Anne Holm

Anne Holm was born in Denmark in 1922. During her childhood, her mother died, after which she went to live with a foster family. In 1949, she married a coin specialist named Johan C. Holm. Though she studied journalism and wrote poetry as a young woman, she did not publish her first novel until 1963. In the original Danish, the novel was titled Jeg er David. After it was translated into English in 1965, it was published as I Am David in the UK and as North to Freedom in the U.S. (though the U.S. title has since changed to I Am David as well). I Am David is Holm’s most famous novel, having been translated into many languages, awarded various literary prizes, and adapted into a 2003 English-language feature film. However, Holm wrote four subsequent novels, including The Hostage (1980), about the son of Denmark’s Prime Minister being taken hostage. She died in 1998 at the age of 76.