AI Summary
5 min readNiels Krause-Kjær, a journalist, novelist, and former press chief for the Conservative People's Party, won the Golden Laurel in 2025 for his novel Ude for Uden. The book traces Danish agriculture from World War II to the present through the story of a farmer, Erik, and his politician son, Sven. But the novel’s origin was personal: during the first summer of the pandemic, Krause-Kjær went to the Danish National Archives to find a "wandering book" his father and eleven high school friends had kept for over fifty years. What he read there forced him to reexamine his own unreflective flight from the land-based culture he grew up in — and to confront the uncomfortable truth that he had spent decades looking forward without ever looking back.
The Wandering Book and the Father Who Almost Gave Up
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:50) **Introducing Niels Krause-Kjær** - Host Sørine Godfredsen introduces the guest, a journalist, former press chief for the Conservative People's Party, and author of the novel *Ude for Uden*.
- 2 (01:55) **A Prejudice and a Feeling of Not Belonging** - Niels reads a sealed prejudice stating he feels he has received more in life than he deserves.
- 3 (05:48) **The Discovery: His Father’s Wandering Book** - Niels recounts finding his father’s “wandering book” (a pre-digital shared diary) in the Royal Archives during the corona summer of 2020.
- 4 (08:56) **A Father’s Secret Struggle** - Reading the book, Niels discovers his father nearly gave up farming in 1961 due to a severe drought and financial hardship.
- 5 (12:35) **The Novel *Ude for Uden* and a Personal Journey** - Niels explains the novel was directly inspired by the wandering book, exploring the decline of agricultural culture and the polarization around it.
- 6 (16:51) **Reconnecting with Childhood** - Niels describes turning his back on his rural upbringing to become a journalist in the city.
- 7 (20:27) **The Awakening: Discovering a Different World** - Niels recalls starting school and encountering classmates whose parents were teachers and seminarians.
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Show Notes
Under coronapandemien fik forfatter og journalist Niels Krause-Kjær den idé at gå på jagt i Rigsarkivet efter sin fars vandrebog, som han havde med et par højskolevenner. Hans søgen gav pote. I bøgerne kunne Krause-Kjær læse faderens historie om at drive et landbrug fra efterkrigstiden og op gennem hans barndom. Vandrebogen blev afsættet for hans roman "Ude for uden", som i 2025 vandt De Gyldne Laurbær. I samtalen med Sørine fortæller Niels Krause-Kjær om sin opvækst på gården, hvordan han brød med traditionerne og blev journalist, og hvorfor han ikke ser sig som nostalgiker, selvom han har brugt en hel bog på at kigge tilbage på en svunden tid og har et konservativt livssyn.
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