Line Vaaben

Line Vaaben was selected for the 2025 Shortlist with René Damgaard Is Saying a Final Goodbye to Life and to His Niece.

Line Vaaben (born 1972) is a staff writer and ‘existential editor’ at Politiken. She writes, coaches, and coordinates long term narrative projects and investigative reporting on print, digital platforms, and podcast. Since she graduated as a journalist in 2000, she has worked for several national Danish newspapers and has dedicated her career to covering ethical questions embedded in the vicinity of life, death, and the territory in between: Fetal diagnostics, palliative care, late abortions, and assisted dying. And not least violence and homicide – especially against women and children. Line Vaaben is also the author of the critically acclaimed ’En forudsigelig forbrydelse’ (’A predictable Crime) about 536 femicides in Denmark including in depth case stories based on interviews with bereaved, friends, police investigators and court documents. She has also written the authoritative Danish textbook on narrative journalism and is teaching her craft to students and colleagues in several countries. In 2023 and 2024 she was an Ochberg fellow and senior fellow at The Dart Center at Columbia University. The academic year 20024-25 she is a fellow at the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University.