virtuosity, especially in THE FALL OF THE KING and HIMMERLAND STORIES.

H.C. Andersen’s travel diaries have always been an inspiration for me, as wells as Tove Ditlevsen’s memoir novels. Last but not least, Jeppe Brixvold and his novel CRIME AND PROGRESS, which is without doubt one of the best Danish novels written in the last fifty years.”

Theis Ørntoft on rubbing up against the stars

“When I was very young, I attended a private party at the Norwegian author Tomas Espedal’s house in Bergen. There was a beautiful view from his house, but I spent most of my time in the basement where he kept – among other things – his typewriter. His novel AGAINST ART meant a lot to me at the time, and it was a magical night in so many ways.”