Quick Facts
Biography
Anders Westenholz (October 21, 1936 – November 21, 2010) was a Danish psychologist and writer.
Overview
Anders Westenholz became a student in 1955, and a psychologist in 1969. From 1969-76 he was employed by Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening (English: The Confederation of Danish Employers). He's been included in the prestigious Danish book of biographies, Kraks Blå Bog (English: Krak's Blue Book). He's been granted financial support or backing from Statens Kunstfond (English: Danish Arts Agency) eight times throughout his career as a writer. In 1974 he received the RAI Prix Italia for his radio play Skriget fra Golgatha (English: The Scream from Golgatha). In 1981 he received Gyldendals Boglegat (English: Gyldendal's Book Grant) and in 1988 Johannes Ewalds Legat (English: Johannes Ewald's Grant).
His works
Anders Westenholz' works are generally divided into four groups: works of fiction, works on psychology, biographical works on Danish Sumatra rubber plantation manager Vilhelm Jung and works on his own famous great aunt Karen Blixen's life and works. He is credited as the ideas man behind two episodes of the popular Danish TV-series Huset på Christianshavn, namely #64, Karlas kald (English: Karla's Calling), scripted by Karen Smith and #68, Dagen efter dagen derpå (English: The Day after the Following Day), scripted by Henning Bahs.
As a writer of fiction he has written poetry, short stories, novels and plays (mostly for radio), and in genres he has dealt with both social realism and the fantastic. During his authorship he has experimented a lot with genres and language structures, which led famous Danish writer and critic Poul Borum (1934–1996) to write about him in a review: "Anders Westenholz is difficult to read, but worth every effort".
It's the fantastic genres that dominate Anders Westenholz' authorship, and he is one of the first Danish writers to seriously deal with fantasy, and he has also touched upon new age as a genre. And not just with youngsters, who he sometimes writes to, as a target group. Together with for instance Erwin Neutzsky-Wulff he is among the few Danish writers to write fantastic literature (fantasy, sci-fi, horror etc.) for mature readers.
Apart from his work as a writer of his own accord, Anders Westenholz has also worked as a translator. In this regard he will probably be best known for his translations of the American D&D-related fantasy series DragonLance Chronicles and DragonLance Legends by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman as well as a number of works by Stephen King among others.