Eva Tind in Conversation at KFM

Meet author Eva Tind at BOGhandleren Aarhus (Kristian F. Møller), where she discusses her new biographical novel Manden der fik vinger (The Man Who Got Wings) in conversation with editor Janne Breinholt Bak.

The novel tells the story of self-taught artist and ornithologist Gerhard Heilmann (1859-1946), whose life unfolded in the tension between artistic passion and social convention. Drawn to birds from childhood, he follows his heart into art and becomes a royal porcelain painter, illustrates Denmark's bird fauna, designs banknotes for the National Bank, and represents Denmark at the World's Fair in Paris in 1900 alongside artists P.S. Krøyer and Vilhelm Hammershøi. His most important scientific achievement — the drawing of the origin of birds — is created in 1926, but finds greater recognition abroad than at home. As a queer man, Heilmann lives in an era marked by societal judgment, and he shapes his own life around his butler and three adopted children — an alternative family built from creative joy, doubt, and unbroken will. The book is an exploration of identity, heritage, and freedom, and a hymn to an extraordinary man who sought to give the world wings both scientifically and personally.