Kåre Bluitgen (10 May 1959) is a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

writer and journalist whose works include a biography of

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

. In the 1970s Bluitgen was politically active on the Danish left, namely within the

Left Socialists Left Socialists ( da, Venstresocialisterne) was a political party in Denmark. The party worked on what it called an "undogmatic revolutionary and Marxist basis". It was formed in 1967 as a split from the Socialist People's Party (SF). In 1989 ...

Education and career

Kåre Bluitgen received professional training in teaching and journalism, but has worked as a writer since 1994. His works includes a wide range of novels for both children, teenagers and adults. In addition, he has authored non-fiction, plays, films etc. Kåre Bluitgen has also worked as a translator, lecturer, publisher, and instructor in Folk High Schools in Denmark. Kåre Bluitgen has written both historical novels and fantasy, but often the themes of his books have been political, religious and philosophical. He has received a number of the most distinguished Danish literary prizes for his internationally-focused works, and his books have been translated into numerous languages. Bluitgen has travelled widely in connection with his books and films, visiting

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

, Eritrea,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, Haiti and Liberia, amongst other countries.

Works

* Ernesto (1987) * Bomuldens dronning (1988) ("Queen of the cotton") * Jaguaren ved verdens ende (1989) ("The jaguar at the end of the world") * Vi har iført os ligklæder (1989) ("We have put on grave clothing") * Sabers udsendinge (1991) ("Saber's emissaries") * Bødlens bud (1992) ("The commandment of the executioner") * Lossen med guldører (1994) ("The lynx with golden ears") * Erobrerne (1995) ("The conquerors") * Og stjernene er af guld (1997) ("And the stars are made of gold") * Himmelbrønden (1997) ("The heavenly well") * En kuffert i Marokko (1999) ("A suitcase in Morocco") * Løbende Bjørn (1999) ("Running bear") * En støvle faldt fra himlen (2000) ("A boot fell from Heaven") * Til gavn for de sorte (2002) ("To the benefit of the blacks") * Døgnfluen Viva (2002) ("The May fly Viva") * Koranen og profeten Muhammeds liv (2006) * The Koran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad (2013) (E-book: ) * Koranen kommenteret (2009) (The

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

commented] * Koranen gendigtet (2009) (The

rewritten] * De skyggefulde haver (2020) Illustrated

for teens, illustrated by Bosch Fawstin

''Koranen og profeten Muhammeds liv'' image controversy

When he wrote the children's book ''Koranen og profeten Muhammeds liv'' ) ( English edition, e-book, English: ''The Koran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad'' ()), he apparently had difficulty finding illustrators to draw Muhammad for the book, for fear of reprisals from Islamic extremists. The Danish newspaper ''

Jyllands-Posten ''Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten'' (; English: ''The Morning Newspaper "The Jutland Post"''), commonly shortened to ''Jyllands-Posten'' or ''JP'', is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper. It is based in Aarhus C, Jutland, and with a weekday circula ...

'' responded by asking 40 illustrators to make caricatures of Muhammad. Twelve of the caricatures were published in the newspaper on 30 September 2005, sparking the international Muhammad cartoons controversy. Bluitgen's book was peripheral to these events; there is no evidence that anything actually contained in ''Koranen og profeten Muhammeds liv'' was a direct cause of the ensuing controversy.

References

External links

A full description of him (in Danish)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bluitgen, Kare 1959 births Danish children's writers 20th-century Danish journalists Living people Danish critics of Islam 21st-century Danish journalists