Madame Nielsen is a novelist, artist, performer, world history enactor, composer, chanteuse - and multi-gendered. In a previous life christened as Claus Beck-Nielsen in 1963 in Tønder, Denmark, she and her ancestors are the authors of numerous literary works. A pioneer of 'performative biographies' and 'Scandinavian autofiction', the artist declared the death of Claus Beck-Nielsen in 2001, published Claus Beck-Nielsen (1963-2001): A Biography, followed by The Suicide Mission, reappeared in 2013 and continues to work as Madame Nielsen. They were thrice nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. The Endless Summer was Madame Nielsen's international break-through and was a bestseller in Germany. Her work has been translated into nine languages.

Gaye Kynoch is a literary translator whose extensive portfolio spans works of theatre and fiction, plus books, essays and articles across the arts and humanities. A long-term collaborator with Madame Nielsen, Kynoch has translated a wide range of Nielsen's work, including plays, song lyrics and prose. She approaches translation with a musician's ear, treating the text as a complex orchestral score - a philosophy that allows her to navigate the intricate rhythms, literary references and philosophical motifs central to Nielsen's prose.