Our Story
And it’s built by volunteers from all walks of life who believe in one simple thing:
Belonging starts with being informed.
Our aim is to help non-Danish speakers become a part of Danish society, uniting the international community through a content platform that empowers them through information.
And we promise to always provide free access that information.
How Last Week in Denmark Started
When COVID-19 struck Denmark, many internationals reached out to Narcis George Matache (Last Week in Denmark’s Founder and Executive Editor) looking for clarity on ever-changing, often confusing, government messaging. Narcis was well-known on Aalborg’s political scene and beyond, having been the first non-Danish citizen elected to a Danish regional council. Other internationals living here trusted him to distill all the information out there (often in Danish) into an English summary they could understand and use.
“I couldn’t keep up with the hundreds of messages I was getting, so I started to write a daily update to keep internationals informed.”
Narcis George Matache
Last Week in Denmark’s Founder and Executive Editor
“We grew in a completely organic way, through people offering to help us out, like designing a logo or helping us set up a website. Even the first edition had 3,000 readers. There are other English publications in Denmark, but there seemed to be a need for something different.”
Narcis George Matache
Last Week in Denmark’s Founder and Executive Editor
Where We Are Today
Website and Podcast
Since receiving a Ministry of Culture grant to pilot producing original journalistic content aimed at Denmark’s international community in May 2023, Last Week in Denmark has diversified from the weekly newsletter. We launched a podcast in summer 2023, with the inaugural episode reaching over a thousand listeners. Today, we have been downloaded over 25,000 times, with thousands tuning in every week. The podcast team includes over 20 dedicated people, from hosts to audio and transcript editors.
In January 2026, our podcast won “Best News Podcast” in the Discover Pods Podcast Awards 2025. The Last Week in Denmark podcast was also runner up in the “Podcast of the Year” category!
Language editions
Our language editions are a vital part of our universe. It all began with the launch of our Romanian edition in Spring 2021. Today, dedicated teams translate the weekly Substack newsletter and create tailored content for our diverse international communities in seven languages: Polish, Spanish, Turkish, Italian, German, Hungarian and Ukrainian!
Reporting team
In August 2024, we founded our own reporting team. We now craft long-form journalistic articles and columns reflecting first-hand stories — and our original content team continues to grow. Today, we have a team of over 40 reporters and columnists and published our 200th long-form article in December 2025.
Now
Meanwhile our website has continued to develop, providing a welcoming, easy-to-use home for our long-form articles and access to the wider Last Week in Denmark universe.
The Ministry of Culture granted us further funding in May 2025 as a start-up media publication. These funds bolstered our original reporting and facilitated Last Week in Denmark’s collaboration with The International, which saw our content transformed into a print magazine for the first time in September 2025. We currently publish a digital collaborative magazine monthly and are excited to see where our partnership will take us in 2026 and beyond!
Looking to the Future
Narcis’s long-term dream is to turn Last Week in Denmark into a public-funded media service, similar to DR, but multilingual and led by internationals, reflecting all the communities who call Denmark home.
