Category: Books

Beowulf

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My Danish translation of Beowulf was the first in over two decades: despite its canonical fame in the English-speaking world and its setting near the Danish city of Roskilde, the poem remains little-known in Denmark. That is why I decided to depart from my usual Babylonian haunts to render this epic poem in Danish alliterating verse. The book ends with a lengthy afterword in which I explore the poem’s history and literary structure, arguing that the poem can be read as an extended meditation on time.

Beowulf: En gendigtning. Copenhagen: Lindhardt og Ringhof, 2025. Link.

LBL 1: Enuma Elish

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The inaugural volume of the Library of Babylonian Literature, which I edit in collaboration with Johannes Haubold, Enrique JimĂ©nez, and Selena Wisnom, presents the Babylonian epic of creation, Enuma Elish, in facing-page translation accompanied by a detailed introduction and thirteen interpretative essays by leading scholars. The epic is a seminal work of Babylonian literature, and as I write in the introduction, “it is no exaggeration to say that, in cuneiform literature and religion, there is a time before and a time after the composition of Enuma Elish.” I contributed the introduction and translation, as well as this chapter.

With Johannes Haubold, Enrique Jiménez, and Selena Wisnom, eds., Enuma Elish: The Babylonian Epic of Creation, Library of Babylonian Literature 1 (London: Bloomsbury, 2024).

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Enheduana in English

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The book includes a translation of the five poems attributed to Enheduana, the first known author, as well as an introduction and three essays that unpack her life and legacy. The translation is an innovative and fairly free rendering of her challenging hymns; a more literal translation can be found on the website I created to accompany the book, enheduana.org. The essays introduce the reader to the dramatic time in which Enheduana lived, the ancient reception and main themes of her poems, and the modern rediscovery of this unjustly forgotten figure.

Enheduana: The Complete Poems of the World’s First Author. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2023. Link.

The shape of stories

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Together with Gina Konstantopoulos, I edited a volume on narratological approaches to cuneiform literary, historical, and religious texts. The goal of the volume is to function as a methodological toolkit, with each of the papers – which span from the third to the first millennium, covering a wide variety of genres in Sumerian, Akkadian, and Hittite – presenting one possible approach to studying the narrative structures found in cuneiform texts, and illustrating that approach through a concrete case study.

With Gina Konstantopoulos, ed., The Shape of Stories: Narrative Structures in Cuneiform Literature, Cuneiform Monographs 54 (2023, Leiden: Brill). Link.

Gilgamesh in English

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The book includes a translation of Gilgamesh, and five essays that introduce readers to the world of the epic. The translation is a fresh take on the ancient epic and seeks to bring out the poetic power, clarity, and enchanting cadence of the original text. The essays discuss the epic’s long history, its literary form, its depiction of emotions (especially the homoerotic bond between the main characters), its engagement with death and the power of narrative, and its social context, including the role of women and of the natural world.

Gilgamesh: A New Translation of the Ancient Epic. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2021. Link.

Enheduana in Danish

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Danish. A free rendition of Enheduana’s Exaltation of Inana, commissioned by ShĂ«kufe Tadayoni Heiberg for the indie press Forlaget Uro and illustrated by Johanne Helga Heiberg Johansen. One reviewer called it “an impressively accesible, deeply fascinating publication”; another asked: “What have we done to deserve such a pearl of delight?”

Dronning over verdens magter, illustrated by Johanne Helga Heiberg Johansen, 2020, Hvidovre: Forlaget Uro. Link.

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Gilgamesh in Danish

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A new Danish translation of Gilgamesh that I published with my father, the Danish poet Morten Søndergaard. The book was nominated for the Weekendavisen Literary Prize and was lauded by one reviewer as “one of those miracles that makes life worth living” (Politiken); another wrote that “this new translation is set to become a classic in this country” (Information). Below, you will find tablet I of the translation.

With Morten Søndergaard, Gilgamesh, 2019, Copenhagen: Gyldendal.

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