(AP) A Danish poet of Palestinian descent who made headlines as a teenager in 2013 for a book that was critical of Muslims has died, his publishing house said Thursday. Yahya Hassan was 24.
His editor at Gyldendal, Simon Paternak, called Hassan’s death “a disaster.” The publishing house gave no further details. Although Hassan had received death threats, police said they did not immediately suspect a criminal act.
Pasternak paid tribute to Hassan’s “insisting on having his own voice, defending his territory, finding his own place — despite what people thought.”
“He wanted to be himself and write the poems he wanted with the enormous cost that followed,” Pasternak said.
