There Lives a Young Girl in Me Who Will Not Die

Tove Ditlevsen, Sophia Hersi Smith, Jennifer Russell , Olga Ravn

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Danish

Penguin
08 April 2025

Poetry; Poetry by individual poets; Fiction in translation

Series: Penguin Modern Classics

A new selection of poetry from the generation-defining author of The Copenhagen Trilogy, translated for the first time into English

While Tove Ditlevsen is now famous around the world as an extraordinary prose writer, in Denmark she has also long been celebrated as a poet. She published her first collection in her early twenties, and continued writing and publishing poetry until the end of her life. This new selection offers English readers a chance to explore her brilliant, surprising verse across nearly four decades of writing.

In this playful, mournful, witty collection, little girls stand tip-toe inside adult bodies, achievements in literature and lethargy are unflinchingly listed, and lovers come and go like the seasons. Gorgeously translated by Jennifer Russell and Sophia Hersi Smith, with an introduction by Olga Ravn, There Lives a Young Girl in Me Who Will Not Die cements Ditlevsen as one of the twentieth century's most creative writers.

By: Tove Ditlevsen
Introduction by: Olga Ravn
Translated by: Sophia Hersi Smith, Jennifer Russell
Imprint: Penguin
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 180mm, Width: 112mm, Spine: 15mm
Weight: 143g
ISBN: 9780241637364
ISBN 10: 0241637368
Series: Penguin Modern Classics
Pages: 192
Publication Date: 08 April 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Tove Ditlevsen was born in 1917 in a working-class neighbourhood in Copenhagen. Her first volume of poetry was published when she was in her early twenties, and was followed by many more books, including her three brilliant volumes of memoir, Childhood (1967), Youth (1967) and Dependency (1971). She married four times and struggled with alcohol and drug abuse throughout her adult life until her death by suicide in 1978.

Reviews for There Lives a Young Girl in Me Who Will Not Die

Meet the finest (and darkest) poet you’ve never read … Her poems read, at their best, like illuminations, transfiguring her life again and again * Telegraph *