[1][2] Born in Skagen in the north of Jutland on 27 August 1933, Svendsen was the daughter of the schoolteacher Ditlev Magnus Jensen and Ingeborg Bruun, a librarian.
[2][3] From 1960, Svendsen worked for the Danish broadcasting authority, Danmarks Radio, first as a programming assistant, later as deputy head of the Drama and Literature Department.
It fitted nicely into the evolving women's literature of the decade, as did Dans under frostmånen (Dance under the Frosty Moon, 1979) and Klovnefisk (Clownfish, 1980), both of which took advantage of the move from inhibition.
[2] It depicts the fantasy world of a mythical Danish island which grows from an isolated fishing village into a thriving marketplace, finally deteriorating into a wasteland overcome with pollution and red tides.
She wants to sort out a love affair and write a novel based on a dialogue with one of Henrik Ibsen's plays but the trip is so eventful that the work is never completed.