The Danish Translators’ Association (DOF) was founded in 1944 and thus celebrated 75 years of existence in 2019. To mark the occasion, and not least to pay homage to the members and their contribution to the Danish literary landscape, DOF decided to launch a website called “VerdenOversat” (http://www NULL.verdenoversat NULL.dk/) (the world translated) showcasing translated world literature from each year between 1944 and 2019. The project was strongly inspired by a similar project, “60 Years of Translation” (https://60yearsoftranslation NULL.wordpress NULL.com/) run by the UK Translators Association (https://societyofauthors NULL.org/Groups/Translators) in 2018. As in the UK project, each year of DOF’s history was marked by a short text on an important piece of literature translated into Danish that year. The texts were written by translators, critics and researchers of translation.

The idea was to highlight, in a very concrete manner, what the Danish reading and writing public would be missing, had it not been for the literary translators who form DOF. Danish is a small language spoken by approximately 6 million people. Without translated literature, the literary landscape would be quite limited. The project aimed not so much to highlight individual translators, but to present a small slice of the enormous and highly diverse range of translated literature that has become an integral part of the collective literary consciousness in Denmark – from Pippi Longstocking and Camus’ The Stranger to Lord of the Rings and more.

VerdenOversat is a slice of world literary history seen from Denmark. Hopefully it will both strengthen the visibility of translators and make people want to read or reread all the wonderful, exciting literary works mentioned.