Claes Johansen is one of the most prolific Danish writers of his generation. He is bilingual and has published over 40 books in Danish and English. He also wrote several plays for the Danish and Irish State Broadcasting Corporations.
Claes Johansen was born in Copenhagen. He debuted at seventeen when the publishing house Gyldendal accepted one of his short stories for their monthly magazine.
In 1986 Johansen published "Frygtelige Vera og andre noveller" (Terrible Vera and other short stories). It marks the beginning of a versatile and unique body of work. The short stories flirt with the absurd and grotesque and meander between dreams and reality, past and future, with room both for humor and sadness.
Claes Johansen is best known as the author of several highly acclaimed novels, children's books, and short stories with a humorous take on life. He has written generally books for adults, but also quite a few for young people.
When he worked as a substitute teacher, he discovered that it was easier to get the children to sit still if he started the lesson with a wild and crazy and preferably also quite disgusting story.
His first children's book was a fairy tale entitled "Ude og hjemme" (Out and About), followed by the highly acclaimed young adult novel "En flænge i verden" (A Tear in the World, 1989).
"Claes Johansen has written the best young adult book of his generation," wrote reviewer Steffen Larsen from Politiken.
After a long break, during which Claes only wrote books for adults, he published the future horror "Børnecentralen" (2003).
With the publisher Alvilda, he published The World's Strangest Pet (2010), a funny and sweet story about two siblings who find a baby giraffe in a garbage can and take it home.
Shortly after, he published The Two Poets, about two brothers who play Holmes and Watson but only speak to each other in rhyme and rap. Most recently, he has written the three-volume series "The Mystery of the Human Monkey." The series is about a gorilla kidnapped by a sinister cult that wants to graft it with a human to create a modern Franstein monster.
Claes Johansen moved from Denmark to England in 1992. Today he lives in Ireland with his wife and has three daughters.
