You can apply every year for like grants. And I was lucky enough to get them pretty often. So, that was like the foundation of my way of surviving. And what happens if you get money from the state, I mean you have time to write, right? So, that’s part of the reason why I did so many books, and why I had the courage, I think, to play with the genres, to try something new, to experiment, to do all kinds of stuff. So, that’s really a very important part of what happens when the state actually supports you as a writer. ((Financial Aid))

The other perspective is the honor you can say, and the appreciation. Especially when I received the literary prize from the Nordic Council, that is like the biggest — it’s the biggest prize you can get in Scandinavia. And that was really — it was money of course, but it was mostly honor. And that meant a lot to me. It really encouraged me to, for instance, do a novel that I haven’t been doing before. So, there’s both; the economical support, and the honor perspective.

And I think if you look at Danish poetry for instance, you will find that there is a lot of incredible, good young poets. And it definitely has to do with the grants, because they’re able to spend time on reading and writing. And they don’t have to work. They don’t have to spend all their life on surviving, and suffering, and all that. So, we’re so spoiled, in a way, in Denmark. ((Quiet Backwater))