Holst, Kirsten

Kirsten Holst was a Danish author, teacher and editor known for her detective stories and young adult fiction. She was born Kirsten Johanne Højbye in Lemvig, but spent most of her childhood in Horsens, both on the island of Jutland. When she was in her teens, the family moved to Hjørring where her father was Police Superintendent. She graduated from upper-secondary school in 1952 and worked as a temp teacher in Hjørring until 1957 when she travelled to Paris to study French at the Sorbonne. She met the Danish author Knud Holst in France, dropped out of university and they were married in Copenhagen in 1958. The couple settled on North Jutland where Kirsten Holst worked as a schoolteacher and translator. She gave birth to three daughters, one of them is the well-known author of detective fiction Hanne-Vibeke Holst.