Peter Høeg was born in 1957 and followed various callings - dancer, actor, fencer, sailor, mountaineer - before he turned seriously to writing. He published his first novel, The History of Danish Dreams, in 1988, and was called 'the foremost writer of his generation' by Information magazine. His crime novel Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow received universal acclaim and was an international bestseller.
Martin Aitken's translations of Scandinavian literature number some 35 books.
His work has appeared on the shortlists of the International DUBLIN Literary Award (2017) and the U. S. National Book Awards (2018), as well as the 2021 International Booker Prize. He received the PEN America Translation Prize in 2019.