Poetry reading at 'Espresso Mi Cultura' in Hollywood, USA
Poetry reading at poetry festival in Athen
Poetry reading in Huset, “Underskov”,
Copenhagen
LECTURES AND PERFORMANCES
If you want to see me live, I can:
read my poems, talk about my writing and about what it is like to write in several languages. All mixed with singing, accompanied by acoustic guitar. I can also talk about my novel Tilda's Secret Book (in Danish Tildas hemmelige bog). The characters experience love, war, and evil as they seek answers to major existential and universal questions such as: how much does fate play into our lives, and can it be changed?
ABOUT ME
Journalist at Danish Broadcasting Corporation, DR, for 33 years, author and freelance journalist.
Assistant lecturer 22 years, University of Copenhagen, Eastern Europe Institute.
Master in English and BA in Bosnian/Croatian and Serbian
Studied English Language and Literature at Cambridge College in London and American English at Hollywood Work Source, as well as Italian and other languages.
Study grants for visits to foreign radio stations, relevant cultural institutions, literature festivals from Danish Broadcasting Corporation and the Danish Writers' Association, various journalist courses, and workshops.
Poetry readings in Denmark and abroad.
Third prize at the International Poetry Festival in Thessaloniki, Greece, 2006.
Two poetry collections in Danish. Several poems represented in anthologies.
Two poetry collections in English.
While working at Danish Broadcasting Corporation I have interviewed David Bowie, Gipsy Kings, David Lynch, Bille August and others.
The recognized Danish literature magazine
”Hvedekorn” published five of my poems
Nr. 2 / 86.
My first book of poetry “My Shoulders are bare without your Hands”, in Danish “Mine skuldre er nøgne uden dine hænder”, Attika
The International Poetry Festival in Thessaloniki, Greece. Third prize: Narcisa Vucina
“My Father said It brings Happiness” is my second book of poetry published by “Tiderne Skifter”,
A LOAN
I borrowed your soul
but you'll get it back
tomorrow, at nine
when the fire in me
strangles your arms
around my waist
I've translated the collection of poems “Sigøjnerpoesi”, “Gipsy Poetry”, Husets Forlag, Here is one of the poems:
LINA
One morning, one morning,
it rained, it rained.
One morning it was raining.
Lina was walking on her bare feet.
Oh, Lina, oh Lina,
you've eaten me, Lina;
You've drunk me, Lina;
you've eaten and drunk me, Lina,
with your black eyes,
with your hair hanging loose ...
Oh, Lina, oh Lina.
WHO DO YOU LOVE IN THE MORNING
it is
God's punishment
when you have not kidnapped me long ago
when you have not detained me in your dreamcatcher hanging
over your bed
when you have not laid my head and my neck on
your pillow
the one you sleep on every evening, every single night
you must be joking when you haven't yet seen a small
birthmark on my navel
who do you think you are
I have tried to analyze it
but I haven't found an answer
it must be God's punishment
it must be fate, or an error in our computer
it's probably my imagination
since you are so near
I can smell your aftershave. I am actually crazy about it
CATHARSIS
a soap and a motorway
the soap soaps the motorway
while we wash ourselves, clean ourselves
travel ourselves
hurry ourselves to somewhere or nowhere
with a dream
with the soap in our hands
waving
on the motorway
Peter Seeberg
"
The Search and other Short Stories"
Translated into Croatian by Narcisa Vucina
”The New Nordic Landscapes”, in Danish ”Nye Nordiske Landskaber” is the name of an anthology published by Danish Writers Association. In this anthology you can find eight of my poems.
My short story COPENHAGEN BETWEEN SEVEN AND EIGHT A.M. The book is published by The Danish-Swedish Writer's Union.
“THREE SUNS are not too much – Danish Poets in Italy”, in Danish “TRE SOLE er ikke for meget - danske digtere i Italien” is the title of an anthology published by Mellemgaard, where one of my poems is represented.
The fairytale, THE METRO STARS is my contribution to a small book, to mark the opening of the first underground stations in Copenhagen: in 2003.
Tv
Our TV is sleeping in the quiet night
your eyes open
You 're lying down
as if you have left me
without saying a word
or even worse
as if l have to say the last good-bye
surrounded by green olive trees
My novel TILDA’S SECRET BOOK , Hovedland
SUMMARY
The novel Tilda’s Secret Book received positive reviews, including the Danish newspapers Kristeligt Dagblad and Weekendavisen, local newspapers, radio, and recognized online reviews, such as Bognørden.
Tilda’s Secret Book is one of those books that you can’t put down – not least because of the novel’s colorful, entertaining, and often a fluid and poetic language, constant drives, surprising twists, dialogs with humorous touches. It’s both documentary and socially realistic novel mixed with magical realism, where superstition can be an occupying element in life.
The book is based on real events and a story told by a woman whom the author met, as a refugee on the Croatian coast. The woman was tortured in Santiago de Chile in 1973 and survived the horrors of the war in Sarajevo in the ‘90s.
The characters experience love, war, and evil as they seek answers to major existential and universal questions such as: How much does fate play into our lives, and can it be changed? The mysterious Tilda, who helps heal the sick, has her own philosophy of life and when she sings old Sephardic songs everyone around her is silent.
The main character Masha grows up in Sarajevo under Tito’s Yugoslavia and travels as a 17-year-old with her boyfriend Niko to Dubrovnik, Croatia where they get engaged. But her life takes a new turn, when she meets Pablo, marries him, moves to Chile, get three children, and is subjected to torture under the Pinochet regime. She escapes but must leave the country and comes back to Sarajevo together with her children. After a political career and a new husband, she finds herself in the war zone but survives and escapes.
The war ends, and from refugee life in Croatia she returns to the war-torn Sarajevo. Several events now intertwine in a mysterious way, and she once more experiences Tilda, who is dead, as a helping spirit. And yes, Masha is in possession of Tilda’s secret book, which she got from her best friend Flora, Tilda’s granddaughter who was killed during the war. Eventually, events take a whole new and unexpected turn.
The Button And The Book
Thanks to the Danish Arts Foundation for supporting the publication of my novel "Tilda's Secret Book", which will be released soon in New York.
The novel is translated by Sinéad Quirke Køngerskov into American English and has a new title: "The Button and The Book".
More information:
https://spuytenduyvil.net/The-Button-And-The-Book.html
