Ever since arriving to take up my position at Belgrade University, I have been saddened that my students were unable to visit and study in Denmark.

I set about fixing that by creating a scholarship program for my student to study in Denmark. To fund it I needed a generous and open minded commercial sponsor.

I contacted Carlsberg here in Serbia, and I was stunned by their engagement, generosity and help.

I am delighted to announce today that the scholarship I have worked on for two years with Carlsberg has been formally announced.

Three of my students will be the first of many to travel to Denmark and study at Danish at prestigious Danish universities and institutions.

Over the next 5 years donate over €50,000 to this scholarship, allowing dozens of elite, deserving students of Danish students the opportunity of a lifetime to study in Denmark.

I would like to offer my sincere personal thanks to Carlsberg for helping to make this happen.

See also:

The Press Release from Calsberg -  Calsberg_Danish_Scholarship [PDF]

An announcement from the Danish embassy

Yesterday morning I was interviewed on P1 Morgen (the Danish BBC) about the start of the Radovan Karadzic’s trial at The Hague, and its reception in Serbia.

The interview is in Danish.

You can download 4-minute interview segment here.

The full program in available here.

Lecture (In English) – Monday, 1^st December, 10.30-11.30, Room 426

In the spring of 2006 the Muhammed-crisis culminated in Denmark, and three Danish researchers sat down to examine and ask whether the course of the crisis had something to do with a particularly Danish mentality. International survey’s and barometers have for a long time indicated that there is a particularly mental profile among the Danes. Religion-sociological studies show that the Danes’ large majority meets on a middle that can be described as “belief in God with reservations” (Belief in God in Denmark 2005).

This year, 2008, these researchers launched their project’s temporary result, as a matter of fact the interview book At the heart of Denmark and started a long debate about what “the Danish” is. National identity is natural, obvious for most. People take the world as existing of nations and experience that they belong to a particular nation. The Danes’ national pride is rising.

Why?

Professor of sociology from the University of Copenhagen, Peter Gundelach will visit the Scandinavian Institute in Belgrade Monday December 1st and will speak about what characteristises the Danes’ self-knowledge – as individuals and as people.

Which “mental patterns” does power the behaviour of the Danes’ norms and behaviour?

Well, according to At the heart of Denmark:

Safety, trust, happiness and (self)satisfaction; collectively oriented individualism, freedom, likeness and small power distance (At the heart of Denmark 177-231).

This summer the Danish author Christina Hesselholdt had one of her novels published in Serbia.

Hesselholdt debuted in Denmark in 1991 with a collection of short stories “Køkkenet, gravkammeret og landskabet”, which is one of the key work in 90′s Danish Minimalism. The book that has recently been published in Serbian is the novel “Hovedstolen” (entitled “Glavnica” in Serbian), which was first published in Denmark in 1998. As a part of this publishing, the author will be meeting her Serbian audience at the annual Belgrade Book Fair 21-22 October 2008.

In addition to a reading by Christina Hesselholdt from her book, the Danish author Niels Hav will also be attending the Belgrade Book Fair. He will present a newly published Serbian version of his collection of poems “We Are Here” (entitled ” U ODBRANU PESNIKA” in Serbian), from which many are tributes to well known fellow writers like Hans Christian Andersen. The Icelandic Nobel Laureate Halldor Kiljan Laxness (1902-1998) is also being honoured in a moving tribute, in which the poet sees the recently deceased Icelander in a café in Naples (“Laxness in Naples”).

Niels Hav is also visiting the Scandinavian Department at the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade, 22 October for a presentation of his writings with special commentary on the novella “The Turk”.

Danish Version

Den danske forfatter Christina Hesselholdt har i sommer fået udgivet en af sine romaner i Serbien.

Hesselholdt debuterede i Danmark i 1991 med kortprosasamlingen “Køkkenet, gravkammeret og landskabet”, der er et af hovedværkerne inden for dansk 90′er-minimalisme. Bogen, der for nylig er udgivet pÃ¥ serbisk, er romanen “Hovedstolen”, som udkom i Danmark i 1998. I forbindelse med udgivelsen møder forfatteren sine serbiske læsere ved den Ã¥rlige bogmesse i Beograd den 21.-22. oktober.

Ud over forfatterlæsningerne med Christina Hesselholdt gæster ogsÃ¥ den danske forfatter Niels Hav Beograd Bogmessen i Ã¥r. Han vil præsentere den netop udkomne serbiske udgave af digtsamlingen We Are Here (Book Thug, Toronto 2006), svarende til ‘U ODBRANU PESNIKA’, hvoraf mange er en hyldest til fortidens kendte digterkolleger som Hans Christian Andersen. Den islandske nobelprisforfatter Halldor Kiljan Laxness (1902-1998) bliver ogsÃ¥ mindet i et bevægende hyldestdigt, hvori digteren ser den nu afdøde islænding pÃ¥ en café i Napoli (“Laxness in Naples”).

Niels Hav besøger derudover Skandinavisk institut pÃ¥ det filologiske universitet i Beograd den 22. oktober for at præsentere sit forfatterskab med særlig vægt pÃ¥ novellen “Tyrken”.

Congratulations on your acceptance to the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philology.

As part of your introduction, I would like to invite those you who are still undecided about your primary affiliation (i.e. which language you will major in) to a brief presentation about Denmark, Danish culture and the Danish curriculum for first year students.

Where: The Library
When: Monday, 6th October at 15:00