Det dobbelte land is the story of man fighting his own mental disintegration while his country is beginning to fall apart. The civil war in former Yugoslavia forms the framework of the story, both historically and politically, but the overriding theme in the novel is the question of identity that the war on Balkan brought along with it.

It’s a novel about what is present all around us, where we go and have been, and is a carrier of our lives and greatest desires. About the things in life that are blind and silent, but impossible to escape – without which we would perish, and we must fight for it, kill for it and sacrifice for it.

Det dobbelte land has sold in several printings, been praised by the critics, is the winner of Weekendavisen’s Literary Prize, receiving 200.000 Danish kroner, and now winner of the prestigious Danmark Radio’s Novel Prize.

Birgithe Kosović (born 1972) is half Danish, half Yugoslavian. She is a former journalist at the daily newspaper Information and the magazine Press and has written the novels Legenden om Villa Valmarana [The Legend of Villa Valmarana] and Om natten i Jerusalem [Night in Jerusalem], the last one has been translated into seven languages. Det dobbelte land was recently sold to Serbia.

For more information on the book and Birgithe Kosović, check out www.detdobbelteland.dk or visit the discussion forum http://www.litteratursiden.dk/debat/det-dobbelte-land where Kosović activily debats the book with her readers.