Forlaget Palomar

Forlaget Palomar is a Danish independent publishing house that describes its programme as "samtidslitteratur i dansk oversættelse" — contemporary literature in Danish translation. Its catalogue is built around translated fiction and non-fiction, with a pronounced emphasis on writers from Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Europe and the wider world whose work is brought into Danish by a small circle of translators. The publisher's web shop sells its titles directly to readers, listing them with Danish retail prices in kroner, and it also maintains a blog that documents author events, translation conversations and literary festivals connected to its list. The house's identity is closely tied to a handful of recurring names. The translator Lotte Jansen renders several of its central titles from Russian, English and Ukrainian, while the illustrator Håkan Liljemärker provides cover art for a number of them. Among the titles featured on the publisher's own site are Sergej Lebedev's novel "Hvid dame" (White Lady), Darja Serenko's "Piger og institutioner" (Girls and Institutions), Viktoria Amelina's war diary "Se kvinderne se krigen" (Look at the Women, Look at the War) and Judith Schalansky's "Katalog over visse tab" (An Inventory of Certain Losses). Prices for these editions sit in the region of 280–330 Danish kroner. Palomar positions itself as a literary rather than a commercial mass-market publisher. Its list leans towards politically charged and aesthetically ambitious writing: Russian-language literature of dissent and exile, Ukrainian testimony about the war, and European essays and novels that circulate through translation. The blog posts on the site — for example a March 2026 note on the exiled Russian journalist Jelena Kostjutjenko's visit to Copenhagen and Aarhus, and a May 2025 account of Austrian author Monika Helfer in conversation with her Danish translator Dorthe Seifert — show a publisher that treats translation and public conversation as part of its brand. The company operates as a private Danish publisher and sells through its own online shop as well as, presumably, the Danish book trade. It is a small, author- and translator-driven house rather than a conglomerate imprint, and its output is measured in individual literary titles rather than in genre series or mass-market categories.

Forlaget Palomar is a Danish publishing house whose public profile is built around a clearly stated editorial mission: to publish contemporary literature in Danish translation. The publisher's own website presents this as its defining identity, and its catalogue is organised around translated titles rather than original Danish writing. The house operates from Denmark and sells its books directly through an online shop, where titles are listed with Danish retail prices and stock status. The list that Palomar has assembled centres on writers whose work engages with contemporary political and historical trauma. Sergej Lebedev's novel "Hvid dame" (White Lady), a 240-page novel published in 2026 and translated from Russian by Lotte Jansen, is set against a historical landscape marked by earlier violence and crimes, with its plot triggered by the real shooting down of a Malaysian passenger aircraft over Ukraine's Donbas region in July 2014. Darja Serenko's "Piger og institutioner" (Girls and Institutions), a 208-page volume published in 2026 and also translated from Russian by Lotte Jansen, gathers a "report from a totalitarian regime" and the text "Jeg ønsker aske over mit hjem" (I Wish Ashes Over My Home), set in Russian cultural institutions such as libraries and galleries. Viktoria Amelina's "Se kvinderne se krigen" (Look at the Women, Look at the War), a 356-page diary of war and justice published in 2026 and translated from English and Ukrainian by Lotte Jansen, carries a foreword by Margaret Atwood and recounts Amelina's documentation of war crimes after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022; Amelina was fatally injured in Kramatorsk on 27 June 2023 and died four days later at the age of 37. Judith Schalansky's "Katalog over visse tab" (An Inventory of Certain Losses) appears on the site as a discounted title. Several features of the publisher's practice are visible in its own materials. The translator Lotte Jansen is a recurring presence across the list, rendering works from Russian, English and Ukrainian. The illustrator Håkan Liljemärker provides cover art for multiple titles. Prices for the featured editions cluster around 280–330 Danish kroner, and the shop distinguishes between titles that are in stock, out of stock, or forthcoming — for example, Serenko's "Piger og institutioner" is listed with a publication date of 22 October 2026 and marked as sold out or not in stock at the time of the site capture. Beyond the books themselves, Palomar maintains a blog that documents the public life of its authors and translators. Posts describe the exiled Russian journalist Jelena Kostjutjenko's March 2026 visit to Denmark, where she was invited by the Aarhundredets Festival in Aarhus and also visited Copenhagen, and a May 2025 conversation between Austrian author Monika Helfer and her Danish translator Dorthe Seifert at the newly opened Literaturhaus Vorarlberg in Hohenems. These posts indicate that the publisher treats author tours, translation discussions and literary festivals as an integral part of its publishing programme. The available evidence does not record the year Palomar was founded, its founders, its ownership structure or its exact headquarters city. What is clear is that it is a small, independent, translation-focused literary publisher operating in the Danish market, with a catalogue oriented towards Russian, Ukrainian and European writing of political and aesthetic weight.

• Austrian author Monika Helfer and Danish translator Dorthe Seifert hold a conversation about translation at Literaturhaus Vorarlberg in Hohenems.

• Exiled Russian journalist Jelena Kostjutjenko visits Denmark, invited by Aarhundredets Festival in Aarhus, and also visits Copenhagen.

• Planned publication date of Darja Serenko's "Piger og institutioner" in Danish translation.

Independent literary publisher of contemporary world literature in Danish translation, with a focus on politically engaged Russian, Ukrainian and European writing.

• Sergej Lebedev – Hvid dame

  Novel, 240 pages, 2026. Translated from Russian by Lotte Jansen. Cover by Håkan Liljemärker. Plot triggered by the July 2014 shooting down of a Malaysian passenger aircraft over Ukraine's Donbas.

• Darja Serenko – Piger og institutioner

  208 pages, 2026. Translated from Russian by Lotte Jansen. Cover by Håkan Liljemärker. Set in Russian cultural institutions such as libraries and galleries; includes "Jeg ønsker aske over mit hjem".

• Viktoria Amelina – Se kvinderne se krigen

  Diary of war and justice, 356 pages, 2026. Translated from English and Ukrainian by Lotte Jansen. Foreword by Margaret Atwood. Cover by Håkan Liljemärker.

• Judith Schalansky – Katalog over visse tab

  Listed on the publisher's site as a discounted title.

1. 1Start – Forlaget Palomarforlaget-palomar.dk
2. 2Lebedev - Hvid dame – Forlaget Palomarforlaget-palomar.dk
3. 3Serenko - Piger og institutioner, udk. d. 22. oktober 2026 – Forlaget Palomarforlaget-palomar.dk
4. 4Amelina - Se kvinderne se krigen – Forlaget Palomarforlaget-palomar.dk
5. 5Forlaget Palomar – Wikidatawikidata.org