Nordic Council Literature Prize

Stewart

Stewart

Administrator
Staff member
The nominations for the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2009 have been announced, comprising two entries of poetry or prose per area. These are:


DENMARK

Helle Helle, Ned til hundene,
Novel, Samleren, 2008

Ursula Andkj?r Olsen, Havet er en scene,
Poetry, Gyldendal, 2008

FINLAND

Jari J?rvel?, Romeo ja Julia (Romeo and Juliet)
Novel, Tammi, 2007
(Swedish translation, M?rten West?)

Robert ?sbacka, Orgelbyggaren
Novel, Schildts, 2008

ICELAND

Au?ur A. ?lafsd?ttir, Afleggjarinn (Stiklingen)
Novel, B?ka?tg?fan Salka, 2007
(Danish translation, Erik Skyum-Nielsen)

Sigurbj?rg ?rastard?ttir, Blysfarir (Fackelt?g)
Poetry, JPV ?tg?fa, 2007
(Swedish translation, John Swedenmark)

NORWAY

Per Petterson, Jeg forbanner tidens elv
Novel, Forlaget Oktober, 2008

?yvind Rimbereid, Herbarium
Poetry, Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, 2008


SWEDEN

Andrzej Tich?, F?lt,
Novel, Albert Bonniers F?rlag, 2008

Johan J?nson, Efter arbetsschema
Poetry Collection, Albert Bonniers F?rlag, 2008


FAROE ISLANDS

T?roddur Poulsen, Rot (R?ta)
Poetry collection, Mentunargrunnur Studentafelagsins, 2007
(Swedish translation, Anna Mattsson)

GREENLAND

M?gss?nguaq Qujaukitsoq, Sisamanik teqeqqulik
Poetry collection, Forlaget Atuagkat, 2007


THE SAAMI LANGUAGE AREA
(No nominations submitted)
 
Bjorn

Bjorn

Reader
Re: Nordic Council Literature Prize 2009

And for the few Scandinavian speakers on the board, here's an interesting article by Swedish critic Jonas Thente about the state of Nordic literature, if there is such a thing, including some talk about the nominees.

Jonas Thente said:
There is no Nordic literature, and maybe there never has been.
Click to expand...

Per Petterson said:
Why is it all Danes have to think that all Norwegians are Swedes, and at the same time speak Swedish so badly? There's three goddamn countries in Scandinavia, aren't there?
Click to expand...
 
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Eric

Former Member
Re: Nordic Council Literature Prize 2009

Good luck, Per Petterson! Have any of you read the book? What's the book ("Jeg forbanner tidens elv" - i.e. "I Curse the River of Time") about? Is this the same novel as "Out Stealing Horses", or a more recent one? When titles get changed in translation, it can be hard to follow what is what.
 
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Flower

Reader
Re: Nordic Council Literature Prize 2009

Eric said:
Good luck, Per Petterson! Have any of you read the book? What's the book ("Jeg forbanner tidens elv" - i.e. "I Curse the River of Time") about? Is this the same novel as "Out Stealing Horses", or a more recent one? When titles get changed in translation, it can be hard to follow what is what.
Click to expand...

The new novel "Jeg forbanner tidens elv" has just been published over here like a week ago! So its not the same as "Out stealing horses"

If you read danish, here is a link about the prize and the book:
http://politiken.dk/sog/ (dunno why the link does not show the articles, but just write his name in the search spot, then 20 articles should show up)
 
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H

hdw

Reader
Re: Nordic Council Literature Prize 2009

Bj?rn's post of 3rd April about "the state of Nordic literature" gives a link to the book pages of the Swedish newspaper "Dagens Nyheter", and I was just about to head to the article in question when my eye was caught by a sub-heading at the side about Hjalmar S?derberg's "Doktor Glas" and Kerstin Ekman. Ekman is one of Sweden's leading novelists, best known to the English-speaking world for "Blackwater", a brooding thriller set in the north of Sweden. So what's all this about?

Well, Ekman is bringing out a new novel this autumn - and I've translated a brief pr?cis of her interview with DN's Sarah Magnusson -

"In Mordets praktik(The Practice of Murder) she joins those authors who have been fascinated and inspired by Hjalmar S?derberg's fictional character Doktor Glas.

- The novel is partly about when S?derberg conceived the idea for Doktor Glas and about how he meets a doctor who gives him the idea for the plot, says Kerstin Ekman.

You have previously written thrillers and the novel's title suggests that genre - is this a thriller-type novel?

- No, there is no unsolved mystery, but it is a suspenseful novel, inspired by a murder."

I saw Ekman at a Scandinavian Studies conference some years ago at the University of Surrey in Guildford - a pretty, frail-looking woman whose appearance belies her fascination with the dark side of life. I find her books a bit too bleak for my taste, but I'll be interested to see what she does with the Doktor Glas story.

Harry
 
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leif e

New member
Re: Nordic Council Literature Prize 2009

Flower said:
The new novel "Jeg forbanner tidens elv" has just been published over here like a week ago! So its not the same as "Out stealing horses"

If you read danish, here is a link about the prize and the book:
Politiken.dk - det levende net (dunno why the link does not show the articles, but just write his name in the search spot, then 20 articles should show up)
Click to expand...

The book Petterson got this year?s prize for, "Jeg forbanner tidens elv", is his most recent and represents a return to his character Arvid, used several times earlier in novels written in close connection to Petterson?s own life - though not autobiographical in any real sense.

"Out stealing horses" was more of an exception than it was typical of Petterson?s writing - at least thematically. "Jeg forbanner tidens elv" (a qoute from a Mao Tse-Tung poem) is an excellent book, Petterson?s prose at it?s haunting and insisting best. The year is 1989, Arvid?s mother has gotten a diagnosis of cancer and leaves for Denmark (her home country) and the family?s summer house to be alone. Arvid experiences his own crisis in the oncoming divorce from his wife and the relation?s fundament in the radical 70s and Arvid?s choice of leaving an intellectual course for his life and instead taking manual work at a book printer?s.

Petterson is one of the writers from Norway who is really worth your while! :)

leif e
 
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leif e

New member
Re: Nordic Council Literature Prize 2009

By the way; of the other nominees I have had the chance to read, I am absolutely infatuated with Helle Helle?s novel Ned til hundene (Denmark). Her quiet short-clipped and almost secretive prose continues to impress and, most of all; move me.
leif e
 
Mirabell

Mirabell

Former Member
Re: Nordic Council Literature Prize 2009

leif e said:
The book Petterson got this year?s prize for, "Jeg forbanner tidens elv", is his most recent and represents a return to his character Arvid, used several times earlier in novels written in close connection to Petterson?s own life - though not autobiographical in any real sense.

"Out stealing horses" was more of an exception than it was typical of Petterson?s writing - at least thematically. "Jeg forbanner tidens elv" (a qoute from a Mao Tse-Tung poem) is an excellent book, Petterson?s prose at it?s haunting and insisting best. The year is 1989, Arvid?s mother has gotten a diagnosis of cancer and leaves for Denmark (her home country) and the family?s summer house to be alone. Arvid experiences his own crisis in the oncoming divorce from his wife and the relation?s fundament in the radical 70s and Arvid?s choice of leaving an intellectual course for his life and instead taking manual work at a book printer?s.

Petterson is one of the writers from Norway who is really worth your while! :)

leif e
Click to expand...

Are Petterson's Arvid books comparable to Updike's Rabbit books?
 
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leif e

New member
Re: Nordic Council Literature Prize 2009

I hope someone else can answer that one - Updike has been on my have-to-read list for years, but so far ...

Petterson is however clearly inspired by an American realistic style and/or tradition of writing - also in the books about Arvid. John Fante is one guy Petterson himself will refer to. At the same time his style very low key, careful in the use of heavy words, often relying on the unsaid. (In that sense - a relation to the above mentioned Helle Helle).
leif e
 
Bjorn

Bjorn

Reader
Re: Nordic Council Literature Prize 2009

I agree with Leif's praise of Helle Helle, though I haven't read Ned til hundene yet; I read her R?dby-Puttgarden a few years ago and found it excellent. Terse, effective prose and just enough universal themes woven in to revitalise the tired old Scandinavian social realism.
 
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Eric

Former Member
Re: Nordic Council Literature Prize 2009

Ned til hundene has just appeared in Dutch translation. How many of Helle Helle's books have appeared in English translation? If there aren't any, the discussion will be restricted to that little coterie that read Scandinavian languages. The Danish Literary Magazine has a synopsis here:

Over to the dogs
 
Bjorn

Bjorn

Reader
Nordic Council Prize for Literature 2010

The Nordic Council's Literature Prize is awarded for a work of literature written in one of the Nordic languages, that meets "high literary and artistic standards". Established in 1962, the prize is awarded every year, and is worth 350,000 Danish kroner (2008).

Official site

List of previous winners

My review of last year's winner, Per Petterson's I Curse The River Of Time. Generally speaking, I've been very impressed with the books they've chosen in recent years.

This year's nominees, announced a couple of minutes ago, are:

Peter Laugesen: Fotorama (poetry, Denmark)
Ida Jessen: B?rnene (novel, Denmark)
Sofi Oksanen: Puhdistus (novel, Finland)
Monika Fagerholm: Glitterscenen (novel, Finland)
Einar K?rason: Ofsi (novel, Iceland)
Steinar Bragi: Konur (novel, Iceland)
Karl Ove Knausg?rd: Min kamp I (novel, Norway)
Tomas Espedal: Imot kunsten (novel, Norway)
Steve Sem-Sandberg: De fattiga i Ł?dź (novel, Sweden)
Ann J?derlund: Vad hj?lper det en m?nniska om hon h?ller rent vatten ?ver sig i alla sina dagar (poetry, Sweden)
 
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Eric

Former Member
re: Nordic Council Prize for Literature 2010

I would, of course, automatically put my money on Sofi Oksanen, because she examines the traumas of Estonia in a fairly poetic way. Fagerholm may also be a potential winner. I'm sorry to say that I don't know anything about the Danish and Norwegian entries. I've translated a bit of J?derlund. I hope that Sem-Sandberg's book isn't yet another piece of Holocaust kitsch; if not, the book may be worthwhile. But the fate of Ł?dź (Wooch to you) is not a new subject, neither in Polish or Yiddish literature. I hope Sem-Sandberg adds something new.
 
Bjorn

Bjorn

Reader
re: Nordic Council Prize for Literature 2010

And Eric is presumably now a rich man, as the winner is... Sofi Oksanen.

Sofi Oksanen's novel 'Puhdistus'* takes place in two periods of time in Estonia, but its themes of love, treachery, power and powerlessness are timeless. 'Puhdistus' vibrates with tension: unspoken secrets and deeply shameful deeds stretch out across the book like a web and compel the reader to keep reading. With a rare precise and apposite language Oksanen describes what history does to individuals and history's presence in the present.
Click to expand...
* Purge in English

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/european-literature/29229-sofi-oksanen-purge.html
 
Bjorn

Bjorn

Reader
Nordic Council Prize for Literature 2011

The Nordic Council's Literature Prize is awarded for a work of literature written in one of the Nordic languages, that meets "high literary and artistic standards". Established in 1962, the prize is awarded every year, and was worth 350,000 Danish kroner in 2008.

This year's winner will be announced on April 12th.

Official site

List of previous winners

This year's nominees:

Denmark:
Josefine Klougart-Stigninger og fald (Rises and falls)
Novel, Rosinante, 2010

 Harald Voetmann-Vågen (The wave)
Novel, Gyldendal, 2010

Finland:
Erik Wahlström-Flugtämjaren (The fly tamer)
Novel, Schildts, 2010

Kristina Carlson-Herra Darwinin puutarhuri (Mr Darwin's gardener)
Novel, Otava, 2009

Iceland:
Gyrðir Elíasson-Milli trjánna (Among the trees)
Short stories, Uppheimar, 2009

Ísak Harðarson-Rennur upp um nótt (Rises at night)
Poems, Uppheimar, 2009

Norway:
Beate Grimsrud-En dåre fri (A fool set free)
Novel, Cappelen Damm, 2010

Carl Frode Tiller-Innsirkling 2 (Encirclement 2)
Novel, Aschehoug, 2010

Sweden:
Beate Grimsrud-En dåre fri
Novel, Albert Bonniers Förlag, 2010

Anna Hallber-Colosseum, Kolosseum
Poetry Collection, Albert Bonniers Förlag, 2010

Faroe Islands:
Tóroddur Poulsen-Útsýni (View)
Poetry collection, Mentunargrunnur Studentafelagsins, 2009

Greenland:
Kristian Olsen Aaju-Kakiorneqaqatigiit (The tattooed message)
Novel, Forlaget Atuagkat, 2010

Åland Islands:
Sonja Nordenswan-Blues från ett krossat världshus (Blues from a smashed world house)
Novel, PQR-kultur, 2009

The Sami Language Area:
Kerttu Vuolab-Bárbmoáirras (The star of paradise)
Novel, Davvi Girji OS, 2008


First year in a while where I haven't read a single book, IIRC. You'll notice that Beate Grimsrud, who holds double citizenship, was nominated by both the Norwegians and the Swedes. The novel is supposedly quite good, but come on, between the two countries I'm sure they managed to produce at least four worthwhile books in the last 12 months...
 
Liam

Liam

Administrator
Re: Nordic Council Prize for Literature 2011

I don't know much about this prize, but it's great to see a Greenlandic title on the list! The original indicates that it was initially composed in Inuit, although the author's name sounds perfectly Danish to me.

And are Åland Islands really an independent area? Since when?
 
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