Rune Christiansen (b. 1963) is a Norwegian author. He has written eleven critically acclaimed novels and several volumes of poetry since he made his literary debut in 1986 with Where the Train Leaves the Sea. In 1996, he was awarded the Halldis Moren Vesaas Prize. His other prizes and honours include the Prix Transfuge du meilleur roman étranger (2023), the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2019), the Gyldendal Prize (2015), and the Brage Prize (2014). The poems translated here originally appeared in Jeg går i sorg (I Walk in Mourning), published in Norway by Forlaget Oktober in 2022.

Jason Gordy Walker is a poet, writer, and translator based in Alabama. His translations of Rune Christiansen appear or are forthcoming in Birmingham Poetry Review, B O D Y, Denver Quarterly, and Subtropics. He reviews books for Asymptote’s What’s New in Translation.