Martin Andersen Nexø

Born in Copenhagen on June 26, 1869, and raised for much of his childhood on the island of Bornholm, he became one of Denmark's most important writers. His work is closely tied to the lives of laborers and poor families, and he is often described as the first great Danish novelist to openly champion social revolution.

His best-known books include Pelle the Conqueror, a sweeping story of a boy growing up into working life, and Ditte, Child of Man, another powerful novel about hardship, dignity, and survival. These works helped make him internationally known and gave lasting literary form to the experiences of people who were often ignored in fiction.

He died on June 1, 1954, in Dresden, then in East Germany. Today he is remembered for combining strong storytelling with deep social feeling, and for giving working-class characters a scale and seriousness usually reserved for heroes.