Growing up meant leaving the fantasy genre — or so she thought

Maren Lemb always knew she wanted to be a writer. While many children dream big only to abandon those dreams later, the 25-year-old student of comparative literature has always taken her calling seriously:

»It started as a childhood ambition, but it was also a teenage ambition and then the ambition of a young adult. It feels intense and surreal to have now published a book, but I’m sure that if the child version of Maren knew this had happened, she would say, yes, of course — that was always the plan.«

Maren Lemb has pursued her dream with a fierce determination. She has written several books and been rejected by numerous publishers. She has attended creative writing classes, and when she discovered in secondary school that many great authors had studied literature, she decided she would do the same.

She can now finally add ‘author’ to her CV. Her debut novel Solens Gave — ‘The Sun’s Blessing’ — was published in November 2025. It’s a fantasy novel which has a magical princess as the main character.

Got the idea when she was a child

Maren Lemb can trace the idea for the novel all the way back to a Word document she had set up at the age of 11. At 16, she decided to finish the story, because if she was going to be a writer, she figured that she had to prove that she could complete a story. Once the final full stop was added, she didn’t look at the manuscript again.

It turned out there were so many great stories that still moved me and felt relevant.

Maren Lemb, author and student

»I really wanted to study literature, and I had a very clear idea of what kind of person a literature student was and what kind of books they read. So I started steering myself in that direction,« says Maren Lemb.

The fantasy genre, which she had previously preferred, was put aside. It was too nerdy and childish, she thought. Now she would read the classics and write ‘serious’ works herself. During the corona pandemic, she stumbled into a corner of the internet where women her age passionately recommended fantasy books to each other.

»I started reading fantasy again. It turned out there were so many great stories that still moved me and felt relevant.«

As Maren Lemb devoured more fantasy novels, she found herself drawn back to the old idea. In the meantime, she had written three other books, all of which were rejected.

»I decided something completely different needed to happen. My favourite idea was still the one I had when I was 11, so I started writing it again.«

Fantasy — a genre full of wisdom

When Maren Lemb started her literature studies at the University of Copenhagen, many of her assumptions about what it meant to be ‘literary’ fell apart. A few weeks into the first semester, a classmate referenced the fantasy-romance series Twilight in a seminar:

»I was completely shocked. I didn’t think you were permitted to do that. But thankfully, my year cohort turned out to be wonderfully unpretentious. Even though we spend a lot of time reading the great classics, you’re allowed to make connections to all kinds of literature — even the Twilight series.«

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And even though it was her literature studies that pushed her away from fantasy at first, it was the same programme that reignited her love for the genre.

»When I started university, I was very focused on not losing my love of reading. As it turned out, the fantasy genre is perfect for reading in your free time.«

For Maren Lemb, it makes as much sense to read a fantasy novel as a classic. She has gladly let go of all genre snobbery. Fantasy is an escape from the world while also allowing her to explore phenomena like politics and tyranny.

»The genre operates on two levels. I can use the books as a kind of escapism, where I forget myself and the world I live in. But at the same time, fantasy novels help the reader understand their own world in a more indirect way.«

Princess blind to her own privilege

Fantasy lends itself to social critique, according to the debut author, who explores what a fully equal society might look like in her novel.

I couldn’t explore these themes in the same way in a realist novel.

Maren Lemb, author and student

»I’ve used a lot of what I’ve learned from my studies and pushed utopian ideas of the perfect society to the extreme. In my book, I explore what that might look like — and whether it could even work in practice.«

Solens Gave is about a magical princess who lives in a land of complete gender equality. Sexual orientation is irrelevant — anyone can be with anyone. Magic makes it possible for anyone, regardless of their gender, to have children, and money does not exist. The princess learns that her grandmother, the queen, has kept a lifelong secret. It turns out the magical princess has a twin sister who was kidnapped as a child by the patriarchal neighbouring kingdom on the other side of the mountains. The princess sets out across the mountains to rescue her twin. But along the way, cracks begin to show in her utopian vision of home.

»I couldn’t explore these themes in the same way in a realist novel. You can examine power structures, sure, but I’d feel constrained by the realism.«

Maren Lemb draws a parallel to her own life in the princess from the utopian equal society. She was inspired by her journey from a secure upbringing in the affluent Danish region north of Copenhagen to gradually being confronted with a world that wasn’t as perfect as she had thought.

Her worldview was upended when she started studying literature and was introduced to feminist and critical theory. She wanted to convey some of her insights as she grew older and learned more about the world.

»The sister on the other side of the mountains is a classic fantasy heroine with a tough childhood. I couldn’t identify with that story, because I grew up with a lot of privilege. So I created another character that I could relate to.«

Train your reading muscle

Maren Lemb wants two things, above all, for her newly released book. She wants it to set off reflections on how society is structured. More than anything though, she wants to give readers a good reading experience — to pull them into the story.

»Honestly, I’m very happy if readers walk away from the book with that feeling. You don’t have to have some huge epiphany every time you read something.«

That’s why it was important to Maren Lemb that her book be accessible. Because alongside her determined pursuit of a writing career, she has another mission:

»You could say it’s become my life’s goal to ignite an interest in reading among young people.«

Alongside her writing, she works as an audiobook narrator and runs profiles on both TikTok and Instagram, where she shares book recommendations.

A love of reading is something that needs to be maintained, she says. Sometimes you get out of shape — and that’s why, she says, reading needs to be trained like a group of muscles. What you read doesn’t matter, as long as you’re reading. She herself has a habit: when she’s off work, she brews a cup of coffee, sets a timer, and puts her phone away.

»Books are rarely good if you only give them ten pages at a time. That’s why I set aside time for the books I read,« she says. »If you just read a chapter before bed, it’s hard to get really absorbed. Books need time and attention.«

Maren Lemb has one specific tip for university students who struggle to find the energy to read in their spare time:

»My best advice is to treat what you read at home in the evening as a kind of hobby. Find something completely different so that it doesn’t feel like an extension of your university reading.«

And Maren Lemb isn’t precious about it. Whether it’s an audiobook, a light romantic novella, or a chunky fantasy novel — it doesn’t matter what you read, she says, as long as it doesn’t feel like studying when you’re reading in your free time.

»Above all, I just want people to read.«