Yahya Hassan (1995-2020) called himself a palestinian with a Danish passport. He made history as a teenager when his first published poems sparked controversy and led to a public debate on Denmark’s freedom of speech. His poems were are concerned with his upbringing in the "ghetto" of Aarhus, with attacks on his parents' generation and on Islam. His works challenged Muslim extremism and saw him met with death threat. Hassan has had a huge impact on Danish literature. The debut collection Yahya Hassan was read by many people who did not normally read poems. In this way, Yahya Hassan, like no other Danish poet in recent times, has led the general public to read and discuss poems. His latest collection, Yahya Hassan 2, was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize.
Yahya Hassan
