Pia Tafdrup interviews, reviews & poem features for her Senses Quintet
Pia Tafdrup is one of Denmark’s leading poets. She has published over 20 books in Danish since her first collection appeared in 1981, including widely admired sequences of themed collections. The latest of these is a series of five books focussing on the human senses, her Senses Quintet (2014-2022), which the critic Carsten Palmer Schale has called ‘a cathedral of the soul’ and ‘the best collection of poems written in Scandinavia in the past 20 years’.
Bloodaxe published David McDuff’s translation of the first two collections in the quintet, The Taste of Steel • The Smell of Snow, in one volume in 2021. The second volume, published by Bloodaxe in 2025, brings together his translations of the third, fourth and fifth parts, The Sight of Light • The Sound of Clouds • The Touch of Skin.
Pia Tafdrup's previous poetry collections were also translated into English by David McDuff: Queen's Gate (Bloodaxe, 2001), Tarkovsky's Horses & Other Poems (Bloodaxe, 2010) and Salamander Sun & Other Poems (Bloodaxe, 2015).
US INTERVIEW WITH PIA TAFDRUP
US Distribution via Consortium Books from 13 January 2026
Trafika Europe Radio, Pia Tafdrup, online 16 January 2026
An excellent in-depth interview with Danish poet Pia Tafdrup was featured on Trafika Europe Radio on 16 January 2026 to coincide with publication in the US. She was in conversation with host Clayton McKee, and was reading and discussing poems her Senses Quintet. The second volume of the Quintet, The Sight of Light • The Sound of Clouds • The Touch of Skin, was published by Bloodaxe in the UK and Ireland in November 2025. Over the course of the interview, Pia read a poem from each of the five collections which make up the Quintet.
All the English translations are by David McDuff, and midway through the interview Pia spoke about her experience of working with David over the course of many years.
Pia read and introduced her poems ‘The darkness machine’ from The Taste of Steel and ‘Your fragrance wakes me’ from The Smell of Snow. The latter Pia read in Danish and then in English. The Taste of Steel • The Smell of Snow was published in one volume by Bloodaxe in 2021.
She went on to read three poems from each of the collections in her latest book The Sight of Light • The Sound of Clouds • The Touch of Skin: ‘The borders between us’, ‘Rain’ and finally ‘Earth poem' from The Touch of Skin.
‘In this episode, host Clayton McKee speaks with Danish poet Pia Tafdrup about her five poetry collections that make up The Senses Quintet. Bloodaxe Books published the Quintet in two collections: The Sight of Light / The Sound of Clouds / The Touch of Skin and The Taste of Steel / The Smell of Snow. Pia Tafdrup explains how she created the quintet and dives into her views on poetics, language, and nature. This interview includes a reading of one poem from each of the five quintets, including one poem read in both original and English translation. The English translation of The Quintet was done by David McDuff. You can read a sampling of Pia Tafdrup's poems in Trafika Europe's All-Poetry Issue.’
https://omny.fm/shows/trafika-europe-radio/danish-poet-pia-tafdrup-on-the-five-senses-quintet
US ONLINE POEM FEATURE
Trafika Europe, Poem feature, online 17 October 2025
Five poems from Danish poet Pia Tafdrup’s new book The Sight of Light • The Sound of Clouds • The Touch of Skin in David McDuff’s English translation were featured in Fall issue of Trafika Europe, the US-based online quarterly digest featuring new writing in translation from across Europe. The featured poems were ‘Bonfire’, ‘The Katsura tree’, ‘Forest fires’, ‘Arctic wilderness’ and ‘Favourite word’.
https://www.trafikaeurope.org/all-poetry/?c=04007ae3e449
ONLINE REVIEW COVERAGE
European Literature Network, Riveting Reviews, online 27 June 2025
An early review of Pia Tafdrup’s The Sight of Light • The Sound of Clouds • The Touch of Skin went online in the European Literature Network’s Riveting Reviews feature on 27 June 2025.
‘Pia Tafrdup is one of the most important contemporary Danish poets, author of over twenty collections of verse, which are often organised into themed series. Her latest is a sequence of five books on human senses, Senses Quintet (2014-2022). […] The five senses in the five books provide the poet with a way of experiencing and portraying life in all its richness, both good and bad.’ – Ana Blasiak, Riveting Re-views, European Literature Network
Read in full online here.
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ONLINE LAUNCH EVENT
Bloodaxe hosted an online launch event for new titles by Tomas Venclova, Pia Tafdrup and Ivan V. Lalić (1931-96) on 20 November 2025. Reading from and discussing the books with the host, Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley, were Tomas Venclova in Vilnius with translator Ellen Hinsey in Berlin, Pia Tafdrup in Copenhagen, and Ivan V. Lalić's translator Francis R. Jones (in Northumberland) with Professor Svetlana Šeatović (in Belgrade).
This free Bloodaxe launch event was streamed on YouTube Live and is now available to watch below, and on this YouTube page: https://youtube.com/live/OTRTqP2CCSc
[28 January 2026]
