Carsten René Nielsen

Carsten René Nielsen, born 1966, is a Danish poet and the author of fourteen books of poetry and two books of flash fiction. His first book was published 1989 and was awarded the Michael Strunge Poetry Prize. The prose poems 'Cirkler' ('Circles', 1998) won him critical acclaim throughout his native Denmark.

Recent books include the prose poems 'Enogfyrre ting' ('Forty-One Objects', 2017), the poetry book 'Miniaturer' ('Miniatures', 2021), illustrated by Mette Norrie, and two collections of poems for children, 'Drømmecykler og fodboldhunde' ('Dream Bikes and Football Dogs', 2019) and ‘Knoglebowling’ (‘Bone Bowling’, 2024). He has won several fellowships from the Danish Arts Foundation, and ‘Bone Bowling’ was awarded The Ministry of Culture's Children Book Award – the most prestigious award for children books in Denmark (awarded since 1954).

In the United States four books have been published: His selected prose poems 'The World Cut Out with Crooked Scissors' was published by New Issues in 2007, the prose poems 'House Inspections' by BOA Editions in 2011, the prose poems 'Forty-One Objects' by The Bitter Oleander Press in 2019 and ‘Miniatures’, small verse poems illustrated by Mette Norrie, by Plamen Press in 2025, all translated by American poet > David Keplinger.

In Italy two books have been published: a collection of selected poems (2014) and 'Quarantuno oggetti' (2021), the Italian translation of the prose poems 'Forty-One Objects'.

His poetry has been featured in magazines in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Scotland, India, Canada and the United States.

Carsten René Nielsen lives on the island of Samsø.



English translations

Books:
> The World Cut Out with Crooked Scissors (selected prose poems, New Issues, 2007)
> House Inspections (prose poems, BOA Editions, 2011)
> Forty-One Objects (prose poems, The Bitter Oleander Press, 2019)
> Miniatures (poems illustrated by Mette Norrie, Plamen Press, 2025)

Magazines:
Mid-American Review (Volume XXII, no. 2, 2002, USA)
Agni (No. 55, 2002, USA)
Exile – The Literary Quarterly (Vol. 26, no. 4, 2002, Canada)
Exquisite Corpse (No. 13, Winter 2003, USA)
Circumference (Summer/Autumn 2004, USA)
Parthenon West Review (Issue Four, 2006, USA)
Mississippi Review (Volume 13, no. 1, Winter 2007, USA)
Two Lines – World Writing in Translation (XIV, 2007, USA)
The Eleventh Muse (2007, USA)
Café Irreal (Issue Twenty-Seven, 2008, USA)
The Paris Review (No. 191, 2009, USA)
Anti (August 2010, USA)
Copper Nickel (No. 14, 2010, USA)
Valve (issue 2, 2012, Scotland)
Scoundrel Time (2017, USA)
Two Lines – World Writing in Translation (#28, 2018, USA)
Pleiades (#38.2, 2018, USA)
Copper Nickel (No. 27, 2018, USA)
The Bitter Oleander (Vol. 24, no. 2, 2018, USA)
Conduit Magazine (#30, 2020, USA)
Trafika Europe (#18, 2020, USA)
The Bitter Oleander (Vol. 26, no. 2, 2020, USA)