​Historical and Professional Foundation

 

Stig Colbjørn Nielsen is a trained professional historian from Aarhus University. The historical method, source criticism, systematics, and contextualization, permeates his entire work, both in research and dissemination, in church work and literature.

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Early on, he engaged in local history projects. A central work is the editing and responsibility for a series of the prestigious yearbooks of the Historical Society for Frederiksborg County, as well as an index to 'Yearbooks for Frederiksborg County 1906–2000,' supported by several North Zealand municipalities. The work required in-depth knowledge of personal history, topography, and local topics and has contributed to making extensive historical material far more accessible to researchers and the public.

 

Stig Colbjørn Nielsen was also active for more than a decade around St. Michael's Church in Slangerup, both as chairman of the parish council and as churchwarden. Many major restorations work that required deep historical and cultural-historical insight have he led and participated in; but he has always downplayed his own role in this work in public. Stig Colbjørn Nielsen's causeries and articles on Thomas Kingo, however, reveal this close connection.

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All these projects illustrate Stig Colbjørn Nielsen's ability to work within established frameworks for Danish cultural heritage preservation and his consistent interest in the connection between local history and larger historical movements and perspectives.

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Practical Work and Intellect

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Parallel to the historical work, Stig Colbjørn Nielsen has had a long career as a locomotive driver with DSB, including in the Øresund traffic. This combination of academic background and practical work has given him a quite special perspective on society, infrastructure, and everyday life.

 

The work on the railway places great demands on precision, responsibility, and rhythm, elements that are also found in his poetry, where time, movement, and the intensity of the moment are often central. The experiences have additionally given him solid cultural-historical knowledge of the transport sector, which he has conveyed in lectures on, among other things, the importance of the railway in national and international contexts.

 

 

Business Experience and Discretion

 

In addition to research, dissemination, and railway, Stig Colbjørn Nielsen has had a versatile business life. He has completed management training in major Danish shipping companies, held leading positions, and run his own smaller businesses. This also includes periods of work in both Denmark and abroad.

 

He himself soberly describes these experiences as a “colourful CV from business life” and lets them be expressed more indirectly through literature and lectures than through biographical accounts.

 

In the same discreet tone, he mentions his international travel activity during the Cold War, which he consistently describes as a personal field of experience without further details. This restraint is deliberate and based on a principle of discretion rather than staging.

 

Overall, the combination of academic knowledge, manual work, business experience, and international outlook gives him a broad experiential foundation that clearly shapes his authorship. He does not write from an isolated position; but from a life lived in many layers of society. He is not a member of the Danish Writers' Association; but instead works as an independent actor within what is often termed New Publishing, which is a modern industry forum where authors themselves handle publishing, design, and distribution.

 

 

An Existential Turning Point: Neurodivergence

 

At the age of 64, Stig Colbjørn Nielsen was diagnosed with AuDD (combination of ADD and autism). The assessment was initiated following serious work traumas. As a locomotive driver, he had experienced several fatal pedestrian strikes, leading to treatment with a trauma psychologist and subsequent psychiatric evaluation.

 

The diagnosis became a decisive turning point in both his self-understanding and literary work. He has publicly shared how insight into his own neurodivergence has made everyday life more manageable, reduced conflicts, and strengthened self-worth. He describes himself as a 'well-functioning autistic' and has made the topic a significant part of his lecturing activities, among other things with a focus on resources and opportunities within the autism spectrum.

 

This openness has given him a role as a communicator and conversation partner in the debate on neurodivergence in adults, especially among people who have functioned for a long time without a diagnosis. In other areas of private life, he continues to choose a very high degree of discretion.

 

The Authorship: Breadth and Artistic Control

 

Since his debut in 2011, Stig Colbjørn Nielsen has published an extensive number of books, today more than two dozen titles, as well as a significant number of articles. The authorship spans poetry, novels, short stories, short prose, and non-fiction. Around his extensive production of articles for journals at home and abroad, he always chooses pronounced discretion.

 

He has consciously often chosen to publish outside traditional publishing structures to maintain full artistic control. For him, the book is a complete artistic whole, where text, graphic expression, paper choice, and layout work together. In several poetry collections, his own visual art is included, and in the novels, musical and literary references play a natural and integrated role.

 

 

The Poetry — Rooted in Silence and Sensation

 

Poetry forms the core of Stig Colbjørn Nielsen's authorship. It can be characterized as classical-modern Danish poetry with clear European connections, including inspiration from Italian poetry. Collections such as Summer Clouds over Agersø (2023) and The Blue Flower of Poetry (2024) are marked by sensuality, colours, and subdued melancholy, often described as an elegant form of spleen that is always rooted in concrete experiences.

 

Among the sources of inspiration is also Edith Södergran, who is honoured in “Kermesbær” (2018). Nielsen regards the poem as the most concentrated literary form and consciously works with contrapuntal techniques, where words, rhythm, and imagery merge into what he himself calls “the melody of silence.”

 

His English-language poetry collections “All the Stars in My Mind” and “The Song of Silence” constitute international contributions to his overall authorship and demonstrate a confident command of literary British English.

 

 

The Novels: Suspense and Province

 

As a novelist, Stig Colbjørn Nielsen works at the intersection of suspense, social depiction, and provincial storytelling. The series about Per-Olaf and Natasha, most recently “Mafia, Murder and Other Curiosities” (2024/25), moves from Sicily to Danish small islands and combines crime genre dramaturgy with literary and cultural references.

 

In “Just a Man, So to Speak” (2017), he depicts everyday taboos with deliberate simplicity and precision, which has earned him recognition for his ability to make the ordinary compelling. His own life experiences, from forge and railway to business life and intellectual environments, give the novels clear authenticity. In some short stories, he also shows a completely unique talent for the fantasy genre.

 

 

Life and Work on Agersø

 

Since 2021, Stig Colbjørn Nielsen has lived and worked on Agersø in the Great Belt. From here, he runs his workplace, “Blækhuset” (The Ink House), and has actively engaged in the island's cultural life. Through texts, photographs, and videos, he documents Agersø's nature, everyday life, and the changes of the seasons. Stig Colbjørn Nielsen has also been elected to several positions of trust on Agersø and in Slagelse Municipality.

 

He gives lectures and offers guided tours on island life, small island communities, and cultural history. At the same time, he consciously inscribes himself in Agersø's tradition as a refuge for intellectuals and artists and sees his work as a contemporary continuation of this heritage.

 

 

A Free and Independent Voice

 

Stig Colbjørn Nielsen's significance in Danish cultural life is particularly tied to his consistent independence. By choosing his own publishing forms, he has preserved artistic freedom and the opportunity to work across genres, formats, and the trends of the time.

His work can be summarized in three central roles:

 

• The Independent Artist who from the province creates an extensive and Europe-oriented authorship

• The Communicator and Debater who contributes nuanced to the conversation about neurodivergence

• The Culture Bearer who documents and disseminates local and regional cultural history

 

With new publications and lectures, Stig Colbjørn Nielsen continues his work from Agersø—rooted, unusually knowledgeable, and completely uncompromisingly independent.