Nordic Council Prize for Literature 2011

[Bjorn]

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...

[Flower]

If I remember correctly then the Danish book is a debut!

[hdw]

I wonder if the Faroese are really hoping to win with Tóroddur Poulsen?

http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi255590937/

Harry

[Liam]

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?

[Bjorn]

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

Technically they're an autonomous region of Finland, since 1920 or so. A little bit like the Channel Islands. They have their own flag, special tax exemptions, their own parliament, their own Swedish dialect, etc.

[Liam]

Technically they're an autonomous region of Finland, since 1920 or so. A little bit like the Channel Islands. They have their own flag, special tax exemptions, their own parliament, their own Swedish dialect, etc.

In that case, Stewart forgot to upload a separate flag for them, . Speaking of the Channels, a beautiful new anthology of their literature has just been published. I'm still deciding on whether I should get it or not, as it's not really something I would normally read.

[Stevie B]

Speaking of the Channels, a beautiful new anthology of their literature has just been published. I'm still deciding on whether I should get it or not, as it's not really something I would normally read.

Liam, have you read The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by G. B. Edwards? It's reported to be one of the best books to come out of the Channels, but I don't know anyone who has actually read it.

[Liam]

I haven't, actually, but it looks intriguing and my beloved John Fowles wrote the intro for the paperback edition. Will definitely look into it, when I have more time (at 400+ pages, it doesn't appear to be very lightweight, ).

Now, the book from the list that I was originally curious about; can somebody please translate these bits for me from the Danish, about the author and his book?

Kristian Olsen, Aaju, f. 1942, grønlandsk forfatter og billedkunstner. Uddannet som lærer og cand.pæd. har han virket i både det danske og det grønlandske skolevæsen, 1998-2002 som forstander for Grønlænderhjemmet i Hellerup. Aaju har udgivet digt- og novellesamlinger, flere i tosprogede udgaver (grønlandsk/dansk) og med egne illustrationer.

Debutdigtene Kinaassutsip taallai/Balladen om identiteten (1979) forsøger at indkredse en grønlandsk identitet under de store samfundsændringer i 1960'erne og 1970'erne. Temaet genfindes i hans første roman, Kiinnanni qaamaaneq (1996, Lyset i dit ansigt), om en grønlandsk forretningsmand i konflikt med sin familie pga. sammenstødet mellem gamle og nye normer. I digtsamlingen Oqaatsit Nunaat/Ordenes land (2003) søger Aaju at indfange det grønlandske landskab i en række naturromantiske digte.

I sin seneste novellesamling Inuit nipaat/Menneskestemmer (2005) lader han mennesker komme til orde, som sjældent høres i den moderne hverdag. Emnerne i forfatterskabet afspejles ligeledes i Aajus ekspressionistiske linoleumssnit og malerier; spørgende og søgende ansigter, ofte maskelignende, er et tilbagevendende træk.

OM BOGEN. En anderledes men spændende krimi, hvor handlingen er henlagt til Holbæk, Nuuk, Roskilde og Qaqortoq. Aaju væver et broget billedtæppe, hvor det psykologiske langt mere end det blodigt kriminelle sidder i højsædet. To ganske unge pigers leg og betagelse af hinanden får skæbnesvangre følger, da den ene af dem vikles ind i voldsomme intriger, som ender med mord.

[Bjorn]

Roughly:

Kristian Olsen, Aaju, born 1942, Greenlandish author and artist. Educated as a teacher, he has worked in both the Danish and the Greenlandish school system, between 1998 and 2002 as director of the Greenlander Home in Hellerup. Aaju has published collections of poetry and short stories, several in bilingual editions (Greenlandish/Danish) and with his own illustrations.

His poetry debut Kinaassutsip taallai/Balladen om identiteten/Ballad of Identity (1979) tries to define a Greenlandish identity during the great societal changes in the 1960s and 70s. The theme reappears in his first novel Kiinnanni qaamaaneq (The Light In Your Face, 1996) about a Greenlandish businessman in conflict with his family because of conflicts between old and new norms. In the poetry collection Oqaatsit Nunaat/Ordenes land/Land of Words (2003) Aaju tries to capture the Greenlandish landscape in a series of natural romantic poems.

In his latest collection of short stories, Inuit nipaat/Menneskestemmer/Human Voices (2005) he lends his voice to people who are rarely heard in modern society. The same themes are mirrored in Aaju's expressionist linoleum carvings and paintings; questioning, searching faces, often mask-like, is one recurring theme.

About the book: A different but exciting thriller, with the plot set in Holbaek, Nuuk, Roskilde and Qaqortoq. Aaju weaves a colourful picture, where the psychological rather than the bloodsoaked crime takes a high seat. Two rather young girls' play and fascination with each other leads to fatal consequences when one of them is involved in a violent plot ending in murder.

So if he was born in 1942, I guess that explains why he's officially listed under his Danish rather than his Greenlandish name.

[Eric]

Looks like another bloody Scandinavian crime novel, but at least the Greenlandic bits are real, not just tacked on as with Smilla. And a bit of "Isslottet" thrown in for good measure.

Am I right in thinking that the Danish "krimi" is what the Swedes call a "deckare"?

[Liam]

Thank you, Bjorn, this has been very helpful.

Eric, A. S. Byatt's Possession could be characterized as an intellectual mystery. Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose is most definitely a crime novel, among other things of course. The importance lies not in the chosen genre, which can be handled either badly or very well, but in the quality of the work as a whole.

I can't, of course, speak for Aaju's novel as I haven't read it.

[hdw]

The bit about the two young girls' fascination with each other reminds me of the Nynorsk writer Tarjei Vesaas's Is-Slottet (The Ice Palace) which I read many years ago. I think it won this same prize.

Harry

[Liam]

The bit about the two young girls' fascination with each other reminds me of the Nynorsk writer Tarjei Vesaas's Is-Slottet (The Ice Palace)

And I was thinking of Kate Winslet in Heavenly Creatures, .

[Eric]

Harry, yes, I suggested that in 10# - little girls. Great minds think alike, fools never differ! I am sick of people cashing on Lolitas and similar, lesbian or straight. It shows a paucity of imagination and a keenness on sensation. Anything slightly off beat, illegal, illicit, or crazy is a legimate way of giving your otherwise mundane novel body. The bodies of young girls in this case. Nubescent tits, and all that.

The Nerdic Prize must be won by a crime novelist or someone writing about little girls. Or both. Well, Peter Höeg managed to get world fame by doing that, though as I suggested, the Greenlandic bit was just tacked on out of political correct considerations.

I think the "aaju" is a kind of title and is normally written with lower case letters. Nothing to do with "ah, Jew!" or adulation.

[hdw]

Harry, yes, I suggested that in 10# - little girls. Great minds think alike, fools never differ!

Right! I see it now, missed it before.

Harry

[Eric]

You see, Harry, in this world of competitive scoops, one must be bloody quick. I hate quickitude, but one has to beat the chaps from Beethovenstadt Bonn, otherwise one is considered a drooping oldie.

[Eric]

I find it amusing that Norway and Sweden are fielding the same book. I actually met Beate Grimsrud and a girlfriend of hers back in the 1980s when she had only written one book, so it must have been in 1989, when I was on my way to the island of Saaremaa to meet Estonian authors. Beate and her mate were on the ferry to Tallinn together on a short holiday. I bought the book soon after, but don't remember anything about it, I'm afraid. But I do remember that Grimsrud was neither grim nor rude and both young ladies were quite charming.

[Flower]

Iceland won!

[Eric]

Sounds promising. A poet and novelist. Some may be hugely disappointed that the winner hadn't written ten crime novels about trigger-happy sleazy detectives, but this author looks like a serious sort of person.

I met the Swedish translator John Swedenmark, a couple of months ago at the Writers' Union over here. So I expect that I can find things in Swedish by Gyrðir Elíasson in the library, such as Milli trjánna.

[hdw]

Sounds promising. A poet and novelist. Some may be hugely disappointed that the winner hadn't written ten crime novels about trigger-happy sleazy detectives, but this author looks like a serious sort of person.

I met the Swedish translator John Swedenmark, a couple of months ago at the Writers' Union over here. So I expect that I can find things in Swedish by Gyrðir Elíasson in the library, such as Milli trjánna.

Read about Gyrðir here -

http://www.literature.is/desktopdefa...ad-65/RSkra-65

Note his interest in translation.

Harry