Lise Nørgaard

Lise Nørgaard (born Elise Jensen in Roskilde in 1917, died in Humlebæk in 2023) was a Danish journalist, writer and screenwriter who worked in Danish. She is remembered for sharp, often funny observations of everyday life in Denmark, and for co-creating the television drama Matador.

After finishing school she trained as a translator. In 1938 she married the public prosecutor Mogens Einar Flindt Nielsen, with whom she had four children. The marriage ended in divorce in 1950, and in 1951 she married the political journalist Jens Waaben Nørgaard, to whom she remained married until his death in 1984. She joined the newspaper Politiken in 1949, writing about household and women's issues, and later worked at the weekly magazine Hjemmet, where she was managing editor from 1975 to 1977. Her columns there were popular for their critical and humorous view of Danish society.

Between 1978 and 1982 she created and co-wrote Matador, set in the fictional town of Korsbæk between 1929 and 1947, which became the most successful television programme in Danish history. Her books include novels, essays and short stories, but her most celebrated work is the memoir Kun en pige, a bestseller in 1992 later adapted into a film in 1995. She received honours including the Publicistprisen in 1982, and in 1994 she was made a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog. Her legacy lies largely in how she turned ordinary Danish life into literature and television.