She made her debut in 1986 with the short story ‘Lyrefugl’. However, she is best known for her work ‘On the Calculation of Volume’, which comprises seven volumes and has been sold for publication in 30 languages.

Solvej Balle has received a number of awards for her writing, including the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2022 and the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature in 2023; she was also shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2025.

She has repeatedly explained how the connection with philosophy is a central part of her writing and her fictional worlds, because through storytelling she can give concrete form to the questions that philosophy deals with in the abstract.

Solvej Balle maintains ties with SDU, where, for example, she takes part in the annual festival organised by the Department of Literary Studies.