Janne Teller (Denmark)

(b. 1964) is a critically acclaimed & bestselling Danish novelist of Austrian-German family background.  Educated a macro-economist, before becoming a full-time writer in 1995, she worked for the United Nations with humanitarian assistance and conflict resolution. She has lived and worked in many countries around the world. Her literary work revolves around existential and ethical questions of life and civilization, often sparking controversial debate.

Her novels include Odin’s Island (1999), Europa, All That You Lack (2004), Come (2008), as well as the short-story collection Everything (2014). Her existential young adult novel, Nothing (2000), after initially being banned, has become a prize-winning international bestseller, sold in two million copies worldwide, translated into 37 languages, and made into both opera (London Royal Opera 2016) and film (2022) and staged at more than 100 theatres worldwide. In 2024 it was published in Georgian by Sulakauri Publishing in Keti Nikoladze’s translation.

Janne Teller has received numerous literary grants and awards, including for Nothing the Danish best Children/YA Book Prize, the American Michael L. Printz Honor Award for Literary Excellence, and the Prix Libbylit for best children/YA book in the French-speaking world. From 2014-19, she sat in the jury of the prestigious German Book Peace Prize, and in 2018, she was named Cultural Sharing Heritage Ambassador for Germany.